is going to be about eating shalosh seudos, eating the third meal on Shabbos, or let me add, maybe not eating shalosh seudos. The reason why I chose this topic for today is because the mitzvah of eating three meals on Shabbos we learn out from a pasuk in this week's parsha. This week's parsha, Beshalach, it says that Hashem gave the Jews the manna, in the desert He gave them the manna, and they picked the manna every day and they picked enough that was last, last them for the day, was an omer, a certain measurement that they picked for every person of the family. On Friday, they picked double, and Moshe Rabbeinu told them, \"Why do you pick double today? Why did Hashem make that you should get double share on Friday? Because tomorrow you will not find it, because Shabbos the manna did not come down.\" And the expression that the pasuk says was that it says, \"ויאמר משה,\" משה said to the יידן that's, \"אכלוהו היום,\" \"eat today,\" \"כי שבת היום,\" \"today is שבת,\" \"היום לא תמצאוהו בשדה,\" \"today you will not find it in the field,\" other days they would find it in the field. And the Gemara, the Talmud tells us that because the pasuk uses the word \"היום\" three times, from there we learn out that you have to eat three meals on Shabbos. Today, which refers to the manna, today you will get the manna, and the manna was food, so from that pasuk where it says three times the word \"היום,\" we learn out that a person should eat three meals on Shabbos, which is different than the weekdays. Those days, till I would say lately, people would eat only two meals a day. They would eat in the morning and the evening. So, Shabbos, they would eat, if it would be a regular day, they would eat one meal in the morning and one meal at night. But the mitzvah is that we have to eat three meals on Shabbos, which means Friday night, one meal, Shabbos morning, another meal, and Shabbos afternoon, a third meal. And that's besides motzaei Shabbos, after Shabbos, which is an evening meal which we call melaveh malka, which by the way, maybe next week, since we're talking about shalosh seudos, maybe next week we'll talk about melaveh malka. But from this pasuk, we learn out the special din that a person should eat three meals on Shabbos. The Gemara even says great things about a person who fulfills this mitzvah, this din of eating three meals on Shabbos, and the main thing is the fact that he eats a third meal. The other two is no chidush, every person eats, like I said before, twice a day, but the fact that you're going to eat a third time and you're going to do it for the sake of the mitzvah, so the Gemara says that this takes away a person from the גיהנום and it saves a person from חבלי משיח. It says before משיח will come, there will be a lot of hardships similar to labor pains before a woman gives birth. Before משיח, there will be labor pains, and this will save a person from חבלי משיח, all kinds of things the Gemara says concerning a person who fulfills this mitzvah of eating shalosh seudot, eating three meals. And the Gemara says, אמר רבי יוסי, רבי יוסי said, \"יהא חלקי מאוכלי שלש סעודות בשבת,\" he wished his share should be amongst those that eat three meals on Shabbos. That's how special it is to eat three meals on Shabbos. There are certain dinim that apply to the third meal. The first two meals we all know: Friday night you make kiddush and then you eat, you have lechem mishneh, שבת morning you make kiddush and you eat, you have lechem mishneh. To shalosh seudot, you don't have to make kiddush, even though before the other two meals you do make kiddush. Really, the mitzvah of making kiddush is only mid'oraita, from the Torah, it's only Friday night. Where do we take this mitzvah of making kiddush? From the pasuk where it says, \"זכור את יום השבת לקדשו,\" \"you shall remember Shabbos to make it holy,\" and the Gemara says what does that pasuk mean? Remember it by saying the special berachah, the special prayer that we say in kiddush. It is the חכמים who added that when you say that special blessing, you should say it over a cup of wine. That's miderabbanan, but the kiddush itself is from the Torah. Shabbos morning before we eat, the רבנן made a mitzvah of making Kiddush before we eat. And this is what they said: we know that the kavod of eating the meal during the day, the second meal, is more important than the meal of the night. And therefore, if we're going to make Kiddush at night and not make Kiddush before we make eat the meal in the after on the Shabbos morning meal, then we will be giving more kavod to the night meal than the morning meal, and the morning meal needs more kavod. So therefore they said you should also before you eat you have to make Kiddush. But because that Kiddush is only מדרבנן and the one at night is from the Torah, that's why they said don't say the whole long Kiddush. Just take a cup of wine and make the ברכה הגפן over it before you eat the meal. So you have both: you show that you make Kiddush and you don't eat anything before Kiddush, that gives kavod to the meal, but they chose a היכר that shows a difference between the night and the morning to show that the morning is not a mitzvah from the Torah. But when it comes to שלש סעודות, there is no דין of making Kiddush before we eat שלש סעודות. And the reason is because the חכמים said that we compared the Kiddush of the day to the Kiddush of the night. The Kiddush of the night, by once making Kiddush you can eat throughout the whole night. So, too, during the day, by once making Kiddush you can eat throughout the whole the whole day. And therefore there is no דין that you have to the reason is that you don't make Kiddush by שלש סעודות. Whether you have to have לחם משנה or not, there is a מחלוקת, an argument. Some say that every time you eat on Shabbos, if a person will decide to eat 10 meals on Shabbos, let's say he ate and he bentched and half an hour later he got hungry again and he decided to wash again and eat another meal, you have to have לחם משנה. Every time you eat, you have to have לחם משנה. But