Let me ask you a question. If someone would ask you if you would feel like eating pizza or sushi after eating straight for twenty-four hours, what would you think? Ask your co-workers if they’d feel like going to eat after Thanksgiving dinner. They’d probably look at you like you’re crazy, right? However, and let me tell you, it’s been happening since I was a teenager, I want to go out Motzei Shabbos. It’s absurd. We had challah, kugel, cholent, fish, chicken, London broil, and then dessert. Yet, the pizza is calling me on Motzei Shabbos. Not just me, either, by the state of the pizza places. Don’t even talk to me about Motzei Pesach. All we do is complain that we ate too much and then we go and eat more.
What’s behind it? Am I hungry? Is it fear of missing out (do people still say FOMO?) Rabbi Moshe Weinberger suggested that maybe it’s because we just experienced a deep connection on Shabbos, and were hoping that we’d be met by Eliyahu HaNavi with the good news that Mashiach has arrived. When we don’t, we find comfort in friends, family and food. It is actually an ancient Jewish practice to eat a Melave Malka – a feast to escort out Shabbos, in which we gather with friends and family, and sing songs of hope of good news, welcoming the new week, and Eliyahu HaNavi and Mashiach Tzidkeinu.
So, our FOMO is indeed missing out on the biggest scene ever; it’ll be in Yerushalayim, and we won’t want to miss it.