Hebrew Bible Study
Hebrew Bible Study

Chasidut for Isaiah 58:14

אָ֗ז תִּתְעַנַּג֙ עַל־יְהוָ֔ה וְהִרְכַּבְתִּ֖יךָ עַל־בָּ֣מֳותֵי אָ֑רֶץ וְהַאֲכַלְתִּ֗יךָ נַחֲלַת֙ יַעֲקֹ֣ב אָבִ֔יךָ כִּ֛י פִּ֥י יְהוָ֖ה דִּבֵּֽר׃ (ס)

Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD, And I will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, And I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; For the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

Torah Ohr

Delightful Love, as stated, is only experienced as a gift bestowed from above. This level is identified with Shabbos, a day which is associated with the lofty spiritual level of “delight” or “pleasure” (ta’anug in Hebrew), as in the verses (Isaiah 58: 14 and 13), “[if you observe Shabbos…] then you will delight yourself in G-d,” and “you will call Shabbos a delight.” However, as the Talmud remarks (Avoda Zara 3a), “One who toils on the eve of Shabbos will eat on Shabbos,” that is, prior preparation is necessary to experience Shabbos properly. In our context, too, in order to experience the level of Delightful Love that is revealed on Shabbos, one must spend one’s week in sincere worship of G-d and toil in the effort to bring out both prerequisite levels, ahavas olam and ahava rabba.
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