there is another opinion that says, no, that you only have to have לחם משנה Friday night, Shabbos morning, but by שלש סעודות you don't need לחם משנה, which means the two loaves. They even bring proof from the manna that in the מדבר the Yidden did not have לחם משנה for from the manna. Let's make the cheshbon: They used to get one omer a day. One omer made two loaves. So when they had two omerim on Friday, which was double portion, so what would happen was, one loaf they ate up in the morning, they had three loaves left. At night, they still were able to have lechem mishneh, and they ate one loaf. The next day, they had in the morning meal, they had two loaves, so they had lechem mishneh again. Came to shalosh se'udot, they only had one loaf. So obviously they didn't have lechem mishneh for shalosh se'udot. So from there, we learn out, at least this opinion learns out that we don't need lechem mishneh for the shalosh se'udot meal. Whether bichlal you need bread for the meal, now usually we know a meal, according to halacha, a real meal is with bread. Actually, sometimes you find an expression that the word lechem, which is bread, refers to the whole meal. There's a pasuk that says עבד לחם רב, he made a big party, a big meal, the expression is he made a big lechem, and lechem is bread, because a meal is bread. Nowadays, we're used to a little differently. We eat most of the week most people don't eat any bread, we eat have other stuff to eat. Years ago, it wasn't like that. A meal was bread. Everything else that you eat together in the meal was called ללפת את הפת, it was things that you eat with the bread. Meat, meat is called something that you eat with your bread. Eggs was eat with your bread, fish you eat with your bread, cheese was with your bread. The main thing is bread. So since the main meal is bread, so it makes sense that since there's a din that you have to eat three meals on Shabbos, the first and the second and the third, so all three meals require bread. So the third meal would also require require bread. On the other hand, there is another opinion that says that you don't have to eat bread by shalosh se'udot. You have to have bread to the first meal and to the second meal, but not to shalosh se'udot. But you're yotzei with mezonot, you eat cake. You eat such things that you make a borei minei mezonot on and then you would make an al hamichya. If you eat that, you are also yotzei the mitzvah of shalosh se'udot. Then there's a third opinion that you don't even have to eat mezonot, you don't even have to eat cake. You're yotzei if you eat peirot, if you eat fruit, things which you make a bracha meaning a borei peri ha'etz on, or other things like vegetables that you make a borei peri ha'adamah, and you don't make an al hamichya then, you make a borei nefashot when you finish, and you're yotzei shalosh se'udot with that also. And these opinions are brought down in Shulchan Aruch. The Alter Rebbe in Shulchan Aruch also brings these three opinions. But afterwards, the Alter Rebbe writes clearly that a person should be machmir like the first de'ah. Should not rely on the other opinions, the lenient opinions, but should be machmir, should be more strict and go according to the opinion that says that you have to have bread by shalosh se'udot. You must wash for shalosh se'udot. And he says unless a person is so full that he can't eat bread because he's full and he's not going to have any pleasure from eating, but on the contrary, he's going to have tza'ar, he's going to have pain, so then he shouldn't eat bread and rely on the other opinions. But otherwise, a person should try to go according to the more stricter opinion that you have to have bread. And he even says more: החכם עיניו ב... בראשו, he says, a person should be smart enough, and during the second meal, should not eat so much, he should leave place over for himself, that he should have enough place to wash and be able to eat bread for שלש סעודות. So it comes out from here that we see clearly that the right way to do it, the way it comes out in the Shulchan Aruch, is that we should wash and eat bread for the third meal.

Nevertheless, we know that the seder, the minhag by the Rebbes was, Rebbes in Lubavitch was, that they did not wash and eat bread by שלש סעודות. They didn't even always eat mezonos for שלש סעודות. They would eat some fruit or things like that. Or as the expression is, they would have a טעימה כל שהוא, which means a taste of something, but not bread and not even necessarily mezonos. The Rebbe Rashab, sometimes what he would do was, he would daven late, he would daven long and finish late, after davening, he would make kiddush, eat cake, mezonos, make an al hamichya, then he would daven מנחה, and then before the sheki'ah, he would wash for the meal. And it seems that he did it in order to be yotzei the mitzvah of שלש סעודות. The, מעשה, they once asked the Frierdiker Rebbe which of the two meals was the שלש סעודות? Was it the one that he ate after davening when he just ate cake, or is it the one that he ate later when he washed? And he said whichever one you want. Obviously, he didn't want to answer. But it seems like he did it in order to be יוצא שלש סעודות. But other times, this is not what he did, and the other Rebbes also, they would eat something to be יוצא שלש סעודות, but, but they did not eat any cake most times, and certainly did not wash. And the question is, why did they do this? When in Shulchan Aruch it says clearly that you should be machmir, that you should wash for שלש סעודות. Now, the reason why there is even an opinion that says that you don't have to wash for שלש סעודות, why is this different than the other meals? If it's a chiyuv of a meal, that you should have to wash for this meal too, why is there an opinion that you don't have to wash, and you're yotzei with mezonos or even with peirot? The reason is, the Levush says, because the whole din of שלש סעודות is learned out, as we said before, from the three times היום which is written in the פרשה of the מן. Now, if