For Whom Does Shabbos Food Taste & Smell Special?

The Mailman’s Kugel and the Sweet Smell of Shabbos

I once heard quoted in the name of Rav Yisroel Reisman who suggested, in humor of course, that a non-Jew will never understand the pleasure of not having to say tachanun on a Monday or a Thursday due it being a yom simcha.

In truth there are many pleasures (outside the beauty of the Torah itself!) not understood outside our macheneh. In my old shul one of the congregants become frum later in life. Already married and leading successful professional lives, they gave up much of their creature comforts to embrace an existence of Torah and chesed.

In the initial process of coming toward Torah, before they were fully frum, they would often be invited out for Shabbos lunch. Recounting these shabbosim to me, now years later, they remarked how they were amazed that their hosts were restricted from going anywhere beyond their neighborhood to do some other activity after the meal. After all, the whole day lay ahead.

“What do you do the rest of the day?” they  sincerely wondered. “It is now only two-pm and Mincha is not for another six hours!”

The host family respectfully and honestly replied that they spend the remainder of the day with a mix of learning Torah, and the kids playing games, and often they take a nap.

“We were shocked to hear this!” they recounted, now years later. “Who goes to bed after a Saturday lunch?! How does on sleep away an afternoon?

“But then sometime later we kept our first Shabbos. By lunch, we ate cholent and sang songs and by the time bentching arrived we felt a deep sense of menucha fall upon us. And that is when the ‘shabbos-nap’, and its unique pleasures, finally made sense!”

But it is not just the Shabbos nap that is unique to us.

The following story is absolutely true, and happened just weeks ago.

Every erev Shabbos I begin my day by teaching at Shevach High School, after which I come home for a quick lunch and then go to my office to prepare for my Shabbos shiurim.

Like many, my quick snack on Fridays is a piece of hot, fresh kugel straight out of the oven. As in many homes, in our house too more kugel is eaten then than on Shabbos itself.

As I typically arrive home before my children, I always get the first crack of the kugel. On this particular week I arrived home to see that someone got to it first…the mailman. As I came up the steps I see him –with his uniform and bag in toe – sitting on the bench outside my home with a plastic spoon and bowl blowing on piping hot kugel!

It was such a peculiar portrait!

I figured there must be a story here. Walking into my house I asked my wife, humorously, “Why is the mailman eating my kugel?”

She explained that a few minutes prior there was a knock at the door. She opened it to see the mailman standing there with a package she needed to sign for.

She also noticed that his mood was solemn, almost rude.

“Is everything alright, sir?” she kindly inquired.

Usually when you ask that of a stranger it is meant as rhetorical, a way of saying ‘cheer up’, or to have them know that their mood is showing.

This postman, however, was more than happy to not only admit that he was unhappy, but also to share the reason for his bitter mood.

“For years I was a mailman in Kew Gardens. Every week I would dread Fridays because inevitably there were some houses whose doors I would need to knock on. When I saw a mezuzah I knew what would come next: the door would open and most unbelievable smells of cooking foods would waft out. My mouth would water and my stomach grumble! This would happen at house after house

“’What was that smell?’ I always wondered. ‘What are they making that always smells so good?’

“Then I was moved to a different area, where Orthodox Jews do not live, and where I didn’t have to be teased with those smells every Friday. But now I was switched routes again, this time to your area, and its happening again!”

My wife concluded, “I felt so bad that I went into the kitchen and pulled the just ready kugel from the oven and handed him a piece, telling him to take a break and eat it on the porch outside”

As my wife recounted all of this to I could not help my laughing. “Its like feeding pigeons! Before you know it there will be lines outside our house each Friday with post office workers!”

In Monsey, near my in-laws, there is mailman who stops his route every Shabbos in one home near Forshay so that he can sit down and eat cholent and have a lechaim!

However, although I am sure these mailmen enjoyed their food, it is doubtful that they receive the same geshmak we do, for he is not the first non-Jew to note the special smell of Shabbos food (more: see what the Bnei Yisaschar writes in mamrei hashabbasos 1:12!).

The gemara (Shabbos 119) tells us of the Caesar who asked Rav Yehoshua ben Chanania why the food for Shabbos smells so wonderful.

He famously responded, “There is a special spice, and Shabbos is its name, that we place in our food and it causes its smell to penetrate the senses”

Caesar responds, “Well, please give some of this spice!”

To which Rav Yehoshua ben Chanania responded, “It only works for those who keep Shabbos”.

Caesar’s reaction is strange. Once Rav Yehoshua informed him that the secret ‘spice’ was Shabbos, how could the Caesar request this nontangible item for himself?

 In a fascinating explanation of this Gemara, the Maharsha suggests that Caesar misunderstood the reply. This is because the Mishnah (Uktzin 3:4) teaches us of a spice actually named ‘shabas’, and this was the spice that the Caesar thought Rav Yehoshua was referring to.

It was this mistake to which Rav Yehoshua responded, “No, I meant that the smell is due to those who keep Shabbos, the day”.

The Maharal suggests another fascinating interpretation to this chazal. Caesar was actually making fun of the Jews who because they can not eat fresh hot food on Shabbos it does not smell good. To this Rav Yehoshua responded, “To those who keep Shabbos, the food is always delicious”. Meaning, that we love Shabbos so much that the food tastes as good, if not better, than when fresh.

The Maharal’s brother (in Sefer Hachaim 3:6) offers a deeper explanation. We all have moments where we question emunah, especially emunah that comes from our own intellect. Just like a dish needs spice, so too does Shabbos act like the tavlin/spice to our faith in the Torah.

Even more interesting is what I discovered after this ‘mailman’ incident. The Bnei Yisaschar writes (mamrei hashabbasos 1:12) that food for Shabbos should not, if possible, be given to non-Jews! This, however, is not due to our feeling superior, rather for their own protection. He explains that for Jews Shabbos food is a sam hachaim, while for others it can be a sam maves. The Tiferes Shlomo (Mishpatim, 21:19) teaches similarly, explaining that not only does Shabbos food taste and smell good, it contains the power to heal!

The Tiferes Shlomo (Mishpatim, 21:19) teaches that not only does Shabbos food taste and smell good, it contains the power to heal!

Rav Moshe Feinstein would often suggest (see Rav Moshe, Artscroll) a difference between the families in early America whose children maintained their yiddeshkeit and those that did not. These Europeans arrived to these shores during period in our recent history when one who did not show up to work on Shabbos would immediately lose their job.

The first group, whose children often maintained their yiddeshkeit, would be b’simchah on Shabbos, even though they will soon be summarily fired. In fact, I know of one family who, in the 1930’s and 40’s, would decorate their Sukkah walls with all the pink-slips received due to not coming into work on Shabbos!

 The latter group, however, would come home on Shabbos, justifiably fearing that their new job would now be lost, and exclaim “Es iz shver tzu zein ah yid!’-It is tough to be a Jew.

 No message is more dangerous for children to hear, and one that could risk alienating them from Torah.

Rather we must recognize that beyond the day-to-day challenges and battles there are bountiful gifts and secret gems both open and hidden within all of the mitzvos.

Today, especially without those challenges of yore, we must show our children that we do not only keep Shabbos, but that we delight in it and its gashmiyos and ruchniyos pleasures.

So, pass the kugel, please!