Friday Night Live
by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
A Jewish home on Friday night shows how an ordinary human dwelling is transformed into a Divine sanctuary. The loaves of Challa and the candles recall the Menorah and the show bread in the Holy Temple. The table itself recalls the Altar, for eating can be elevated to an act of sacrifice. The Kiddush on wine is associated with the Libations of the Holy Temple. The candles emphasize the holy light of Shabbat, by the woman representing the "Shechinah of Malchut."
Shabbat is related to the divine manifestation in the Sefirah of Malchut which represents the Shechinah and also the totality, the receptacle that absorbs all that occurs, and is also connected with the first Sefirah, the Crown. The Sefirah of Malchut, or the Shechinah (Divine presence), represents the divine power as manifested in reality, operating in an infinite variety of ways and means.
It has seventy names, each expressing another aspect, another face of this all-inclusive Sefirah. For Malchut is the seventh of the lower Sefirot and, as the last, also includes in itself the entire ten; in other words, it expresses all of the (ten) Sefirot, each in seven different forms; so that seventy is the key number of this special evening devoted to Malchut and to the Shechinah.
Each of these represents a certain aspect of the feminine. Consequently, the symbols and contents of Shabbat Eve are oriented to the woman in her universal aspect as well as in terms of the family.
In preparation for the Kiddush ceremony, we sing or recite the song of praise for the 'Woman of Valor' (Proverbs 31:10-31). Its appreciation for the woman, the mother, the foundation of the home, has a double connotation, praising the lady of the house and also glorifying the Divine Shechinah of Malchut, the mother and foundation of the real world.
The Kiddush cup symbolizes the vessel through which the blessing flows. The numerical value of the Hebrew word for drinking cup 'kos' equals that of the Divine name 'Elokim,' expressing the divine revelation in the world, in nature, in law.
Into the cup is poured the bounty, the wine, whose numerical value is seventy, the key number of the Shabbat Eve. After the filling of the cup, now the vessel of consecration containing the divine plenty, it is placed on the palm of the right hand in such a way that the cup, supported by the upturned fingers, resembles a rose of five petals, as one of the symbols of Malchut is the rose.
The Kiddush prayer begins with the words of the Torah (Genesis 2:1-3) where Shabbat is first mentioned, and proceeds to the second prayer composed by the sages for the Kiddush and in which various meanings of Shabbat are poetically and precisely stated. Between the two parts is the blessing of the wine. Each of these two kiddush parts have exactly thirty- five words, together making seventy, again the central number of the Shabbat Eve. In the first section, Shabbat is treated as the day of summation and cessation of Creation, as G-d's day of rest.
The second section of Kiddush expresses the other side of Shabbat, the imitation of G-d by Israel. We declare "Blessed art Thou...by whose commandments we are sanctified," that the mitzvah is a way of reaching holiness, a way to G-d. After this the prayer speaks of the choseness of Israel, as Israel assumes the task of carrying on the act of Creation and its aftermath of rest and holiness.
Reference is made to the Exodus from Egypt. Shabbat, proclaimed as the day of rest from work, recalls the slavery in Egypt and is likened to the divine act of release from bondage and the bestowal of salvation. So Shabbat is also the weekly day celebrating the release and exodus from Egypt, as well as the salvation which, as the ultimate in time, is the Shabbat of the world.
This emphasis on Divine choice and man's obligation to continue to create and to rise above and beyond creation unto the Shabbat rest, the Kiddush concludes with the relation of the Jewish people to Shabbat.
After the recital of the Kiddush the one who performed the ceremony drinks from the cup, thereby combining the physical with the spiritual which is the essence of all ritual. All gathered at the table also drink of the wine, the meaningful act of introducing the Shabbat, represented by the flowers of the rose, the cup of the Redemption of the individual, of the nation and of all the world.
Rabbi Adin (Steinsaltz) Even-Yisroel was hailed by Time magazine as a 'once-in-a-millennium scholar.' Two million copies of his Steinsaltz Talmud (Random House) have been sold worldwide. He has been a resident scholar at both Yale and Princeton, and in 1988 was awarded the Israel Prize, the country's highest honor.
www.farbrengen.com
 |