By: Yisrael Yitzchak Rosenfeld
PART 1
What remains when everything fades away?
On the deep meaning of the “Melaveh Malka” at the departure of Shabbat
“Hashem formed the human from the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.”
(Bereishit 2:7)
Man begins as dust, and in the end seems to return to dust.
Our bodies age.
Our strength diminishes.
Generations come and go.
When life is viewed only through the eyes of the physical body, everything appears temporary and fleeting.
But the Torah teaches something entirely different.
Chazal reveal that within the human being there exists a point that can never be destroyed.
The Sages call this the “Luz bone” (Etzem HaLuz).
About this bone it is said that fire cannot burn it, water cannot dissolve it, and even time itself cannot destroy it.
From this hidden core, Hashem will one day begin the Techiyat HaMetim — the resurrection of the dead.
Whether this bone is anatomically located at the tailbone, the spine, or elsewhere is far less important to the Sages than the message it conveys.
The Luz symbolizes that within the human being there is something that belongs entirely to Hashem and can never be lost.
The indestructible Divine spark
The Baal Shem Tov taught that every Jewish soul is a part of the Divine reality.
One can cover this spark, but never extinguish it.
A person may fall very low.
He may make serious mistakes.
He may feel completely distant from Hashem.
Yet deep within him there always remains an unchanging point bound to his Creator.
The Luz reminds us that Hashem never gives up on a human being.
As long as that point exists, hope exists.
Why specifically the Melaveh Malka?
The holy Zohar reveals something extraordinary.
The Luz bone is not nourished by ordinary meals, but specifically by the Melaveh Malka, the meal after Shabbat.
Why?
Shabbat is a foretaste of Olam HaBa, the World to Come.
Our Sages say:
“Shabbat is me’ein Olam HaBa” — Shabbat is a reflection of the World to Come.
On Shabbat, a person already lives, in a sense, within that future reality.
When Shabbat ends, he returns to weekday life, but he must not leave the holiness behind at the door.
Therefore, we accompany the “Queen Shabbat” as she departs.
Not in haste.
Not with reluctance.
But with love.
The Melaveh Malka, in a sense, declares:
“Shabbat, do not leave us entirely. Accompany us into the coming week as well.”
It is precisely this connection between Shabbat and the ordinary week that nourishes the Luz.
For ultimate redemption is born exactly from the place where holiness is carried into everyday life.
The connection to King David
Many also refer to the Melaveh Malka as the Seudat David Malka Mashicha — the meal of King David, the Anointed King.
Why specifically David?
The Talmud relates that King David knew he would die on Shabbat. Therefore, every Shabbat he devoted himself continuously to Torah study.
When his time came, Hashem caused David to be interrupted for a single moment. And precisely in that moment, his soul departed from this world.
Since then, tradition associates David especially with the end of Shabbat.
David embodies hope.
His life was full of trials.
He was pursued.
He was misunderstood.
He was humiliated.
And yet he sang:
“Hashem ro’i, lo echsar” — “Hashem is my Shepherd, I shall lack nothing.”
From the House of David will ultimately come Mashiach.
Not from someone untouched by brokenness, but from one who continually rose again.
That too is the Luz.
The part that never gives up.
Part 2
Manna and the coming week
Our Sages teach that a double portion of manna would descend on Friday.
But the Melaveh Malka teaches something else as well.
We do not live through the new week by our own strength alone.
We live from the holiness (kedushah) of the Shabbat that has just passed.
The final meal connected to Shabbat becomes the first source of strength for the week ahead.
Just as the light of one candle can ignite many others without diminishing itself, so too the Melaveh Malka carries the light of Shabbat into the darkness of the weekdays.
The essential message
Perhaps the Luz is not indestructible merely because it is a special bone.
Perhaps it is indestructible because it symbolizes that which in a human being belongs entirely to Hashem.
The body fades.
Possessions fade.
Beauty fades.
Power fades.
But the bond between Hashem and the neshamah never fades.
Therefore, the resurrection does not begin with something large or dramatic.
Not with the heart.
Not with the brain.
But with a small, hidden point.
Because Hashem needs only a single spark to bring forth new life.
Our mission
Every Melaveh Malka reminds us that Shabbat never truly ends.
The candles are extinguished.
Havdalah has been recited.
But the holiness continues to live on.
In our homes.
In our speech.
In our Torah study.
In our actions.
And deep within us, in that hidden place the Sages call the Luz.
May we learn to nourish that inner spark every week anew, becoming people who do not only experience Shabbat, but carry it into the world.
Then will be fulfilled what the prophets promised:
From a small and hidden beginning, Hashem will cause new life to sprout — in the resurrection of the dead, speedily in our days.
Bimheira b’yameinu.
