The word ע ת ִּיקָּא-Atika which is Aramaic and usually means “very old” or “ancient”, can also mean “removed” or “distant”, as in the word נעתק-removed. It refers to a level of divine revelation that is so high that it is many stages removed from being a source for creation. By analogy from the human soul, the power of pleasure is deeply removed from direct expression to another person. One can communicate their will and desire, and their intellectual understanding, but the motivation for those things is a deep sense of pleasure that the person can only experience in themselves. It can only be communicated to someone else indirectly through another soul power. For example, teaching the intellectual understanding of an idea can cause the student to feel some of the pleasure the teacher has in that idea.
Hashem’s revelation at the level of Atika corresponds to Hashem’s pleasure and satisfaction in our service of Torah and Mitzvos. This divine pleasure in our service is so deep that it is removed from direct expression in creation of the world. However, this lofty level is expressed in our divine souls on Shabbos; and when we eat the Shabbos meal, we are physically internalizing some of that divine pleasure. That is why we say, “This is the meal of Atika Kadisha” before the Shabbos meal.
Since the source of food on Shabbos is divine pleasure and not kelipas noga as during the week, there is no waste drawn into it (Shabbos food) at all, and it doesn’t need spiritual refinement.
There is a similar distinction regarding the prayers of the weekday, which involve spiritual refinement of the animal soul as explained above. On Shabbos, the prayers involve drawing Hashem’s pleasure into us, as it says, “and you will call Shabbos a pleasure”.
