לזכר נשמות לאה שושנה בת אהרן ריעדער מורינו ר׳ צבי הערש בן ר׳ ניסן חיים מורינו ר׳ ישעי בן ר׳ משה ר׳ יעקב בן ר׳ שמואל יוסף מ׳ חוה רבקה בת ר׳ שמעון ריעדער

Based on Nefesh Shimshon by Rav Shimshon Pincus, zt”l

Eating in the Beis Hamikdash was not regular eating. Someone who offered a korban in the Beis Hamikdash would receive a portion of meat, depending on what type of korban it was. So did this meat belong to him?

Let’s say a man wants to perform kiddushin and become engaged to a woman. Nowadays, a chassan gives a woman a ring under the chuppah. But truthfully, it can be any object, anywhere, as long as it’s worth more than a prutah. So can a man get engaged to a woman by giving her his portion of meat from a korban? Was it his?

The gemara says no. It was not his. In order to perform a proper kiddushin, he must give her something of his own.

Rav Pincus was once at a wedding, and during the chuppah, the mesader kiddushin asked the chassan to take out the ring. The chassan began to look for it but couldn’t find it!

His mother whispered, “Here, take my ring and give it to the kallah!”

The rav said no, he can’t perform kiddushin with a ring that doesn’t belong to him.

The mother then said, “Fine, so I’m giving him my ring as a gift.”

Only once the ring belonged to him was he able to use it for Kiddushin.

Meat from a korban comes from mi shulchan gavohah — the Most High Table. What does this mean?

When a person eats lunch at his friend’s, the halachah debates whether the food he eats belongs to him or his host.

Meaning, can the guest take the food with him to do with as he wishes?

But when it comes to the Mikdash, there is no such question. The food belongs to Hashem.

So it is with the Shabbos table. We are not saying a man can’t perform kiddushin with Shabbos food. We’re saying that the idea is the same. On Shabbos, we sit at Hashem’s table and eat His food.

In zemiros we say, “Da hi seudasa d’Atika Kaddisha — This is the meal of the Holy Ancient One.”

Shabbos kodesh, Hashem has invited us to His table. Like the korbanos from the Beis Hamikdash, we partake in His food

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Let’s Reflect:

This is a whole new level! Our takeaway here is that our food, the very makeup of our Shabbos meals, is elevated to the food of the Beis Hamikdash! To korbanos! That adds an entire new dimension to our Shabbos seudah. What can we do to show that we understand this elevation? Perhaps serve food on real dishes? Put more care into our plating and serveware? Make more elevated dishes in honor of Shabbos? The ideas are endless.

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