Your Table is Your Altar

by Rabbi David Hanania Pinto shlita

The purpose of the Altars, explains the Kli Yakar, was to atone for man's sins. Offering an animal on the Altar of Burnt-Offerings brings atonement to the sinner's body. And the Gold Altar atoned for the soul, through the smoke that rose from the Ketoret. 

The Gemara [Berachot 55a] asks on the verse [Yechezkel 41] which begins, "The Altar was of wood, three cubits tall" but concludes by saying, "He said to me, 'This is the Table that is before Hashem.'" Why does it begin with Altar and end with Table? To tell you that as long as the Beit Hamikdash stood, the Altar atoned for Bnei Yisrael, but nowadays man's table atones for him. 

The table in one's home is something lofty, for it is comparable to the Altar that atones for one's sins. If a person observes all the laws including proper conduct that apply when sitting down to eat, if he is particular about the kashrut of his food, eats politely and with derech eretz as is appropriate for a Jewish person, recites all the blessings slowly and with concentration – this kind of table atones for his sins. It is written in the sefer Reishit Chochma [Sha'ar Hakedusha 28], that Hashem sends two angels to a person's table to see how he behaves when he eats… 

The tzaddik Rabbi Aharon Rata zt"l authored a special sefer on this topic called Shulchan Tahor. He quotes (essay Eitzot Ha'achila) in the name of a tzaddik, that if a person merits, even once a week or month, eating for the sake of Heaven, he thereby elevates all the other meals that were not for the sake of Heaven. 

Some advice which can enable one's eating to be considered as an offering is to not snatch and wolf down the food, and when enjoying the flavor of the food, one should leave some over and not satiate oneself with the delicious food. 

The Ra'avad writes on this topic: When a person stops eating while he still has much enjoyment from the food, and does so for the sake of Hashem, it is considered as a complete fast. [This fast is called Ta'anit HaRa'avad]

Chazal also refer to a meal as לחם, bread. The Chida zt"l says this is because לחם is derived from the word מלחמה, war. Eating stimulates a war between the side of impurity and the side of purity. Fortunate is the person who intensifies his side of holiness and ensures his table is pure before Hashem.