#105: Machshavah

The Gemara (Shabbat 118a) extols the merit of someone who fulfills the mitzvah of eating three meals on Shabbat:

Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi said that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said in the name of Bar Kappara: Anyone who fulfills the obligation to eat three meals on Shabbat is rescued from three punishments: From the “chevlei Mashiach” (birth pangs of the Mashiach) (i.e., the suffering that precedes the advent of Messiah), from the judgment of Gehinnom, and from the war of Gog and Magog.

What is the connection between salvation from these three ordeals and the three Shabbat meals? The Maharsha explains that the times of pangs before the Mashiach’s arrival, the war of Gog and Magog, and the judgment of Gehinnom are all meant to serve as precursors for the ultimate times of peace and tranquility — the days of Mashiach and the world to come. One who properly experiences and appreciates Shabbat, which is the prototype for these time periods, will merit to be saved from the suffering during the preceding times. May our fulfillment of this mitzvah of eating the Shabbat meals properly indeed save us from the challenges of living through these turbulent, pre-Mashiach times.

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Dedicated by Fran Broder as a zechus for the hostages to be released safely to their families and may everlasting peace come to Eretz Yisrael in the merit of learning Hilchos Shabbos.