The Sabbath is a time of close connection to Torah and spiritual enlightenment. Through the light of the 'extra Sabbath soul', our "neshama yeteira", we are able to grasp that which was distant and concealed from us during the weekdays.
This special receptive quality towards the Torah on the Sabbath day is like the relationship of a bride towards her new husband. The bride does not know her husband in a deep, intimate way like a couple married for many years. Yet there is a tremendous joy in the bride's love, which comes from the newness of the relationship.
The Sabbath is a 'taste' of the World to Come. One day a week we feel some of the holiness and knowledge that will fill the universe in the future era, a time of pure and continual Sabbath.
Our weekly Shabbat does not have the depth of enlightenment that will bless the World to Come. But there is the delight of newness, just like a young bride. This bridal joy is particularly appropriate in the very start of the Sabbath, as we celebrate to greet her with "Lecha Dodi".
The future world will also be graced this newly wed joy. "Like the rejoicing of a groom over his bride". The enlightenment of those days will continually increase, and the soul will rejoice in its constant renewal. May we speedily merit that great light, in a permanent acquisition.
[adapted from Olat Re'iyah vol. II p. 21]