we look at the pesukim, the first time it says: אכלוהו היום, eat today. Second time it says: כי שבת היום, today is שבת. But the third time it says: היום לא תמצאוהו בשדה, today you will not find it in the field. So, basically, it says היום לא, today not. Today you will not find the מן in the field. As if the pasuk says that the third היום is no, that you don't really have to do it like we do it with the other two היום's. And, therefore, we say that this third meal is not the same as the other two meals, and you are yotzei with just eating something, and you don't have to wash. And being that you are yotzei with other things and don't have to wash, that's why the rebbeim would not wash. Now, this doesn't answer the question, because this is just a reason why there is such an opinion, and why b'shaat hadchak you could be yotzei like this opinion. The question is, why did they b'davka do that? Why did they, in this case, follow the lenient opinion, even though there is a source to the lenient opinion because it says היום לא, but why would they do that and not go according to the stricter opinion? We know we always try to be machmir in any mitzvah that we have and there are different opinions, we always try to follow the stricter opinion in order to be yotzei according to everybody. Why, in this case, would they follow the lenient opinion, even though we find this היום לא? The Tzemach Tzedek talks about it in a teshuvah, but we have to really know why is this? And the answer is because al pi kabbalah this is a time that you shouldn't eat really. It says in Kabbalah, actually even hinted or written in the Bach, that the third meal of Shabbos is כנגד, this represents the time after techiyat hametim of Olam Haba, after the resurrection of the dead in Olam Haba. We know בכלל שבת is מעין עולם הבא. Shabbos is similar to the way it's going to be in Olam Haba. But in Shabbos itself, there are different periods, different stages. The stage of Shabbos afternoon, which is called in קבלה רעוא דרעווין, which means the will of all will, that's the time that represents techiyat hametim after the time when there will be the resurrection of the dead and the time what we call Olam Haba. Now, concerning that time, that period, it says עולם הבא אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה. Time of Olam Haba, there will be no eating and no drinking. There will be no food. And, therefore, this meal, which is at the time of רעוא דרעווין, which represents Olam Haba, is also a time when you shouldn't eat and you shouldn't drink. It says, it also also similar to Yom Kippur. It says, why is it that on Yom Kippur we're not allowed to eat and we're not allowed to drink? It says, because Yom Kippur at that time is similar to the way it's going to be in Olam Haba after תחיית המתים. Yom Kippur is such a high level that it is me'ein of the way it's going to be in the time of Olam Haba. And since the time of עולם הבא אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה, you don't eat and you don't drink, so therefore Yom Kippur also you're not allowed to eat and you're not allowed to drink. And this time of the day of Shabbos is also similar to Yom Kippur, similar to Olam Haba, and therefore you shouldn't eat at this time. Actually the Bach on this פרשה, on these פסוקים, the Rabbeinu Bachya I mean, on these פסוקים says that the time of סעודה שלישית, of שלש סעודות, is me'ein the time of Olam Haba when we refer to that time as a time of ayin, ayin means not, time of complete bitul, complete self-nullification, and therefore it's not a time to eat. Eating means self-gratification, something that makes the person satisfied, makes the person feel good. That's only when a person is a מציאות, but when you're at a time when you represent a complete bitul and ayin, so that's not a time for a person to eat. And therefore, al pi kabbalah, this is not a time to eat, so certainly not a time to wash and eat a real meal with bread, and even not to eat cake, but just to be yotzei with a little bit, but not to make a big fuss over the eating. And therefore, since al pi kabbalah you shouldn't be eating really a meal then, that's why the רביים did not wash for שלש סעודות or eat mezonot, and חסידים who follow the רביים did the same because al pi kabbalah you shouldn't. Now, it's interesting to note that by other חסידים it's just the opposite. In other by other חסידים there's a big fuss made over שלש סעודות. Out of all three meals, שלש סעודות is the main meal. That's when the Rebbe's lead tish, as they call it. People get together and make sure to eat שלש סעודות in a minyan, because שלש סעודות על פי קבלה is such a special time, as we said before, time of רעוא דכל רעווין, the time when it's the will of the will of Hashem, so to speak, the פנימיות הרצון of Hashem, similar to לעתיד לבוא, the greatest things, and therefore that meal is such an important meal that they make the biggest fuss over it. They eat it with a minyan, because if it's a special meal, we want all the Yidden to be together. There's actually another reason why they would make have a minyan, people have a minyan by shalosh seudot, because shalosh seudot is the end of the day of Shabbos, which is close to מוצאי שבת when Shabbos will be over. When Shabbos is over, that's the time when the נשמה יתירה leaves. You know on Shabbos we have a נשמה יתירה, an extra neshamah. When Shabbos is over, that neshamah, that extra neshamah leaves. So it's a big inyan to have a minyan at the time of יציאת נשמה. We know when a person, chas v'shalom, passes away, there's something very special if there is a minyan standing in the room at the time when the neshamah leaves the body. Since מוצאי שבת the נשמה יתירה leaves the body, we want a minyan. So that's another reason why they would have a minyan at the time of shalosh seudot, mainly for the time when shalosh seudot is over and Shabbos is over. But besides that, they have a whole fuss over shalosh seudot because it is a special time. And this is also based on Kabbalah. Chassidim always follow Kabbalah, and