Huge Shabbis and Yom Tov Meals Part II: Jewish History with Rabbi David

by Rabbi David

More food was needed. After the three multiple course meals the community realized there was more room for eating. It was only 9pm, and nobody truly had to go to sleep. There was more time to eat. That's when they added the Oneg. Kiddish was added when they realized breakfast was missing.

Onegs
In 1989 the Friday night Oneg was created at a Shabbaton. A Shabbaton is a Shabbat retreat where you eat for twenty-five hours with other people.
Oneg, meaning delight, means you should eat more. After much study in the Beit Midrash, we learned that the eight course, fifteen dish main course, first of three meals on Shabbat, with soup nuts, doesn't bring enough delight to one, unless if there is a meal right after that meal and whipped cream. That extra meal is the Oneg. After you eat as much as you can, to bring more happiness, you eat more than that. For your soul.
At the Shabbaton, Benjamin said, 'I'm still hungry.' The rabbi said, 'That's forbidden.' And the Shabbat Oneg was created. Hence, it's a Mitzvah to eat again, right away. Right after Shabbat dinner and dessert, it's required to eat a pot of choolante. And then there are another two meals. And they added Kiddish. For Oneg.
The Gemara only spoke of three meals. But as we evolved as good Jews, our stomachs were able to handle more. So, we added the Oneg to focus on the foods put out by the local bakery and Osem, who makes nicely packaged cakes. If you're lucky, you'll show up to the Oneg and there'll be a Green's babka. 
Some people date the Oneg back to the rebbe's Tish. However, Tishes don't have the financial backing to portion out that much food.

Kiddish
There is also Shabbat morning. The rabbis of the Talmud said nothing about eating before you need to. Hence, nothing was said about Kiddish, other than a Bracha over wine at the meals. Kiddish, food on Shabbat morning, was added as the final requirement.
Kiddish is the other Oneg that's not called an Oneg. Added in 1991, it's the fifth Shabbat meal. Added two years after the Oneg. It took two years to realize that there was room for a second Kiddish, between finishing Musaf prayers at 11:45am and eating lunch at 12:30pm. For millennia, forty-five minutes was waisted every Shabbat when people could've been eating. The Mitzvahs we overlook.
Kiddish was moving well, and then somebody found out about yapchik in 2018. So, we had to add that to every Kiddish. Kiddish now had choolante, kichel, potato kugel, luchian kugel, Yerushalmi kugel, whatever other kugels people heard about, quiches which are kugels if you're Frum, schnapps, herring, kishka which could also be considered a kugel, Green's babka, other leftover Oneg pastry, yapchik- which is a kugel, and gefilte fish balls. Gefilte fish balls are manufactured solely for Kiddish. That's the full business of gefilte fish balls. Kiddish.

How Do You Eat at an Oneg and Kiddish
Good question. Double portions are paramount. You need to satisfy the extra Shabbat soul and the double portions of Manna. After the math, to follow the Torah correctly, you have to take fourths. No matter how much you eat, you should still be eating more.
There was the fruit salad scare of the late 20th century. Fruit salads became a thing in 1996, but that was nixed by the religious community. So we still have dessert. B"H.
At the Kiddish or oneg you should complain that there is not enough food. Even if there's a lot of food, complaining is important. It adds to the atmosphere. Any Kiddish you go to, you should be saying 'There's never enough to eat here.' The sponsors should know.
Rabbis have convened to discuss Kiddishes with little food (a busha, embarrassment to the Jewish people, in its own right) and it's been decided that if there's not enough for double portions for everybody, somebody does not know how to cook as a Jew and they're going to Gehenim. And they're required to purchase a Hadassah and Bais Yaakov cookbook.
Machmir people who care about Torah, ensure that all Kiddishes have enough for fourthsies. 

There is Room For More
We've come a long way since the early '90s. We now have five meals. Yet, no meals have been added since Kiddish and Oneg. And that makes me question if we're eating enough as modern day Jews. Are we developing?
People have started with an afternoon snack. The afternoon snack is going to make its way. It will start with Yom Tov, as on the holidays we don't have Seuda Shelishit (the original third Shabbat meal- now the fifth).
Since there is no Seuda Shelishit on the holidays, the afternoon snack will take on full meal status on Yom Tov first. And then it will make its way into Shabbat. The foods will be the same. There won't be tuna or egg salad, as those are rabbinic requirements to eat at Seuda Shelishit, correctly known as Shalishusidis (not sure what that means, but it's the correct way to say it). 
Hence, I propose we start the sixth Shabbat meal now. I propose we call it Nishnishit. An amalgamation of Seudah Shelishit, Kiddish and snack. I understand the brilliance. 
I'm sorry for foretelling in my historical work, however our people is going to fall in holiness if we don't add Nishnishit immediately.

Predating yapchik, in 2007 the Salatim course became a Biblical requirement as well. We will go more into depth into the Salatim course next time.