With Whom Are We Celebrating | Rabbi Dovid Ostroff

Our [music] shabas kesh is associated heavily with gashmas. [music] We have an incredible four course meal Friday night. We are commanded [music] to have shabas. The raam writes in h shabas that you should have a good piece of meat, a good wine. [music] It all sounds amazing. Not only that, we also get an issa to help us eat because if we wouldn't have one, we would feel bloated and overdone and we would not enjoy our food. [music] So, we get an issue. [music] Shabis has to do with we call it shabases. We say there are many [music] that associate shabas with kadushe. How does kadusha work with gashmas? Well, you might say the common answer is well you elevate gashmas. Elevate it. The problem is, just to give you an example, when I [music] see a nice vanilla ice cream, my initial thought is not elevating other than the ice [music] cream to my mouth. I think of the chocolate syrup that I could put on top, sprinklers, elevating it. How do you elevate it? So, to answer that, I'll try and give a mush. There can be two types of weddings that you go to. One wedding is a guy on your street that you have nothing to do with. You might d in the same shaw and invite you to come. So why' you go to the wedding? Cuz it'll be awkward when I see him in the street again. And I didn't go to his wedding. So I do I want to go to his wedding. Honestly, no. But I have to go. So I get to the wedding and his nice food and his nice music. I I'm not much connected to that guy. So, I'm going to take advantage. I came all the way. I'm Yeah, I'm going to eat. I'm going to enjoy. I might dance, but that's all for me. I'm not elevating anything. But let's say your best friend invites you to his wedding, to his child's [music] wedding. And you go very enthusiastically [music] to that wedding. What's the difference? So, when you get to that wedding, are you going to eat? Yeah, of course I'm going to eat. And if [music] the food's nice, it'll be even nicer. Are you going to dance? Yeah, of course I'm going to dance. I d my feet off. But why? Because I want my friend to feel that I really care for him. I really enjoy his sim. Every [music] time I'm eating at that kind of a wedding, it's not for so-called the gashm, the physicality of that wedding. I want to partake of the wedding to show my friend how much my relationship with him means something. Every ounce of gashwas of physicality of that wedding is directed [music] to a purpose to show my friend and to make him feel that his wedding is a success. When we eat on shabas kesh or when you pull out the nash that you set aside for shabas, why you doing it? Why are you going to this four course meal? Because wants to celebrate with us. This is his day. I created this day so that you and I can celebrate. Nobody else is allowed to celebrate this day. It doesn't belong to a not allowed to celebrate Shabas the way we do. It's a it's a bond. It's a union. It's a connection in us. And he wants us to enjoy this day so much that he's providing. We're using his credit card. It says, "You pay for it. I'll cover what your costs are." Why? Cuz we're going to celebrate together. When you're eating at that Shabas meal, it's not an opportunity [music] to excuse me fresh. It's not in the Shabas meal. You're showing the other side that you really [music] care for this meal. You really care for the union. you really care for this connection. [music] It's not about me. It's about me celebrating with my so-called partner, with my love, with my shabases [music] that I'd like to take part of. >> [music]