This Shabbos, Shabbos Chazon (as we eat meat and drink wine during the Nine Days), we should be especially aware of the Kedushas Shabbos, with the knowledge that as great as the Binyan Bais HaMikdash is--and what it would accomplish for the whole world--it is still not doche, does not push aside, the Shabbos…and must wait until after Shabbos has concluded! Indeed, even if Tisha B’Av would occur on Shabbos, we still celebrate Shabbos--with the gefilte fish, the cholent…the Oneg Shabbos in its honor! The Sefer Toras Shabbos asks, Oneg Shabbos--properly celebrating Shabbos--is such a great Mitzvah--why don’t we make a bracha on it? He suggests as one answer that each person participates in Oneg Shabbos in his own particular way--so it is not like the KeZayis Matazh that we eat on the Leil HaSeder, and so is not subject to a particular bracha. The Sefer Piskei Teshuvos (III:1) brings other possible answers as well: (a) The bracha of MeKadesh HaShabbos in Kiddush includes the mitzvah of Oneg (have it in mind!), and (b) the words of “Baruch Hashem Asher Nossan Menucha LeAmo Yisroel” in Kol Mekadesh Shevii allude to a bracha over the Oneg and Menucha of Shabbos (pay attention to your Zemiros!). Our dear readers, Mekadesh HaShabbos...Kol Mekadesh Shevii...let us especially feel and appreciate it tomorrow!
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