3 days of Yom Tov and Shabbat are over

[IsraeliGovtAreKapos]

Wonderful times

[muman613]

6 more  days till Yom Kippur!  Yay!

[Dr. Dan]

Finally got to shave...yay

[wonga66]

Many Haredim, especially Hassidim, become aggressive amongst eachother in shuls over petty matters after 3 days of no or poor sex, too much food and sugar, no exercise, uninspiring davening, poor rebbe and rabbinic leadership, no Amolekites to shecht, no 3rd Temple to build, a feeling of distance from Hashem: "The problem is that there's just too much food: it's just too good!" (R.Avigdor Miller)

[muman613]

Many Haredim, especially Hassidim, become aggressive amongst eachother in shuls over petty matters after 3 days of no or poor sex, too much food and sugar, no exercise, uninspiring davening, poor rebbe and rabbinic leadership, no Amolekites to shecht, no 3rd Temple to build, a feeling of distance from Hashem: "The problem is that there's just too much food: it's just too good!" (R.Avigdor Miller)

Huh... is there anything you can say which is not Lashon hara? In all my years with chassids I have never heard or seen what you refer to.. baseless hatred maybe? Personal problem wonga (or are acting as hasutton?)

[muman613]

First of all I doubt Rabbi Miller would agree with your assessment wonga... I think your attempt to use Rabbi Millers words to support your sick hypothesis is misleading.

Second, regarding the good food we eat on Shabbat and Yom Tov, the sages insist it is a necessary part of observing the Yom Tov.

The word ONEG which our Torah uses to describe the Shabbat and Yomim Tovim has been interpreted to mean that we must eat meat and wine and have a luxurious meal.

 

http://www.shemayisrael.com/parsha/ostroff/archives/shabbos6_10.htm

How is the mitzvah of simcha celebrated on Yom Tov?

When compared to Shabbos, Yom Tov, has an extra embellishment called simcha – happiness. The prophet tells us that we must enjoy Shabbos, as it says – å÷øàú ìùáú òðâ, which is achieved by consuming succulent food and drink. [1] The Mishna Berura cites Rishonim who hold that enjoying Shabbos is included in î÷øàé ÷ãù, as it says åáéåí äùáéòé ùáú ùáúåï î÷øà ÷ãù and the Sifra explains that one must enjoy Shabbos with food and drink. Oneg (pleasure) applies to Yom Tov as well, as Yom Tov is also î÷øà ÷ãù. [2]

So what is simcha?

The Rambam [3] says the following: One is obligated to be happy and good hearted on Yom Tov; him, his wife and children and all those depending on him. How does one make them happy? Children are supplied with nosh (nuts, candies etc.) and women are supplied with fine clothes and jewelry, according to one's financial means. Men consume meat and wine, as simcha can only be had with meat and wine.

What is the Rambam's source?

The Rambam cites the possuk åùîçú áçâê (rejoice on your festival) as the biblical source for simcha. However, he states that the possuk is really referring to consuming the korban sh'lamim offered on Yom Tov – the shalmei simcha, but nevertheless it includes all means of simcha, each person with what makes him happy. Indeed in the time of the beis hamikdash the main simcha was to eat the korban sh'lamim.

What if one particularly enjoys eating fish, not meat, what is the simcha?

Rav Yosef in the gemora [4] says that women's clothing differs; in Bavel women appreciated colored clothes and in Eretz Yisrael women prefered ironed linen. There is no set pattern. For most people a good piece of meat and good wine satisfies whereas others might enjoy salmon steak. Each to his own, as long as it brings one simcha.

Revelry and wine seem contrary to Jewish behavior, should one not be more serious?

Firstly, there is a major difference between drinking for simcha and frivolity. Secondly, the halacha maps a timetable for Yom Tov, which does not leave much room for incorrect behavior.

The Rambam writes (6:19) “even though eating and drinking on Yom Tov is a mitvas aseh (a positive mitzvah) one should not spend the entire day eating and drinking. Everyone must rise early to shul and to batei midrash where they learn and read Yom Tov portions in the Torah and return home to eat. They then return to shul and learn until midday. After midday they daven mincha, return home to eat and drink until nightfall”.

We see that Yom Tov is divided between shul and learning and eating and drinking, which should place Yom Tov in the right Torah perspective.
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What is the difference between oneg and simcha?

Oneg requires one to eat two bread meals on Shabbos and Yom Tov, one at night and one during the day. The Rambam says to drink wine during the Shabbos and Yom Tov meals (on account of oneg) and consume meat and delicacies according to one’s means. Actions that cause pleasure are included in oneg.

