Melava Malka - If You Haven't Been Careful About It Then This Will Change Your Mind Hint: It Has Something To Do With MONEY!

Sometimes we need something more to get us to do a mitzvah. One of these things is Melava Malka. It is so easy to do, all you have to do is eat, yet many people think of it as unimportant or say I’ll grab a mezonos. I will point out how it can help ones livelihood; this should get everyone to listen. Of course there is a halacha that everyone, including woman (it is actually a segula for a pregnant woman to have an easy labor – brought down from Reb Elimelech of Lizensk and others), to eat Melava Malka. It is a machlokes whether one needs to have bread or not, though tzadikim have always said to eat bread. Interestingly enough, not only are Chasidim particular about this. The Vilna Gaon was known to be especially scrupulous about washing for Melava Malka. Once, when he was sick, he went to bed right after Shabbos. When he woke up he asked those around him if it was still night. They said it was still night. He asked that they bring him bread and tea. He took an egg size piece of bread, put it to the back of his mouth and drank the tea to get the food down. (He was known to eat food in this manner, so as not to have pleasure from this world). His wife fasted very often. One time, she started a fast on Motzei Shabbos and the Vilna Gaon told her that eating Melava Malka is worth more than 100 of her fasts. In Parshas Mishpatim we had a posuk that read אִם-כֶּסֶף תַּלְוֶה אֶת-עַמִּי- The sefer Kerem Shlomo explains in this way: It was told over by tzadikim that Melava Malka is a segula for parnasa. This is alluded to in the posuk if you read it in the following way: אִם-כֶּסֶף If you need money, then (תַּלְוֶה)eat Melava Malka אֶת-עַמִּי- brov am hadras melech.