this is based on Kabbalah. But in Lubavitch, we look at it the other way, also based on Kabbalah, but we look at it a little bit deeper, that since this על פי קבלה is such a great time, similar to לעתיד לבוא, when אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה, therefore this is a time also when we don't make a fuss over eating and we don't eat the meal by washing and by even eating mezonot because it's a time of אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה. And it's interesting that when did this start in Lubavitch? We know that the Alter Rebbe would eat shalosh seudot like all the other talmidim of the Maggid. תקס״ב, which is the year 1802, that's when it stopped. This was after the Alter Rebbe came out of jail the second time. We know that the Alter Rebbe was in prison in תקנ״ט, and he was freed on י״ט כסלו. Then he was in prison the second time, and he came out around Chanukah in the year תקס״ב. When he came out of prison the second time, he said a maamar, and in the maamar he had mentioned to that we said before that on the third seudah it says היום לא, and therefore he said that this is a day, a time not for eating and drinking, and since then שלש סעודות stopped. And it seems like that the real inyan of the chidush of the Alter Rebbe to follow Kabbalah in a deep way started really then. We know that the real spreading of Chabad started after the Alter Rebbe was freed from prison. Truth is that from the beginning on, the Alter Rebbe's דרך was Chabad, which followed Kabbalah in a deep way and in a way that it becomes part of the person and we follow it to its furthest extent, but still, in that itself there were stages. And only after Petersburg, as it's called, after the Alter Rebbe came out of jail, and certainly after the second time, that's when it became much deeper. And therefore it seems after that stage, that's when the Alter Rebbe taught this inyan that על פי קבלה we should not eat שלש סעודות, and that's when he stopped feeding tishen of these שלש סעודות, and the Alter Rebbe's chasidim also did the same thing, that they stopped eating really שלש סעודות by washing and eating mezonot. But it's all based on this ענין על פי קבלה.

Now, so far it seems that what they were doing and what chasidim do is that we follow על פי קבלה, that's why we don't eat, but as far as halachah is concerned, we are lenient. In other words, we are actually lenient, we don't do it lechatchilah according to halachah, but because we want to follow Kabbalah, so we go against the chumradike opinion in halachah. That means that even though normally we want to be מחמיר על פי הלכה, but here we are מקיל על פי הלכה in order to do it על פי קבלה. If there would be no lenient opinion in halachah, then we couldn't do על פי קבלה. We know whenever there is a machloket between Kabbalah and halachah, we cannot follow Kabbalah against halachah. But as long as it's not against halachah, because in halacha there is an opinion that says that you don't have to wash and you don't have to eat mezonot, so we are yotzei also al pi halacha even though we're not machmir, but we do it in order to go according to kabbalah. But the truth is, it is not so. We have to find a way to explain that we are not meikil al pi halacha, that even al pi halacha, al pi nigleh, this is not a kula. This is not that we are lenient, we are doing everything in the proper way. Because after all, kabbalah and halacha, which means פנימיות התורה, the inner part of the Torah, the סתרי תורה, the secrets of the Torah, and the נגלה דתורה, the revealed part of Torah, are not chas v'shalom two תורות. It's one Torah, together it's one unit. In the Zohar, it refers to them as נגלה is called גופא דאורייתא, the body of the Torah, and קבלה, פנימיות התורה is called נשמתא דאורייתא, the neshamah of Torah. Now, the guf and the neshamah, the body and the soul, are not two separate entities. Together they make up the person, and they have to work in harmony, they have to work together. So you can't have them contradict. So here also, we can't say that they did al pi kabbalah, but were meikil, not a hundred percent al pi halacha. When halacha and kabbalah have to go together. So we do have to find an explanation that really what the Rebbeim did and what Chassidim do by following the Rebbeim is not just a kula in halacha, but we do it in order to be yotzei more kabbalah, but even in halacha it is lechatchilah fine, it is a דין לכתחילה that what we do is right. And the explanation is as follows: When it comes to Shabbos, we know there's a din that you have to eat the meals, as we said before: you have to eat food, you have to wash, eat bread, you have to eat meat, you have to eat fish, all these dinim. But the truth is, there is no din that you have to eat a meal on Shabbos. The reason you have to eat a meal on Shabbos and you have to eat בשר ודגים and all the things that you have to eat is because there is a din of עונג שבת, there's a din of pleasure: וקראת לשבת עונג, we have to have pleasure on Shabbos. Now, most people have pleasure by eating food, eating meat, eating fish, eating bread, and therefore the din became that you have to eat these things. But then there's a din in Shulchan Aruch, like what happens if a person is in a stage, because he's sick or whatever reason, that if he'll eat, he won't be comfortable, he can't eat, it'll give him tzaar, it'll give him pain, and he won't have oneg. Then the din is that you don't have to eat. As a matter of fact, the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch uses a lashon, uses a lashon that כמעט that he's not allowed to eat, because the whole idea of eating is to get taanug, and if his taanug his eating will give him tzaar, the opposite of taanug, it'll give him pain, the opposite of pleasure, then he's defeating the purpose of why he's eating. So almost he says כמעט you're not allowed to eat. And therefore the din is that if somebody had a dream, a nightmare, he's allowed to fast a תענית חלום on Shabbos. If a person has a bad dream, then the eitza it says what you