HOD: GRACE FOR THE FIRST SHABBAT MEAL
Wishing all friends a great FIRST SHABBAT MEAL!
GRACE ON THE FIRST SHABBAT MEAL
RIPENED FRUIT
-by Rav Michael Laitman
The Klipa, like a shell protecting the fruit until it ripens, works this way for us the whole time until we reach correction. It preserves us until we become ready and ripened. Then we’ll be able to break free and shed the covering.
However, until then we do not feel that there is a shell, like a wild, unripe apple in which there is no difference between the inner part and the peel: Everything is similarly sour and green. The more a fruit grows, the greater the difference develops between the covering and the inner contents. First the peel is firm, but gradually it separates from the fruit itself, and the more it develops the thinner the peel becomes. If we leave the peel intact, the fruit will finally explode and break away from its skin.
In much the same way, a person grows until he reaches maturity. And as soon as all of our qualities are ready, we throw away and get rid of the Klipa.