Redemption at the Shabbat Table: The Deeper Meaning Behind the Three Meals

The Birth Pangs of Redemption

In a striking response to a question about the Talmudic promise that one who eats three Shabbat meals is spared from the “birth pangs of the Messiah” (Shabbat 118a), Rabbi Avigdor Miller offered a profound analogy: the coming of the Messiah is like childbirth. Just as childbirth brings new life but is preceded by the painful and dangerous process of labor, so too the arrival of the Messianic era is preceded by a period of hardship and turmoil for the Jewish people.

Rabbi Miller explains that this pain serves a purpose. It teaches vital spiritual lessons that prepare the soul for the renewed world of the Messiah. While he does not elaborate on those lessons, he points out that the Talmud presents an alternate path: through the Shabbat meals, one can internalize these lessons and bypass the suffering.

Transforming Physical Pleasure into Spiritual Awareness

When partaking in the special Shabbat meals, says Rabbi Miller, one must ask: Why did Hashem command us to delight in Shabbat? What is the purpose? The answer lies in Mesillat Yesharim (chapter 1): the goal of life is “to delight in Hashem.” The physical pleasure of food should serve as a gateway to contemplating the kindness of Hashem, Who created all delights from nothing.

Rabbi Miller emphasizes that such contemplation during eating is not simple. A beautifully prepared table stimulates the senses and awakens strong feelings of pleasure. These emotions can cloud rational thought, and it takes inner strength to cut through the fog and bring awareness to the fore. However, when one pushes through the veil of physical indulgence and recognizes that every flavor and every bite exists solely because of Hashem’s will, the meal becomes a spiritual exercise.

The awareness that nothing exists aside from Hashem’s will, and that all reality stems from it, is the lesson meant to be learned through the suffering that precedes the arrival of the Messiah. If one trains his mind to absorb this truth during the Shabbat meals, the hardship of Messianic birth pangs becomes unnecessary. “The choice is ours,” says Rabbi Miller.