should do is that the next morning you should fast that day, the day that you wake up, not postpone it. And if you fast that day, that helps the person overcome the problems that the dream might cause. It says nowadays we shouldn't worry about it because the dreams don't mean anything, but when dreams used to mean something, this was the din. And it says you're allowed to fast a תענית חלום on Shabbos, you're allowed to fast this kind of fast on Shabbos. And the reason is because this makes a person feel good. Since he had a nightmare, it makes him feel good that he fasts, that he will get rid of all the problems that the dream might cause. So, to him, this is not tzaar, this is taanug. Okay, because lif'oal the halacha is that you normally have to eat, and he's doing different than most people, so he has to do teshuva for what he did, for fasting, and therefore it says he should fast another day during the week. But, nevertheless, the din is that you do fast on Shabbos, and it's based on this din. Because there is no din of eating, there is a din of taanug. And if this person will get taanug from not eating, then that's that's good for him. And that's why there were tzadikim that sometimes used to fast on Shabbos, because this is a תענית of teshuvah and it gave him such pleasure that it was more even than eating. Just reminds me of a story, this is not so נוגע to the point that we're making, but the Ostrovtsa Rebbe was a very פוילישע רבי, a great tzaddik, he used to fast sometimes on Shabbos. Once somebody came to speak to him, a yid who was not so frum, he wasn't a shomer Shabbos, and the Ostrovtsa Rebbe started talking to him about being shomer Shabbos, stop being mechalel Shabbos. And he turns around, he says, \"Rebbe, you're talking to me about chillul Shabbos? You are also mechalel Shabbos.\" He says, \"I'm mechalel Shabbos? How am I mechalel Shabbos?\" So, he said, \"Well, you fast on Shabbos. I heard you don't eat on Shabbos, sometimes you fast. You're not allowed to fast on Shabbos.\" So, he says to him, \"You're right. What I'm doing probably is wrong, but there is a big difference between my chillul Shabbos and your chillul Shabbos. Your chillul Shabbos that your store is open, some people might copy you and do the same. Chillul Shabbos that I do, I don't think too many people are going to copy me.\" This is just like a joke, but the real reason why he was allowed to do it is because to him it was ta'anug. Because the whole din of Shabbos eating is not the eating, but it's the ta'anug, and most people get pleasure from eating, that's why the din is that you have to eat. But if a person can't eat, or it'll make him uncomfortable, then it's better that he shouldn't eat. Just like this is concerning the general idea of eating on Shabbos, the same is concerning what type of food. Normally, you have to eat bread on Shabbos because normally a meal is bread, and this is the ta'anug a person gets. But if a person would have tza'ar from eating bread by a Shabbos meal, then it defeats the purpose of why he should eat it, and therefore, better he shouldn't eat bread. So, al pi halacha, a person who has tza'ar from eating bread on Shabbos doesn't have to eat the bread, and that's not a bediavad, that's lechatchila the din. But if he has pain and make, it makes him suffer if he will eat bread, then whichever meal it should be, even the first or the second meal, then you don't have to eat bread, and that's the halacha lechatchila. When it comes to shalosh seudos, being that al pi kabbalah you shouldn't eat bread, because it's represents the time of אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה when you shouldn't be eating and therefore, we don't really want to make a big fuss and eat bread, or even cake. So, since al pi kabbalah, you should not be eating the bread. So, a person who knows what it says in kabbalah, and feels in tune to it and sensitive to it, has tza'ar if he would eat bread by shalosh seudos because he knows al pi kabalah he shouldn't. A person like that al pi halacha should not eat bread. Doesn't have to, and kim'at that he's not allowed to, according to the lashon of the Alter Rebbe, because he has tza'ar. And it makes no difference why the tza'ar comes. Whether it's because of a גשמיותדיקע reason that he has a stomach ache and he can't eat bread, or it comes because he feels what al pi kabalah is that you shouldn't eat bread. And therefore, the Rebbeim, who felt these רוחניותדיקע things and at the time of this time of the day on Shabbos, they felt the רעוא דרעוין, they felt this is a מעין עולם הבא, and they felt how this is similar to לעתיד לבוא and similar to Yom Kippur, so to them, to eat the bread would be tza'ar. And therefore, al pi halacha, they didn't have to eat the bread, and they wouldn't, they're not allowed to. So, this explains we said before that it seems that they did al pi kabalah, but in halacha it was a kula, it was only a b'diavad. The truth is it's not so. This is the דין על פי הלכה לכתחילה, the way they're supposed to do it under circumstance. Now the Chassidim, most Chassidim are not at a level that they should feel these inyanim, that it should give them tza'ar, but nevertheless, knowing that this is the way that al pi kabalah it is, and this is the way the Rebbeim did it, so to eat bread also gives them to a certain degree, tza'ar. And if they don't have tza'ar from eating bread by שלש סעודות, but if you look a little bit further, they have tza'ar why they don't have tza'ar. You feel bad, why doesn't to bother me? Why am I not sensitive to this קבלהדיקע ענין and it doesn't bother me to eat bread? So, you have tza'ar from that. And as the Rebbe once said, if you don't have tza'ar from this, but then you have tza'ar why you don't have tza'ar that you don't have tza'ar from eating bread at this time. It's similar to what the Rebbe explained concerning another inyan, concerning sleeping in the Sukkah. We know that al pi halacha, Sukkos, you have to sleep in the Sukkah. Nevertheless, we know that the Mitteler Rebbe said to his Chassidim, \"How can you sleep in the sukkah when it's time of מקיפים דבינה? The sukkah shines מקיפים דבינה, a very high spiritual level of Kabbalah. So how can you sleep in מקיפים דבינה?