The basic component of Shabbos meals is the bread, and its special name is 'challah'. The bread's name, 'Challah,' refers to the creation of the first Erev Shabbos: "Adam HaRishon... the Challah of the world", and from this comes the special care required by the mitzvah of separating Challah by a woman, and the reference to the serpent's deed.
Hence also the custom of baking challah for Shabbos on Erev Shabbos, which is mentioned in the Rema, and according to the early authorities it is alluded to in the Babylonian Talmud; however, in the Jerusalem Talmud, the baking on Friday evening is explicitly stated:
Ezra decreed for Israel... that they should bake bread on Erev Shabbos.
"By the sweat of your brow you will eat bread."
The Chida writes: "שלחן" with the letters reversed – "לנחש" . And from here to the first time bread is mentioned in the Torah – as a punishment for the sin of Adam and Eve, which was caused by the serpent:
"By the sweat of your brow you will eat bread".
The tikkun for this came in the Abrahamic War:
And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine,
And then the bread rises on the table of the angels:
"And I will take a morsel of bread and refresh your hearts".
In essence, the bread-making process involves selection and refinement. This is 'by the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread', from the thorn and thistle to find food. The selection continues through the very act of eating, and this is the essence of the work of 'raising the sparks'.
Bread and Selectivity in the Bible
A similar process can be seen in the seven mentions of bread in the Book of Genesis. We mentioned the first three times: 'By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread', 'He brought out bread and wine', and 'And I took a piece of bread'. The fourth time is when Avraham sends Yishmael away:
"And Avraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar".
Here too, there is a process of clarification, Yitzchak being chosen from the pair: Yishmael and Yitzchak, in the manner stated regarding the sons of the concubines: "And Avraham gave gifts and sent them away".
This process continues in our parsha – in the struggle for the birthright. Jacob and Esav are the sons of the same parents, twins, and here Jacob gives to Esav:
"Bread" and lentil stew.
And with this, he buys the birthright from him and becomes the chosen one. And indeed, this is the fifth time bread is mentioned in the Bible – and again, it is through a selective sorting of food from waste.
And make me delicacies.
Indeed, in our parsha, eating plays a central role – in Yitzchak's blessing. Yitzchak Avinu asks Esav for delicacies:
"Prepare me delicacies, that I love, and bring them to me, and eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die" [12].
Yitzchak's request for food raises understandable difficulty, and the author of 'Shem MiShmuel' addressed this, seeing the request for the hunt as a desire to elevate the sparks:
And make me delicacies as I love... And it is known from the matter of holy sparks that fell during the breaking of the vessels and need to be clarified and raised from inanimate, plant, animal to speaker [man], and with the proper kavana of eating, they are returned to holiness. And while they are in the "breaking", they are like captives and hunted, and when they are returned to holiness, it is as if one hunts and captures the captive... [13].
In another year, the 'Shem MiShmuel' explains it from a different angle – Yitzchak's request for delicacies was so that the Holy Spirit would rest upon him:
Regarding what Yitzchak wanted in the delicacies, God forbid, to say that he was eager for the lust of eating... It seems that in the Midrash on the verse "And there was a bitter spirit" Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai said that it caused them to lose the Holy Spirit... And it can be said that Yitzchak attributed it to his eyes being dimmed, and the Holy Spirit only dwells in joy, and since a blind person is considered dead, he lacked joy. Therefore, he sought things to gladden his heart, like Elisha, about whom it is written, "And now bring me a musician... so that the Holy Spirit may rest upon him."
The Tikkun of The Tree of Knowledge
Although Yitzchak asked for delicacies, Rivka added the bread, and this is the sixth time bread appears in the Bible:
And she gave him the delicacies and the bread which she had made with her hand for Yaakov her son.
Regarding this, the "Shem Shmuel" explained that their intention was to rectify the sin of the Tree of Knowledge:
"And make me savory food, etc." It seems that Yitzchak only said "savory food," while Rivka added bread... It seems that in the Midrash, regarding "and make me savory food," Rabbi Eliezer, quoting Rabbi Yose bar Zamra, said three things were said about it [the Tree of Knowledge]... And similarly, Yitzchak said, "and make me savory food, etc."... It seems that the Midrash came to hint that the entire purpose of the savory food that Isaac requested was to rectify the sin of eating from the Tree of Knowledge... And Yitzchak did not think to rectify anything other than the damage to the physical aspect... But Rivka, who knew through prophesy that Yaakov would receive the blessings and Esav would descend greatly, "wisdom of women builds her house" and added the bread, which is a rectification of the intellectual aspect.
This tikkun must come specifically through Rivka's efforts, who rectifies the sin of Chava:
The fact that the blessings needed to come to Yaakov through Rivkas's efforts is explained according to the words of the esteemed father of our Rebbe, may his memory be blessed, that Yaakov and Esav, who were born twins in the same womb, were a likeness of the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge, which were intertwined at the same root. And it is known that the mothers rectified the sin of Chava... and Rivka rectified the sin of Chava by feeding Adam from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This means that since Esav is a model of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the delicacies he prepared were a model of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, that is, to connect good with evil. And the delicacies of Jacob were a model of the fruit of the Tree of Life. Therefore, Rivka, who tried to prevent Yitzchak from eating Esav's delicacies and instead had him taste Yaakov's delicacies, thereby rectified the sin of Eve who fed Adam from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Now it is clear why Yitzchak did not taste Esav's delicacies:
And according to what is stated, the reason why Yitzchak did not taste any of Esav's delicacies will be understood. It was simple for him to taste some of them to appease Esav, and also so that the blessing he ultimately gave would come to pass, because he recognized and knew what was before him, that they were the fruit of Esav.
After Jacob gave Esav bread with lentil stew, the bread he gave Yitzchak was pure, and from it came joy to Yitzchak, and the Holy Spirit rested upon him.
The joy of corrected eating
Regarding the joy of proper eating, Rabbi Kook wrote:
That which simple appetite accomplishes for all creatures and for average human beings, stimulating the individual to eat in order to strengthen his life and his faculties, so too in a rarefied way, with elevated power, in people with great awareness, righteous people, the foundations of the world, it awakens the desire to unite with all of the holy sparks concealed in each food, corresponding to which the soulful joy awakens in the person who eats in their presence, receiving them into his soul, increasing, because of them, light and vast joy. And the sparks themselves add might and joy at that movement, even before the eating.
When we eat for the sake of our material appetite, our sadness intensifies, as in the hidden meaning of the verse, “those who eat the bread of sadness” (Psalms 127:2).
That is because the spiritual sparks in the food, which were capable of rising, descend. And when they are sad at their having descended, the person eating feels their sadness as a result of the interchange of a number of ways of feeling and transpositions of spiritual letters, until the sad feeling is recognized in a psychological disclosure within himself.
The food of the Land of Israel sanctifies from within and is not material except in its outward appearance, but one must be careful with the foods of the Diaspora. The anticipation of Eretz Yisrael elevates the food outside the Land.
And this is the secret of remembering Jerusalem, whether by the rivers of Babylon or in the Song of Ascents, which is repeated at every meal. The hoping for the Land of Israel, which comes right after eating, refines the food from abroad and makes it close to the elevation of the Land of Israel.
Translated from a sicha of Rav Hadari
