“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus, 20:8).
On the holy day of Shabbat, we have a special mitzvah to remember it, and another mitzvah to prepare for it, to prepare especially delicious dishes for Shabbat.
At first glance, how is this possible? To be acquitted in the judgment on Rosh Hashanah, one must blow the shofar, which, as we know, holds the greatest of powers. The same is true of the lulav, matzah, and other mitzvot. But how can eating delicious dishes make us worthy of Shabbat?
The answer is that food does not make us worthy of Shabbat.
There is no means by which we can merit Shabbat. After all, it is a gift from the Almighty. All we need is to long for Shabbat. When someone prepares all sorts of delicacies for Shabbat, especially if they begin preparing as early as Sunday, they show how eagerly they await Shabbat, and whoever longs for it will merit it.
The Shulchan Aruch, in its laws of Shabbat, mentions the principle of trust in the Creator: “It is a great mitzvah not to think about them at all (one's affairs or business — on Shabbat), and one should imagine that all one's affairs have already been taken care of.” On Shabbat, a person sets aside all their affairs and does not worry at all about where their livelihood will come from.
On Shabbat we also do not read material related to weekday affairs. Why? The answer is simple: imagine that parents have traveled from far away to visit, and their son leaves them and sits down to read a newspaper…
Cooking and baking cakes are also forbidden on Shabbat. Why? Take the same example: the parents have come to visit, and the father asks, “Where is Rachel?” His son-in-law says, “She's in the kitchen, baking a cake…” “I didn't come to eat cake,” says the father. “I came to sit with you and talk. Sit here beside me, and let's enjoy each other's company.”
This is exactly what the Almighty wants from us on Shabbat. If you have prepared delicacies before Shabbat, let's eat them together. But if you haven't prepared them, now is not the time to cook them!
Now we are sitting at the table, speaking words of Torah and enjoying each other's company. On Shabbat, we are together with the Almighty. The words of the Jerusalem Talmud are well known: “Asking ‘Are you well?’ on Shabbat was barely permitted.” Why? Because when we are in the presence of the King of all kings, the Almighty, we do not ask how a person is doing.
How can we create this atmosphere? There is no need to create anything; we simply need to remember that today is Shabbat and not spoil it. The table must be a Shabbat table. And we must know who is present at this table: it is the Almighty's table!
This will also help us understand another point. On Shabbat, we do not pray for our material needs. Why?
A story is told about a very successful fundraiser. When he wanted to approach a wealthy man, he would find out everything in advance about his family, parents, brothers and sisters, and so on. When he came to the wealthy man, he would first sit down and talk with him about his hometown, his grandfather, his uncle, and so forth.
Then the wealthy man would ask him, “What do you want?”
“Oh, nothing, nothing,” he would say. “I'll come by next time…”
In the end, instead of eighteen dollars, he would receive eighteen hundred. This is a very good way to get money from wealthy people…
A similar story is told about the Brisker Rav. Once he came to see a wealthy man. The man asked him, “What would the Rav like?” The Rav replied that he was asking for fifteen minutes of his time. For those fifteen minutes, the Rav simply talked with him, engaged him in conversation, without mentioning a single word about what he needed.
This is essentially how we behave on the holy Sabbath. We speak with the Almighty and ask Him for nothing — neither for the sick nor for a livelihood.
We want only to build a connection.
We open the Torah, the Book of Psalms. After Shabbat, we say to the Almighty, as it were: “We are friends, aren't we? Then please heal so-and-so who is ill.” This gives us the opportunity to ask for everything we need throughout the weekdays, because the Almighty, as it were, remains connected to us.
But if we make requests on Shabbat, we spoil everything. On Shabbat, we must leave all our worries behind; it is a joyful day. We even put on festive clothing to express our joy.
In fact, this is much easier than it seems to us.