The New Jew: A Field Guide

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pp. 752-753

Se’uda Shelishit for Shabbat

seudah sh'lishit shel Shabat

סעודה שלישית של שבת

Israeli: ' marks a reduced vowel that Israeli speech drops (b'rachah); when the vowel is pronounced it is written e (lefanecha). - separates syllables that would otherwise run together.

How to read the transliterations

סעודה שלישית של שבת

Se’uda Shelishit for Shabbat

Hebrew

אַתְקִינוּ סְעוּדָתָא דִמְהֵימְנוּתָא שְׁלִימְתָא, חֶדְוָתָא דְמַלְכָּא קַדִּישָׁא.
אַתְקִינוּ סְעוּדָתָא דְמַלְכָּא.
דָּא הִיא סְעוּדָתָא דִזְעֵיר אַנְפִּין
וְעַתִּיקָא קַדִּישָׁא וַחֲקַל תַּפּוּחִין קַדִּישִׁין אָתְיָן לִסְעֻדָּה בַּהֲדָהּ.

Israeli

atkinu seudata dimheimenuta sh'limeta, chedvata d'malka kadisha.
atkinu seudata d'malka.
da hi seudata dizeir anpin
ve-atika kadisha vachakal tapuchin kadishin atyan lisudah bahadah.

Hebrew

בְּנֵי הֵיכָלָא, דְכַסִּיפִין לְמֶחֱזֵי זִיו דִזְעֵיר אַנְפִּין.
יְהוֹן הָכָא, בְּהַאי תַּכָּא, דְבֵהּ מַלְכָּא בִּגְלוּפִין.
צְבוּ לְחַדָּא, בְּהַאי וַעֲדָא, בְּגוֹ עִירִין וְכָל גַּדְפִין.
חֲדוּ הַשְׁתָּא, בְּהַאי שַׁעֲתָא, דְבֵהּ רַעֲוָא וְלֵית זַעְפִין.
קְרִיבוּ לִי, חֲזוּ חֵילִי, דְלֵית דִּינִין דְתַקִּיפִין.
לְבַר נָטְלִין, וְלָא עָאלִין, הָנֵי כַּלְבִין דַּחֲצִיפִין.
וְהָא אֲזַמִּין עַתִּיק יוֹמִין, לְמִצְחָהּ עַד יְהוֹן חֲלִיפִין.
רְעוּ דִי לֵהּ, דְגַלֵּי לֵהּ, לְבַטָּלָה בְּכָל קְלִיפִין.
יְשַׁוֵּי לוֹן, בְּנֻקְבֵיהוֹן, וְיִטַּמְרוּן בְּגוֹ כֵּיפִין.
אֲרֵי הַשְׁתָּא, בְּמִנְחָתָא, בְּחֶדְוָתָא דִזְעֵיר אַנְפִּין.

Israeli

b'nei heichala, d'chasifin lemechezei ziv dizeir anpin.
yehon hacha, behai taka, d'veh malka biglufin.
tz'vu lechada, behai va-ada, b'go irin vechol gadfin.
chadu hashta, behai sha-ata, d'veh ra-ava veleit zafin.
k'rivu li, chazu cheili, d'leit dinin d'takifin.
levar natlin, vela alin, hanei kalvin dachatzifin.
veha azamin atik yomin, lemitzchah ad yehon chalifin.
reu di leh, d'galei leh, levatalah b'chol k'lifin.
yeshavei lon, b'nukveihon, veyitamrun b'go keifin.
arei hashta, b'minchata, b'chedvata dizeir anpin.

Commentary

… the words of Torah at the table more inward and profound. Yet there is also the knowledge that this charmed moment is the end of something, and the workday week, with its tensions and hazards, is about to begin. The Ḥasidim in particular seek to draw out these closing moments as long as possible, as if one could make time itself slow to a standstill. This is a time of spiritual longing, as we reluctantly prepare to leave the world-that-ought-to-be for the testing reality of the world-that-is.

SE’UDA SHELISHIT – THE THIRD SHABBAT MEAL One of the ways in which Shabbat is honored is by eating a third meal, Se’uda Shelishit: on weekdays, in Talmudic times, only two meals were eaten. The third meal – often, especially in summer, eaten communally – is a time of great spiritual intensity. The special atmosphere of Shabbat here reaches its climax. We have passed through the Shabbat of creation, the theme of Friday night, and the Shabbat of revelation, the mood of Shabbat morning. We now enter the Shabbat of redemption, the distantly glimpsed future of a world in which God’s sovereignty will be recognized by all, and life on earth will recover the harmonies it once had at the dawn of time.

Something of that serenity suffuses the third meal as the sun sinks low on the horizon, sending its slanting rays through the leaves and etching the landscape with red gold. The melodies of the third meal are more meditative, and …