The Rebbe explains that the Chabad custom of not washing and eating challa at the third Shabbos meal is because at this meal there is a lofty level of holiness that is a microcosm of the future time, so that for the body just a taste is enough. There are those who err and think that in Chabad we do not eat a third Shabbos meal at all. This is incorrect. We do not wash for bread but we definitely try to eat mezonos.
This week’s column is about stories that took place at the third Shabbos meal. In light of what was said above, in most Chabad houses there is a third Shabbos meal, albeit without washing. They serve mezonos and sing niggunim.
From my many years of experience I’ve learned that just hearing the niggunim has a deep effect and draws everyone closer to Torah, to mitzvos and Chassidishe feelings.
In Beit Shaan, for example, there are some people who come to daven Mincha at the Chabad house, rush home to eat the third meal, and then quickly come back to the Chabad house to hear some ancient niggunim, the hachana niggun for the maamer and the maamer itself. They all know already that these moments, of the niggunim and the maamer, are precious and lofty. Absolute silence reigns and everyone listens to the niggunim and the maamer.
SITTING ON THE FENCE
Kfar Gideon is a religious moshav in the Jezreel Valley. R’ Eliezer Gewirtz is the shliach for all the yishuvim of the valley and he also spreads the light of Chassidus among the religious and Chassidic residents of Kfar Gideon. One of the best times for this is the third Shabbos meal.
When Mincha is over, the rav of the yishuv, R’ Lifshitz, sits with some worshipers to have the third meal, but many others go outside to schmooze. That’s R’ Gewirtz’s opportunity. He sits on the fence in the yard of the shul and around him gathers a large crowd whom he holds enthralled with Chassidic tales and ideas from the Rebbe’s sichos on the parsha. In short, they farbreng.
For many of the participants, this is their only weekly opportunity to learn Chassidus and connect to the tree of life. R’ Gewirtz informs everyone of what they need to know about any upcoming holiday, farbrengen, shiur, birthday or central gathering.
HOT OFF THE PRESS
R’ Michoel Reinitz, shliach in Rechovot, has moving memories of the years 5749-5750, when he was on k’vutza by the Rebbe. Back then too the bachurim fulfilled the Rebbe’s horaa to gather people on Shabbos and to visit shuls in nearby neighborhoods and review the Rebbe’s teachings. R’ Reinitz and his chavrusa walked for about an hour to Canarsie where there was a shul of American balabatim who were happy to listen to the divrei Torah.
“We would listen to the Rebbe at the farbrengen and as soon as the farbrengen was over we bachurim would leave in pairs for our usual neighborhood. We would arrive at the shul when the people had already eaten the third Shabbos meal and we would repeat what the Rebbe had said that day at the farbrengen. What we said was hot off the press.
“During the summer there was plenty of time after the farbrengen to walk leisurely and arrive at the shul in plenty of time, to sit down with the people who were eating and to repeat what the Rebbe had said. During the winter, when the days are short, sometimes the Rebbe’s farbrengen ended close to sunset and then we would have to race and hope that the people were still waiting for us so we could say a few words before Shabbos was over. And they? They waited for us. They sat and waited. As soon as we arrived they said, ah, the Chassidim from Lubavitch finally arrived.
“One Shabbos there was a blizzard. The pavements were covered in slippery ice and it was hard to walk even a few steps. Before the farbrengen with the Rebbe, we wondered whether we could get to the shul after the farbrengen. As soon as the farbrengen was over, we looked at one another and it took a second, we both knew – we were going! We slipped a few times on the ice and it was a long way, and maybe the stars were already out, but we finally arrived at the shul. The people in shul were so impressed. They said Lubavitch is really something else, no matter if it’s hot in the summer or icy in the winter, Lubavitch always comes through.
“We were told that before we arrived a big debate erupted at their third Shabbos meal about whether we would show up or not. The rav of the shul, R’ Jungreis, insisted that Lubavitch would come no matter what. When we arrived there was a lot of excitement and everyone listened closely to what we quoted from the Rebbe, things we had heard less than an hour before.”
FULL HOUSE
R’ Dotan Korati, shliach to the college for business administration in Rishon L’Tziyon and who puts in a lot of work there during the week, spends Shabbos in Neot Ashalim in Rishon L’Tziyon. As soon as he moved there, representatives of the vaad of the Sephardic shul asked him to become their rav.
From the outset, he tried to arrange farbrengens at the shul but realized that the people were not accustomed to lingering after Shacharis. The few who stayed were on pins and needles and then rushed home. In contrast to that, between Mincha and Maariv they have plenty of time and are used to sitting together for the third Shabbos meal. The rav joined this meal/farbrengen which lasted a long time each week. R’ Korati tells Chassidic stories and sichos of the Rebbe. More and more people keep joining from all over the neighborhood.
