The angels have left; Kiddush is chanted the age-old melody reminding all present how Hashem created the world in six days and rested on the Shabbos. The Kiddush continues to describe how Hashem blessed the seventh day as well as sanctified it. What is the blessing and sanctification of Shabbos?
The Mahn on our Table
Chazal teach us that Hashem blessed the seventh day by having a double portion of mahn falling on Friday thus providing food for both Friday and Shabbos. The sanctification (v’kidashto) lay in the fact that the mahn did not fall at all on Shabbos.
This explanation is startlingly difficult to understand. The mahn fell for only 40 years in the desert — and we have been keeping Shabbos for thousands of years! In what way can we still draw from the blessing and sanctification of the mahn to Shabbos in the year 5777?
The most obvious contemporary connection to Chazal’s reasoning is the presence of lechem mishneh at every meal reminding us of the blessing of the mahn. Indeed one of the reasons we cover the challah is to remind us of the care-package way Hashem sent us down the mahn. First He sent a layer of dew then the mahn and then dew on top to protect the food. We likewise have a tablecloth beneath and a challah cover on top to remind us of the “dew sandwich.”
