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Shalosh Seudos


Seudah Shlishit (Hebrew: סעודה שלישית‎, third meal, or Yiddish and Ashkenazic שלוש־סעודות shaleshudes [ʃaləˈʃʊdəs] or Shalosh seudos three meals, in reference to an aggadic passage from the Talmud) is the "third meal" customarily eaten by Sabbath-observing Jews on Shabbat (observed on Saturdays).

According to Halakha, the meal is to be eaten in the afternoon. It is usually the smallest of the three meals, often consisting of foods such as salads and gefilte fish in Ashkenazi custom and tuna, harissa, and fruits in Mizrachi and Sephardi customs.

It has special significance because it is a mitzvah ("commandment") to eat three meals on the Sabbath. In Hasidic communities, this mitzvah is carried out with great enthusiasm. In some Hasidic circles, this third meal continues hours after the Sabbath has officially ended. The lights might be turned off, either by a timer, or by a person after the Sabbath has ended. Some have a custom to rise and "accept the Kingdom of Heaven", by reciting "A-donai melech, A-donai malach, A-donai yimloch l'olam va'ed!" (The Lord is King, the Lord was King, the Lord will always be King) and "Hear Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One" (Sh'ma Yisrael, A-donai E-loheinu, A-donai Echad).

While most poskim (Jewish legal decisors) encourage people to eat bread at this meal, most agree that eating cake or fruit will minimally suffice. However, many Jews of the Hasidic Chabad-Lubavitch community have a custom specifically to refrain from eating bread at this meal, as do some German Jews.


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