Come and see: Israel are distinguished by these [Shabbat] meals as the King's children, belonging to the palace of the King as people of Faith. And he who blemishes one of these meals shows an incompleteness above, and he testifies of himself that he is not one of the King's sons, not part of the palace of the King, and not of the holy seed of Israel. He will be made to bear the burden of three things: the punishment in Purgatory, [the birthpangs of the Messiah, and the war of Gog and Magog.1]

Come and see: on all festivals and holidays a man must both rejoice himself and give joy to the poor. If he rejoices alone and does not share with the poor, his punishment will be great, for he rejoices himself and does not make others happy. Of him it is written: "And spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your feasts" (Malachi 2:3) but he is not punished if he rejoices on Shabbat and does not give a share to another, as on other festivals and holidays. For it is written: "the dung of your feasts" and not 'the dung of your Shabbat,' and it is also written, "Your new moons and your appointed feasts, My soul hates" (Isaiah 1:14) [because of hypocritical ritual observance], but Shabbat is not mentioned [for on Shabbat, G‑d is the host and we are all His guests].Therefore it is written: "Between Me and the children of Israel"

And because all the faith is centered in Shabbat, man is given an additional soul on this day, a supernal soul, a soul in which all perfection exists, resembling that of the World to Come. [The additional soul enables one to taste the bliss of the World to Come.] Therefore, this day is called Shabbat. What does the word Shabbat mean? This is the Name of G‑d, the Name which is perfect on all sides. 2

Rabbi Yosi said: It is indeed so. Woe to a man who does not complete the joy of the Holy King. And what is His joy? Those three meals of the faith, the meals which include [the aspects of] Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and which are all joy upon joy, perfect Faith on all sides.

BeRahamim LeHayyim: What does this mean to you, and why is it revealed to you now?

Shabbat is a Name of G‑d! And if a name reveals one's essence, then an essential nature of one of G‑d's faces is Shabbat. So on this day, if we connect to Shabbat, we connect to G‑d, simply.

A basic meditation is to parse the Name Shabbat into the letters Shin-Beit. A Shin has 3 lines, like three columns, standing for our three forefathers and their respective attributes: Abraham as lovingkindness, Isaac as restriction, and Jacob as beauty/balance. And the Beit is the Daughter/Shechina/Malchut. So too the Beit is the Community of Israel.

So on Shabbat, if we intend correctly, we have the ability to balance our entire lives, by receiving the Shefa/flow of the 3 columns of the Shin, all pouring down into us, the vessel designed from the start to receive the supernal influence. How can we prepare ourselves for this awesome reception? How can we stay in the moment and do all we can to keep this intention before us always? How can we make Shabbat, yes this Shabbat, the best ever? How?!

Bracketed annotations from Metok Midevash and Sulam commentaries
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