The classical sources
1. The Talmud
In the Babylonian Talmud, the resurrection of the dead is discussed extensively.
The Luz bone is not described there in detail, but rabbinic tradition teaches that Hashem can rebuild the human being from a single indestructible point.
2. Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer
There it is described as a bone that cannot be burned by fire, dissolved by water, or destroyed in any way.
From this bone, the resurrection will begin.
3. Bereishit Rabbah
Also mentions the tradition of a bone in the human body called the Luz, which is indestructible.
4. The holy Zohar
The Zohar connects the Luz bone directly to the Melaveh Malka.
It explains that this bone receives its vitality from the meal that accompanies Shabbat into the week.
5. The Arizal
According to the teaching of the Arizal, the Melaveh Malka has a unique spiritual power.
It connects the holiness of Shabbat to the weekdays and nourishes the Luz bone, which carries within it the potential of future redemption.
Let us now continue to Rabbeinu Nachman.
What remains when everything fades away?
The hidden core of the human being.
“And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to Hashem who gave it.”
(Kohelet 12:7)
Everything in a human being seems to follow two paths:
- A beginning and an end.
- Birth and death.
- Construction and decay.
But our Sages teach that this way of seeing is only the surface.
The Luz — the indestructible core
Tradition speaks of the Luz bone (Etzem HaLuz), a hidden core within the human being that never perishes.
Neither fire nor decomposition can affect it.
From this point, the resurrection of the dead will one day begin.
The Sages do not debate its exact anatomical location.
Because its meaning is not biological, but existential.
There exists within the human being something that cannot be destroyed.
But Kabbalah adds an even deeper dimension.
This hidden core is nourished by the Melaveh Malka, the meal with which we accompany Shabbat into the new week.
Why there specifically?
Because it is precisely at that moment that what a human being truly is becomes revealed.
Not merely a body that works and rests,
but a soul capable of bringing light into ordinary life.
Part 3
From Kabbalah to Chassidut
Kabbalah speaks about the indestructible core within the body.
Chassidut speaks about the indestructible core within the soul.
And here begins the teaching of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.
“Azamra” — finding the good point
Rabbi Nachman teaches in his well-known lesson Azamra:
“It is forbidden to fall into despair. Even in the greatest sinner there remains a good point.”
Sometimes that point is extremely small.
Almost invisible.
A good thought.
A small mitzvah.
A moment of honesty.
A spark of desire for Hashem.
And when a person finds and strengthens that point, Rabbeinu Nachman teaches, his entire life can be transformed.
Because the good has not disappeared.
It is only hidden.
The connection between the Luz and Azamra
The Luz bone is the physical expression of the same principle.
Azamra is its spiritual expression.
Both reveal the same secret:
Within the human being there exists something that is never destroyed.
The Luz is never destroyed in the body.
The good point is never destroyed in the soul.
And from there begins every form of renewal.
Both physical and spiritual.
Just as the resurrection begins from an indestructible core, so too every personal renewal begins from an indestructible inner point.
The human being according to Rabbi Nachman
Rabbi Nachman was not only a teacher of hope.
He was a teacher of radical hope.
He does not say:
“Try to be perfect.”
He says:
“Find that one good point and begin there.”
One who looks only at his failures sees only destruction.
But one who looks at the good point sees what cannot be destroyed.
That is the spiritual Luz.
Melaveh Malka — the night that does not end
When Shabbat ends, a person might think:
“Now emptiness begins.”
But the Melaveh Malka says the opposite.
The holiness does not disappear.
It accompanies us.
The Zohar says it nourishes the Luz.
Rabbi Nachman would say:
It nourishes the good point.
Because it is precisely after Shabbat that a person is tested.
Can I continue to see the light when darkness seems to return?
Can I still find the good point when the brightness of Shabbat has faded?
King David — the one who always returned
King David falls — and rises again.
He sins — and returns.
He struggles — and continues to sing.
That is why he is the king who prepares the coming of Mashiach.
Not through perfection,
but through teshuvah — constant return.
King David is the human being who repeatedly finds his good point.
The deepest meaning
Perhaps the Luz is not a bone at all.
Perhaps it is a principle.
A human being can never be completely destroyed.
Not in the body.
Not in the soul.
Not in his relationship with Hashem.
As long as even a single point remains,
everything can begin again.
The teaching of the Luz and Azamra comes together in one message:
Seek the point that has not been lost.
When we apply this to the body, we call it the Luz.
When we experience it in the soul, we call it Azamra.
And when we live it in daily life, we call it hope.
May we learn to see this point — in ourselves and in others.
Not first what is broken,
but what cannot be broken.
And may from that small hidden point come the great light spoken of by the prophets:
the light of the resurrection of the dead, and the personal renewal of every human being — today, and anew every single day.