The “original” simcha was to eat the korban, as stated above, not any meat and only because we lack korbanos are we obligated to find other means to make ourselves same’ach. [8]

In the time of the beis hamikdash one has a mitzvas aseh to eat the korban. One must consume meat during a meal or alternately if one does not enjoy meat, one should consume food that brings simcha. (Rav Sternbuch shlita explains that simcha is brought about by specific items, whereas oneg is more general. E.g. eating nuts is pleasurable but does not necessarily cause simcha. A good wine or juicy piece of meat will).

Must one imbibe wine every day of Chol Hamoed?

It’s mathematics. Since it is a mitzvah to be b’simcha on Chol Hamoed and wine produces simcha, one should imbibe wine on Chol Hamoed. [9]

It is not clear though how much wine, whether a revi’is, [10] a majority of a revi’is or any amount. [11] Perhaps we could say that the purpose is simcha and each person according to his particular drinking habits. Some people will suffice with a small amount of wine while others require more, v’tzorich iyun. If one does not enjoy wine it seems sensible that one is free from this obligation.

PS: I had a very happy Rosh Hashanah and ate some of the best food I have eaten in many months. My friend is the Mashgiach in the kitchen and he is a great Kosher cook.

http://www.bina.com.au/page/bina_107.php

[muman613]

What is Oneg?

http://www.vbm-torah.org/archive/undhalak/06undh.htm

II

The second mitzva is "oneg" - enjoyment, delight. This is even more singular. There is no other case where such a reaction is mandated. "Simcha" (joy) is the mandated reaction to festivals, but halakhically it is questionable if it is part of Shabbat (although it is mentioned in the prayers). Oneg, a mitzva to enjoy ourselves, is found only here. You do not have to enjoy Pesach, or tefillin, or kashrut. It does not say anywhere that Judaism is enjoyable - it surely is not always so. Only Shabbat has a commandment - you must enjoy yourself ("or else!"). Why?

First, let us quickly see what is meant by oneg. The Rambam writes:

What is delight? This is what the Sages said: That one should prepare an especially rich cooked food, and an especially spiced beverage, for Shabbat, each according to his wealth. The more one spends on Shabbat and in preparing the foods is commendable. If he cannot afford it, then even if he prepares only one cooked vegetable or the like in honor of Shabbat, that is oneg Shabbat. He is not obligated to restrict himself or borrow from others in order to increase the foods for Shabbat, as the Sages said: Let your Shabbat be mundane, but do not become dependent on others....

One is obligated to eat three meals on Shabbat... each meal with wine and two loaves.

Eating meat and drinking wine on Shabbat is oneg, if he can afford it. (ibid. 7-10)

I think we should remember the meaning of "commandment." The verse in Isaiah is not saying that Shabbat is a delight. It is saying - you should CALL it a delight. Examine the end of the verse - if you do all the things listed in the first part of the verse, "then you shall delight yourself in G-d." There is delight in Shabbat, the delight of G-d, but only if you do something to make it so. What does it mean to delight in Shabbat, and especially to delight in G-d? Obviously, food is only the external means for inner enjoyment. But why is there a mitzva to have a good time, and why specifically on Shabbat?

The answer I think is found in the reverse side of what we said about kavod. Shabbat is a gift, greater than me, which gives me something for myself. For that reason I honor it. But Shabbat does not give me something new, something from above. It opens me up to experience the boundless depth and height that is within me, that I have spent the week in developing. The halakha calls on us to find the delight in that experience, for otherwise the point will be lost. What is delight? It is the recognition that this boundless depth is in me, that I can experience it, cherish it, be one with it. Think of a child given a sparkling toy, a kaleidoscope. He turns it about, enchanted by its colors, by the new vistas it opens up for him. What is Shabbat, after the days of the week, but the realization of new vistas, new colors, deeper colors, in the everyday experience of being alive. If you only REST on Shabbat, recuperate from a week of toil, you miss out on the inner message - that you, within you, contain the light of creation. One has to open one's eyes to see the obvious. One has to make an effort to ensure that the experience of the infinite is grasped and internalized. The way to do that, paradoxically enough, is not by trying hard, but by enjoyment - by opening oneself to let the experience sparkle and delight us.

Kavod and oneg - cherish, honor, see it as valuable, as a gift, and, at the same time, open your eyes to see its sparkle, how it is part of your experience, and not something to be honored from afar. THEN, "you shall delight yourself in G-d, and I shall mount you on the high places of the earth, and feed you the legacy of Jacob your father, for the mouth of G-d has spoken."

