Spirit of the Law: Hilchos Shabbos #10

(Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 72:10) “From nine halachic hours after daybreak onward, it is a mitzvah to refrain from sitting down to a full meal (at which one eats more than a beitzah-volume of bread). (Note: We divide the daylight hours into twelve equal parts. This provides us the number of minutes in a halachic hour.) This includes a meal which one would ordinarily eat at the same time on a weekday. An extravagant meal of which one would not usually partake is prohibited from the ninth hour onward unless it is a seudas mitzvah that cannot be conducted on a different day. (For example, the meal celebrating a bris which was performed after midday on Friday.)”

The Mekor Chaim, zt”l, explains that even one who has done teshuvah should not think that he need not pay close attention to what he eats and drinks. On the contrary, one must pay be very careful to avoid overeating because there is nothing as bitter and evil for the soul than overeating. After all, this was the sin which caused all our troubles in the first place. Adam and Chava ate from the tree of knowledge, thereby bringing evil into themselves and causing their eviction from Gan Eden. In addition, the verse states: “And he will eat and he will be satiated and he will be pampered (with delicacies) and he will turn to serve idols!” We see that overeating leads to idolatry. The Vilna Gaon, zt”l, writes that bitachon is the opposite of overeating. This is because one with true trust in Hashem does not feel the need to overindulge in physical luxuries. Overindulging implies that one draws comfort from the food and not from Hashem. For this reason, eating too much is the first step down a very slippery slope which ends in denying Hashem. Our job is to regulate how much we eat and guard ourselves from overeating, turning to Hashem for comfort instead of food.
We internalize that our stay in this world is only a means to the next world and is not an end in and of itself through fulfillment of the opening halachah of this lesson. Just as erev Shabbos leads to Shabbos and if one doesn’t prepare before Shabbos he will have nothing for Shabbos, one should refrain from eating an extravagant meal on erev Shabbos after the ninth hour even if it is a meal one would usually eat on another day. Limiting what we eat in a healthy balanced way helps us to do teshuvah. This limiting our normal intake is not obligated since the main element of teshuvah is regretting the past and resolving to do better next time. If the meal is extravagant, this will surely misdirect us from our goal of teshuvah since this detracts from our ability to enjoy the Shabbos meal that is to come. This would certainly only draws us further away from Hashem. If the meal is for a mitzvah and one intends for the sake of heaven, however, the eating will not damage one’s connection with Hashem.
It is worthwhile to note that Rav Nosson, zt”l writes that it can take a long time to merit true teshuvah, and we must keep starting again until we merit true teshuvah. The Alter of Slobodka, zt”l, uses this very concept to explain the verse in Tehillim: “By virtue of the many tumultuous thoughts within me, Your comforting will give my soul pleasure.” It is only through exerting the effort of doing teshuvah many times that we merit to do a genuine teshuvah. Rebbe Nachman, zt”l, explains that this is like a pot of dirty water. Until a fire is lit beneath the pot, all of the dirt that has settled to the bottom isn’t recognizable. It is only after the fire of enthusiasm and yiras shomayim is going strong that the dirt begins to rise to the surface. One should never be discouraged when one’s efforts in avodas Hashem only make one’s flaws more obvious. It is only when the dirt rises to the surface that one can, bit by bit, skim it off and get rid of it.