| Shabbat | 22 Adar I | 5703 | | Haftora: Vayishlach Ach'av | | Torah lessons: | Chumash: Ki Tissa, Shvi'i with Rashi. | | Tehillim: 106-107. | | Tanya: Ch. 31. Even if (p. 139)...rejoicing of the heart. (p. 145). | |
My father writes in one of his maamarim: "Regarding s'uda shlishit (the third Shabbat meal): The allusion to the verse, today you will not find it (the manna, i.e., Shabbat bread) etc.,1 means only that bread is not required at that meal, but we must partake of some food. R. Yosi did say, may my lot be with those who partake of three Shabbat meals.2
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The Alter Rebbe taught, shortly after he came to Lyozna: One must always (l'olam) be scrupulous (zahir) about the Mincha davening.3
The special quality of Mincha over Shacharit and Maariv is that it comes in the middle of the day, when people are occupied and busy with their personal affairs, yet they interrupt to daven Mincha. Therefore,
l'olam ("always," or more literally: "for the world"), man's avodain This World is...
...y'hei adam (lit. "man must be," but the Hebrew words also imply "be a man" i.e. that) his intellect4 illuminate and affect his emotions.
...zahir (lit. "scrupulous," but also:) "luminous," i.e., that form (the spiritual)5 "illuminate" or have dominance over the material. This becomes evident through the Mincha davening.