No other mitzva has oneg, for all other mitzvot add to man from outside himself. If he enjoys that, good, and if not, also good. Shabbat adds nothing if you do not enjoy it, because it is not new, or rather it is a new dimension to yourself. Its only value is in the recognition that it is there, in the sudden realization how much value resides in the soul of a creative human being. That realization is delight.

III

Our master (R. Yehuda Ha-nasi, the author of the Mishna) made a meal for Antoninus (the Roman emperor) on Shabbat. He served a cold dish, (Antoninus) tasted it, and it was pleasant. (Antoninus) made a meal on a weekday and served a boiling dish. (Antoninus) said: The first was more pleasant to me. (R. Yehuda) said to him: It is missing one spice. (Antoninus) said: Is anything missing from the king's treasury? He said to him: It is missing Shabbat. Do you have Shabbat? (Bereishit Rabba 11,4).

The Sages claim that food tastes better on Shabbat. Why? Because Shabbat is a secret ingredient. What does that mean, if not that even though there is no secret ingredient, no actually additive, it tastes better because it is Shabbat. In other words, the same experience is enhanced because we view it, taste it, experience it, through Shabbat. Shabbat is not a new experience; it is the discovery of the depth of our OLD experiences. And THAT is why it is indeed a totally NEW experience.

There are a series of midrashim which aim to show that Shabbat is not merely an internal experience, but an external, objectively different kind of time. These midrashim are not content with better-tasting food; they draw our gaze to the natural order. For instance:

'G-d blessed the seventh day and sanctified it....' R. Yishmael said: He blessed it with manna (In the desert, the manna fell every day, with a double portion on Friday, and none on Shabbat).... R. Eliezer said: He blessed it with the candle (light), and it happened to me myself. One time I lit the candle on the Shabbat eve, and came and found it burning at the conclusion of Shabbat, and no oil was missing.... (ibid. 11,2)

(Turnus Rufus, a Roman commander in the Land of Israel) asked R. Akiva: How do you know that G-d honors the Shabbat? He answered him: The Sambatyon River proves it, as it drags stones all the days of the week and rests on Shabbat... (ibid. 7)

I think these midrashim are emphasizing the kavod side of our equation - without a connection to the infinite creativity of G-d, we will find nothing on Shabbat. Three or four lectures ago, in what was then the second level of Shabbat, I stressed the idea that we rest so that only G-d is seen to be truly creative. Shabbat is the day that we draw down deep into the source of our creativity, which is also the unique position of G-d as sole creator of everything. In order to connect to that inner creativity within, we have to quiet all activity without, even the Sambatyon. But consider the following Chasidic story I once heard from Rav Amital:

Rav Zusha and Rav Elimelech, two Chasidic masters who were brothers, once decided to conduct an experiment to discover if the exaltation of spirit they felt on Shabbat was rooted in their attitude towards it, or in external reality. So they decided to make Shabbat once on a Wednesday. Tuesday afternoon they washed, immersed in the mikva (ritual bath), donned their Shabbat clothes, and welcomed the Shabbat queen. Then they recited kiddush, ate a Shabbat meal, sang the special songs, and spent the day the way that only Chasidic masters know how to spend a Shabbat day.

Ah, so what happened, you want to know. Well, I have heard two endings to this story. One claims that the day was flat, uninspiring, no glitter, no flash. Rav Zusha was disappointed, but Rav Elimelech told him: No, it was our fault. We did not eat your wife's gefilte fish. (In other words, we cannot do it alone). But the ending I like goes like this.

The day was a resounding success. The food was as sweet as ambrosia the angels sang along with them, the depths of holiness surged up and carried them up to the height of heaven. After havdala, Rav Zusha was elated. "You see, Elimelech," he said, "the holiness is in us."

"No," Rav Elimelech answered him, "it only proves that the holiness of Shabbat is so great that you can find its remnants even on Wednesday."

Think about it.

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

Many Haredim, especially Hassidim, become aggressive amongst eachother in shuls over petty matters after 3 days of no or poor sex, too much food and sugar, no exercise, uninspiring davening, poor rebbe and rabbinic leadership, no Amolekites to shecht, no 3rd Temple to build, a feeling of distance from Hashem: "The problem is that there's just too much food: it's just too good!" (R.Avigdor Miller)

Uhh wtf?

Get medicated.