The Jewish meals

Mealtime customs depicted in the Hebrew Bible texts are still practiced today by many people living in the countries described in the Bible. In this region of the world, meals often express social and cultural as well as deeply symbolic, and spiritual concepts.

The bread is usually broken by hand. Photo: Pexels

A meal often expresses hospitality and can affirm kinship, friendship and benevolence, but also acknowledges status and non-aggression. The mealtime can convey a range of messages about relationships between people, writes Dr. Eli Lizorkin-Eysenberg in Lexham Bible Dictionary.
He divides ancient Israelite meals into ordinary, festive, and sacred. The inhabitants of Qumran, whose scrolls were discovered in the Dead Sea area, saw themselves and their meals as a living human sanctuary. For most Jews, meals associated with sacrifices are especially sacred.
Israelites in biblical times usually ate meals twice a day, one in the middle of the day or in the late morning and the second meal late at the end of the day.
Morning meals were usually simple and evening meals more elaborate. Ingredients were wheat and barley bread, dried grains, olive oil and olives, stews of lentils, beans and vegetables, as well as fish, honey, fruit of all kinds, grapes, dates and figs, raisins and dairy products such as curds and cheeses.
The meat of ceremonially clean animals was usually consumed as part of sacred meals and on the most festive occasions. On the Sabbath there were usually three meals instead of two.

Places at the meals were arranged according to status and places of honor. Reclining at the low table was the custom of the wealthy and was usually practiced by most people at feasts. The bread, which was an indispensable food and central to most meals, was not cut but usually broken by hand. Since people ate with their hands, it was common to wash the hands before meals. Qumran Jews bathed their entire bodies before meals. Washing feet was another custom that was practiced especially before sitting back at meals, Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg points out.
Although there are many biblical examples of Jews sharing meals with non-Jews, the social and spiritual significance of meals was limited during the Second Temple period. Table fellowship was frequently limited even between members of different Jewish groups.
Reading short prayers just before meals and prayers of thanksgiving after meals was customary.

Sabbath meals are the three meals eaten by Jews who observe the Sabbath, the first on Friday evening, the second mid-Saturday, and the third late Saturday afternoon. The Friday night meal traditionally begins with the singing of “Shalom Aleichem,” a song that welcomes the angels who, the Talmud says, visit every Jewish home on Friday night. This is often followed by singing “Eishet Chayil” (Proverbs 31), a song celebrating the Jewish woman, and then by kiddush, the Jewish practice of sanctifying the Sabbath over a glass of wine or grape juice.
After kiddush, the dinner continues with hand washing before the meal begins, with the head of the household lifting two challah loaves and reciting the blessing from the Bible: “Blessed are you, Lord our God, almighty, who brings forth bread from the earth.” The bread is split, then dipped in salt and eaten. The meal continues with festive food (often chicken), singing and conversation about the Torah. Both the Friday evening meal and the Sabbath day meal are preceded by services in the synagogue.
The Saturday morning meal traditionally begins with kiddush and Hamotzi of two challah loaves. It is customary to eat hot food at this meal. The third meal on Shabbat begins before sundown on Saturday evening and begins with washing the hands and then reciting the Hamotzi blessing over two challah loaves. The third meal, eaten late on the Sabbath afternoon, is normally lighter.