\" And therefore, from then on Chassidim did not sleep in the sukkah. And the Rebbe explained this is על פי קבלה, because מקיפים דבינה you shouldn't sleep in. But על פי הלכה, you have to sleep. How can we explain על פי הלכה that you don't sleep in the sukkah? And the answer was since you know על פי קבלה that it's מקיפים דבינה, you shouldn't be sleeping in the sukkah, so you have tza'ar by sleeping in the sukkah. And we all know the din by sukkah that if המצטער, המצטער פטור מן הסוכה. Someone who has tza'ar is patur from sukkah, and it does not have to be by sleeping in by eating. You're patur from the sukkah if the way it'll be that you'll have tza'ar by eating in the sukkah, for instance if it rains. Okay, we have the minhag that we eat anyway. But על פי הלכה if it rains you leave the sukkah. Why? Because you have tza'ar eating in those circumstances and a מצטער פטור מן הסוכה. Someone who has tza'ar by being in the sukkah is patur from sukkah. And this applies to all the dinim of sukkah. So someone who have tza'ar by sleeping in the sukkah is patur from sleeping in the sukkah. Now what difference does it make whether you have tza'ar because it's going to rain in or you have tza'ar because על פי קבלה you shouldn't be sleeping in the sukkah and you feel bad that you have to sleep in the Sukkah? So when you don't sleep in the סוכה על פי קבלה, you are doing על פי הלכה also, because על פי הלכה you shouldn't sleep if you have tzaar. And then the Rebbe went on and said, what about those people who don't feel מקיפים דבינה, who don't have tzaar from sleeping in the Sukkah? But he says, but since you know that you should have tzaar and you don't, so that itself bothers you. You have tzaar why you don't have tzaar from sleeping in the Sukkah. And anyone that and if you don't have tzaar why you don't have tzaar from sleeping in the Sukkah, so you really you have tzaar why you don't have tzaar for not having tzaar for not sleeping for sleeping in the Sukkah. In other words, sof kol sof, it bothers the person that he's not doing על פי קבלה, and if it bothers you, then you are a mitztaer, mitztaer is patur. The same is concerning this mitzvah of eating bread by shalosh seudos, this chiyuv of eating bread by shalosh seudos, that the din by Shabbos as we said before is if you have tzaar from eating, or you have tzaar from us eating the bread, you don't have to or maybe not even allowed to. So since you have tzaar if you would eat the bread, so על פי הלכה you're also patur. So we're not doing בדיעבד על פי הלכה just to be יוצא קבלה, even לכתחילה על פי הלכה, because of this circumstances you are yotzei the din. And this is the reason why the Rebbeim would not wash for shalosh seudos, would not even eat mezonos maybe most times many times, and they would be yotzei with just a little bit of food. But then the question really is, if it is that we said before that the reason they didn't wash is because this time represents olam haba where אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה, no eating and drinking, so really what they should do is not eat at all. They shouldn't eat anything, because in the time of תחיית המתים there will be no food at all, אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה. Or as we said before, it represents Yom Kippur which is also a time when it's אסור באכילה ושתיה, you can't eat and you can't drink anything. So how does this fit that we do eat something? Now, in some maamarim it says that the reason is, because after all, this is not olam haba, it is not Yom Kippur, it's just a me'ein. So we do something that shows that this represent that time, so we don't really eat a full meal, we don't really wash, we don't eat cake. But after all this is not Yom Kippur, so we do eat something. It's not olam haba, so we do eat something. But on the other hand, in other places it says seems to be saying that this is not only because this is not olam haba, on the contrary, part of this being me'ein olam haba is that we do eat something. The question is, why? If in olam haba there will be לא אכילה ולא שתיה, and Yom Kippur it will be no there is no אכילה ושתיה, you're not allowed to eat or drink, so now why here do we eat something and we say this is because this is similar to olam haba, this is such a high level like olam haba? But the truth is, because this is me'ein olam haba, that's why we should eat something. Now I'll explain what I mean.

It's brought down in a Hayom Yom, brought down from the maamar... The Rebbe Rashab, that he said that even though it says 'היום לא', the third time it says 'no', doesn't mean that you shouldn't eat anything, there's something we should eat. And then he adds, didn't after all the Rabbi Yosi say, 'יהא חלקי מאוכלי שלש סעודות בשבת'? He wished that his share should be among those that eat three meals on Shabbos, that eat the third meal. And therefore, we should eat something. Now the question is, why did the Rabbi Rashab quote this statement of Rabbi Yosi? If he wanted to say just that something we do have to eat because there is a חיוב of shalosh seudot, he should have said that it doesn't mean don't eat anything, eat something, because there is a halachah in Shulchan Aruch that you have to eat shalosh seudot. Or at least he should have brought the maamar חז\"ל which says how important shalosh seudot is, it takes you away from Gehinom, or the other things that they say. Why did he pick this that Rabbi Yosi said, 'יהא חלקי מאוכלי שלש סעודות בשבת', that this is the reason why we have to eat something? And here is the key to the answer that we said that question we have before. Because be'emet when we look at the Rabbi Yosi's statement, we don't understand. What did Rabbi Yosi mean to say, 'I wish my share will be among those that eat shalosh seudot'? It's a חיוב to eat shalosh seudot! Why would he say that? As if he would say, 