R’ Korati describes the colorful crowd which sits around the table:
“On my right sits Moshe, one of the young people in the neighborhood, who took on the job of ensuring absolute silence when I speak. Anyone who tries to talk during the drasha is glared at and is immediately quiet. On my left sits Shmuel, a 50 year old insurance agent from Russia. His ‘job’ is to amplify what I say and to support it with various insights from the sources and kabbala.
“One time I said, ‘Now you will hear a nice sicha from the Rebbe.’ Shmuel immediately stopped me with a question. ‘What do you mean by a nice sicha from the Rebbe? Are there nice sichos and not nice sichos? Are you the one to decide what is nice?’
“I had no choice but to admit that my choice of words was poor because the Rebbe really doesn’t need us to grade his sichos.”
Among the participants there is also the gabbai of the shul who loves the Rebbe and always says so. There is also the head of the vaad of the shul who recently returned from a visit to Vienna and who had what to say about the Shabbos meals there with Chabad.
They all support and encourage R’ Korati’s work and ask him to give as many shiurim as he can.
THE THIRD SHABBOS MEAL IN KFAR TAVOR AND NATZRAT ILIT
R’ Yeshaya Hertzl, rav in Natzrat Ilit and formerly rav in Kfar Tavor, shared some stories and ideas from his many years of experience in both locations.
He first referred me to a letter from the Rebbe about the third Shabbos meal. In a letter from 5717, the Rebbe writes about the great advantage of these sorts of things for students in high school, for we see how such matters are mekarev them and this is the only way that the messages are engraved within them. The holiness of Shabbos helps in general and even more so in the time of “the Will of all Wills.”
R’ Hertzl emotionally recalled a rare instance that he witnessed. It was Shabbos Parshas Naso, 12 Sivan 5751, right after Shavuos, when the Rebbe suddenly arrived in the zal with a cup of water. He washed his hands for the meal and the few Chassidim who were there at the time found themselves in the midst of a surprise farbrengen.
R’ Hertzl then went on to tell about his personal experiences:
“In our community I was always particular about attending the third Shabbos meal at the shul where they wash and eat challa and many other things. The crowd (mostly Sephardic) sang tunes and piyutim as is their custom and I taught them to include the Chabad niggunim. Everyone enjoyed spending the time singing and listening to divrei Torah.
“One of the high-ranking members of Mafdal (the Mizrachi Party) regularly attended these meals and after a short while he learned the niggun “B’nei Heichala” with the Alter Rebbe’s tune. He was so enamored of the niggun that he would come from far away just to hear it again and again.
“It wasn’t just him. As time went on, dozens of young and old came to the third Shabbos meal and ate challa and sardines. It became the talk of the yishuv. Many parents wondered why their children flocked to the third meal. Did they lack food at home? They inquired and found out that it wasn’t just the food. It was the atmosphere, the niggunim, the sitting together, the stories and the holiness of Shabbos which still hovered at that exalted hour.”
A custom that R’ Hertzl instituted even back in the Kfar Tavor days was that even his little children would sing loudly. Sometimes the young children reviewed a maamer Chassidus by heart (like the bar mitzva maamer) or said a d’var Torah. It turned out that people really liked hearing the children sing. Word got around and more and more people joined the meals.
“Actually,” concluded R’ Hertzl, “each of those meals was a long Chassidishe farbrengen that had a great impact on all the participants in the fulfillment of mitzvos and their involvement in Chassidus.”
A GOOD REASON TO OPEN YOUR WINDOWS FOR KIDDUSH
R’ Dovid Tal, shliach in the yishuv Timrat near Migdal HaEmek, told me about his first days on shlichus in Timrat.
In those days R’ Dovid and his family lived in a ground floor apartment. On the floor above them lived a family which did not like religion, to say the least. Every attempt by R’ Dovid and his wife to suggest any mitzva or to offer an invitation to a Shabbos meal was dismissed politely and firmly.
Whenever R’ Dovid recited Kiddush on Friday night or during the day, he would open the windows. Perhaps someone walking by would hear Kiddush once in his life.
One day, Mrs. Tal met her upstairs neighbor who said to her that every Friday night they wait to hear the Kiddush from downstairs begin. Her husband then takes a cup of wine in his hand and repeats every word of the Kiddush after R’ Dovid.
After this surprising disclosure, hearts were opened and the two families became friends. It was a bond which led to much Torah study and mitzva fulfillment.