'I wish my share would be among they don't eat chametz on Pesach! I wish my share would be among those that eat matzah on Pesach, that bentsh esrog on Sukkos'! I mean obviously! What do you mean you wish your share to be? You have to! Now the Maharsha says that the reason he said it was just to be מזרז, to strengthen the concept of eating shalosh seudos. But it's hard To say that that's what he said when he's mentioning something that's obvious that everyone has to do. The peshat is different. Rabbi Yosi knew all the things that we said before that really, על פי קבלה, you shouldn't eat shalosh seudos. And therefore he felt that since this is like Olam Haba, don't eat anything. But he said, nevertheless, I wish my chelek should be amongst those that do eat, because it's even a higher level to eat something. That means at the same time that you say that you shouldn't wash and you shouldn't eat mezonot because it's a time of אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה, but there is something deeper in the fact that we do eat something, and that's why he wished that I will eat, I would be among those that eat shalosh seudos. And that's why the Rabbi Rashab brings it when he says that היום לא doesn't mean that you shouldn't eat anything, it means you should eat something, at least something. So he quoted this word of Rabbi Yosi because this is what Rabbi Yosi meant, that as much as I know that you shouldn't really eat anything, I'm saying you don't have to eat the meal, but there is a spiritual reason why you should eat something, not only because, after all, there is a chiyuv to eat shalosh seudos, and according to every opinion, you must eat something, but it's more than that. And that is, now I have to explain why, and that is because when we say that לעתיד לבוא, in Olam Haba, the time of עולם הבא, אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה, there will be no eating and no drinking, it is not because there will be no more guf, no more body. See, you would think, why don't you have to eat anymore? Because we don't have any body anymore, so we don't have to eat. It's not true. In Olam Haba, there will be a body. There will be תחיית המתים, the resurrection of the dead, and we will get our bodies back. And we פסקן that this is the ultimate stage, the ultimate level. As we know, there is an argument between the Rambam and the Ramban. The Ramban says The Rambam actually says that there will be תחיית המתים, which means the gufim, the bodies will come back, but that itself is only a temporary stage. The ultimate level is that the bodies will disappear, we will turn completely to רוחניות, we will be spiritual, there will be no bodies, there'll be only neshamot. And the Ramban says, no, that תחיית המתים is the ultimate level, that this is how it's going to stay forever, eternal, that we will have gufim, we will have bodies. And the halacha, as the Arizal says with the Torah, he פסקנ'ד like the Ramban, not like the Rambam, that the ultimate level is the bodies. And the reason is, because גוף ישראל קדוש הוא, the body of a איד is holy. And therefore, just like we say the neshamah always will exist forever because the neshamah is holy, the neshamah is a חלק אלוקה ממעל ממש, part of Hashem, so is the body holy. And therefore, even the Jewish body has to remain forever, because the body is holy. As a matter of fact, there is something special in the Jewish body that's even higher to a certain degree than the neshamah. It says in Tanya, that when we say in davenen every day, ובנו בחרת מכל עם ולשון, that You chose us from all nations, this doesn't refer to the neshamah, it refers to the body. And the reason is, because when we speak about choice, choice means when you the real choice, the real, true meaning of choice, not the way it's used loosely, that you have two things and I choose one, but the real meaning of choice, which is bechirah chofshit, free choice, is only when you have two things which are exactly the same. If you have two things and they're different, and you choose one over the other, that's not really, really free choice. For instance, if you have an orange and an apple, and you're a person that likes apples, and you choose the apple, that's not free choice. You had no choice. The other one is not what you wanted, so you only had one, so you don't have free choice. It's only when you have two things the same. If you have two apples, for instance, and they're both exactly alike, and you choose one, that's free choice. Now, when it comes to Yidden and goyim, is it possible to say that Hashem had free choice to choose the neshamah of a Yid over the neshamah of a goy? They're not the same. The neshamah of a Yid is completely different than the neshamah of a goy. So Hashem, that He wanted us and took us, is not the ultimate level of free choice, it's not free choice. But the body of a Yid, since the body of a Yid looks exactly like the body of a goy, same two eyes, the same nose, the same ears, the same body, so therefore, here, it's possible to use the word choice. And even though we're the same, Hashem had free choice and chose us. So the ובנו בחרת, or the אתה בחרתנו מכל העמים that we say that You chose us from all nations, refers to the Jewish body. So imagine that Hashem chose the Jewish body. And this concept of choice has another meaning, a deeper meaning. When we say a person chose, and he chose out of one out of two things which are exactly the same, let's ask him, why did you choose this one? If he'll give a reason why, then automatically that's not choice. If there is a logical reason why he chose this one over the other, or an emotional reason why he chose this one over the other, so then it's not really, really free choice, because there was something that pushed him to do it. Free choice means that there was no reason, no logical reason, no emotional reason, there was no reason to choose this one. So why did you choose this one? So by a human being, the answer will be, I don't know, I just put my hand direct, whichever one, and I just took it. When we say the Eibershter chose, we can't really say He just took it. just for no reason. But we do say it was for no reason, but what it means is that it's not because of any logical reason, not because of any emotional reason of Hashem כביכול, but it is because of the etzem of Hashem. That means when Hashem chose us, and we said before it refers to choosing the body, it's the etzem of Hashem is connected to our body. So according to this, not only is the neshamah of a Yid holy, but the body of a Yid is holy. And the body of a Yid is chosen by Hashem and has a connection to the etzem, the essence of Hashem. And that's the physical body. And that is the reason why we pasken that the Jewish body will stay forever. It will never stop. Techiyat hametim will bring the body back, so the fact that people die and their body becomes is buried and becomes dust is only a temporary thing. Techiyat hametim the body will come back. Doesn't say Hashem will give us new bodies, He will just rebuild the old body, that's techiyat hametim, and that body will remain forever because of the greatness of the body. And that's going to happen at a time when אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה. Even though there will be no eating and no drinking, but it's not because there will be no gashmiyut, no guf. The guf will be, but it won't need food to give sustenance to the guf. The guf itself will have a chiyut because of its greatness. As a matter of fact, in some places it even says that now the guf gets chiyut from the neshama, gets life from the neshama. Then, הנשמה ניזונת מן הגוף, the neshama will get its sustenance from the body, because the body will at that time, the Jewish body, will have a maalah even over the Jewish neshama. That's what inyan of the guf is. And that's the level as it will be at the time of Techiyat Hameitim in Olam Haba at the same time when אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה. Now, when we say that a time of shalosh seudot represents that stage, we want to do something that represents both at both aspects of that stage: the aspect of אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה, that you don't eat won't eat and won't drink, and also the aspect that the guf will exist. How do we do that? So by not washing and eating bread and not eating cake, which is the real meal, this represents the fact that there will be no food there. We minimize in the food. But on the other hand, we want to do something that represents that the body will exist. So eating food is something that gives sustenance to the body nowadays. The body is the one that has the pleasure, takes nourishment from the food. So if we want to show that this is a time when the body will exist, we do something for the body's sake. To do something for the body's sake is eating food. So shalosh seudot is a time when we want to show the greatness of the body as it will be לעתיד לבוא, so we have to do something to show that the body is important, and that is through eating food. But on the other hand, we don't want to eat, because we want to represent the time of אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה. How do we do it? That's where the combination comes, and this is what shalosh seudot is. We don't eat bread, we don't eat cake, to show that there is a minimization, less food, and at the same time we eat something to show that the body is important and there is something for the body, and that also represents the way it'll be לעתיד לבוא. Interestingly enough, it says that when there will be Techiyat Hameitim, there will be this big party, this big seudah, where they will serve the שור הבר, they will serve, that's the meat, and they will serve the fish from the לויתן. And it says that that is going to take place at a time when אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה, at a time when there is no food, there will be no need for food. The reason there will be this seudah for another reason, but still we see that there will be this seudah at that time. So there And that is connected to the guf, to the gashmiyut of the guf. This, by the way, this reminds me of a joke, that they say, why is it that they're going to serve the שור הבר and the לויתן, the meat and the fish? Because who's going to shecht the שור הבר? Hashem Himself is going to shecht the שור הבר. There will be some people who will not trust Hashem's shechitah. So, therefore, they're going to ask for fish, so they're going to give them fish. Anyway, going back to the point that the seudah will take place at אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה. And this is what we do now also: We don't eat, but at the same time we have a טעימה כל שהוא. And this is the source for the minhag of the Rebbeim, starting from the year תרס\"ב, not to wash for shalosh seudot, not to eat mezonot, not always, but at least to eat something. It's because על פי קבלה you shouldn't really eat a meal then, even though, like I said before, some said that some say that על פי קבלה דוקא this is the most important meal. Yes, it is the most important meal, but in which way? In the way of not eating, which is not eating bread or cake, but on the other hand eating something to show the importance of the guf the way as it will be לעתיד לבוא. And this is the way Minhag Chabad is. We just hope and pray that very, very soon we won't have to just talk about Olam Haba and have shalosh seudot which is מעין עולם הבא, which is a representation of the time when אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה, that Mashiach will come very soon, and then there will be תחיית המתים, and we will actually reach the point when there'll be אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה. And then nobody is going to eat shalosh seudot. The truth is they're not going to eat the other two meals either, because there will be no food then. But then we will physically see this that now we are only talking about it and representing it, then will we see it physically with our eyes במהרה בימינו ממש.