Shabbat and Yom Tov Meals

And it was on the sixth day they gathered a double portion of food (lechem mishneh), two omers per individual, and all the heads of the nation came and told Moshe. And he said to them, “This is what God spoke: tomorrow is a day of rest, a sacred Shabbat for God. Whatever you will bake, bake, and whatever you will cook, cook, and all the excess leave for yourselves in safekeeping till morning.” And they left it till the morning as Moshe commanded and it did not spoil and worms were not in it. And Moshe said, “Eat it today (ha-yom), for today (ha-yom) is a Shabbat for God, today (ha-yom) you will not find it in the field. Six days shall you gather it and on the seventh day, Shabbat, it won’t be in it. And it was on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather and did not find. And God said to Moshe, how far do you refuse to keep My commandments and My teachings. See that God gave you the Shabbat. Therefore, He gives you on the sixth day two days of food, each person should remain in his place, no man should go out from his place on the seventh day. And the people rested on the seventh day.

“Therefore God blessed the Shabbat day and sanctified it.” With what did He bless it? He blessed it with manna and He sanctified it with manna. Every day it says “an omer per head,” but on Shabbat it says two omer. Every day it says “and it spoiled” but on Shabbat it says “and it didn’t spoil.”

Rabbi Abba said: On Shabbat a person is obligated to break bread over two loaves, for it is written “lechem mishneh”…Our rabbis taught, how many meals is a person obligated to eat on Shabbat? Three. Rabbi Chidka says four. Rabbi Yochanan said: And both of them expounded the same verse (Shemot 16:21) ” And Moshe said, “Eat it today (ha-yom), for today (ha-yom) is a Shabbat for God, today (ha-yom) you will not find it in the field.” Rabbi Chidka thought that these three “ha-yom“s are aside from the evening, and the rabbis thought that it taught about the one for evening.

We are accustomed to spread a cloth [over the challot] and to recite kiddush, and the reason is explicit in the She’iltot, in order that his Shabbat meal be blessed with honor. And there is he who explains it as a commemoration of the manna that did not descend on Shabbat and Yom Tov, and there was dew above and below and the manna in between.

“Six days shall you gather it,” Rabbi Yehoshua says we learned that it [manna] did not descend on Shabbat. On Yom Tov whence do we know [that it did not descend]? The verse teaches “Shabbat, it won’t be in it.”

And they asked before Rav Natronai: On Yom Tov do we need to break bread over two loaves or not? And he responded thus: You should know that we need to break bread over two loaves on Yom Tov as we need to break bread on Shabbat…

A person is obligated to eat three meals on Shabbat, one at night and one in the morning and one in the afternoon…And he must establish each meal of the three over wine and break bread over two loaves, and so on Yom Tov.

The mitzva of Yom Tov is to split it—half for the study hall, and half for eating and drinking…and one is obligated to break bread over two loaves and to establish every meal over wine…and they did not have the practice of making seuda shelishit on it.

Regarding the matter of three meals…”ha-yom” was written three times in the verse only about Shabbat…And Rabbeinu Tam suggested that we maintain halacha like Rabbi Yehoshua who said “half for you and half for God.” Now if he was burdening himself with the third [meal] it would all be “for you.”

Less than one loaf – For on the sixth day the manna descended, two amarim for each person, and from each omer they made two loaves. Behold, four [loaves] from two amarim. He ate one on Erev Shabbat [Friday] and one on the night of Shabbat and one in the morning; behold, only one full [loaf] remained for him for seuda shelishit.

…If a variety of delicacies can be effective to complete the three meals of Shabbat? … This is specifically at seuda shelishit, but not at the meal of the night or the day, for they are the essence of honoring Shabbat.

One must make it [seuda shelishit] with bread. And there are those who say that one can make it with any food made of one of the five species of grain. And there are those who say that one can make it with things that accompany bread, such as meat and fish, but not with fruits. And there are those who say that one can make it even with fruits. And the first line of thinking is the fundamental [halacha], that one must make it with bread unless he is excessively sated.

Rabbi Yehoshua [rules] in accordance with his rationale, for he said: Rejoicing on Yom Tov is also a mitzva. For we learn in a Baraita: Rabbi Eliezer says: A person on Yom Tov should either eat and drink, or sit and study. Rabbi Yehoshua says: split it—half for eating and drinking, and half for the beit midrash. Rabbi Yochanan said: both of them expounded the same verse[s]. One verse says, “a day of assembly for the Lord your God” and one verse says, “a day of assembly for you.” Rabbi Eliezer thought: Either it is all for God or all for you. Rabbi Yehoshua thought: Split it—half for God and half for you…

… Shabbat and Yom Tov, as it isn’t possible not to eat, so, too, if one erred [with omissions in birkat ha-mazon] he repeats it? He said to him: yes.

If you restrain your foot from Shabbat, from pursuing your needs on My holy day, and you call Shabbat an oneg [pleasure] and the holy [day] of God honored, and honor it [by refraining] from doing your ways, from seeking your needs and speaking of matters.

…One must set up his home while it is still daytime because of the honor of Shabbat, and there should be a lit candle and a set table and a made bed, for all of these are in honor of Shabbat. Even if a person is very important and he does not normally purchase items from the marketplace or occupy himself with domestic labor, he is obligated to do things necessary for Shabbat himself, for this is its honor. Among the early sages were those…who would cook or salt the meat…and whoever does more of this is praised. What is oneg? This is what the sages said that one must prepare the fattest cooked dish and intoxicating drink for Shabbat, everything according to a person’s finances…

Rabbi Acha [and] Rabbi Abbahu in the name of Rabbi Yosei son of Chanina: It is prohibited to fast through six halachic hours on Shabbat.

It is prohibited to fast on Shabbat through the sixth hour…There are those who say that a person for whom eating is harmful, so that his pleasure [oneg] is not to eat, should not eat.

The law of fasting on Yom Tov is like on Shabbat, and see above Siman 288.

“One should not eat” – and eating almost approaches a prohibition since he assesses that it will harm him…and this is if even a ke-zayit is difficult for him to eat.

Since eating gluten harms and even is dangerous for someone with celiac, it is naturally “oneg” for him not to eat bread that has gluten in it, and he should fulfill “oneg Shabbat” through eating foods suited for him.

One should not avoid eating foods on Shabbat for reasons of weight watching and the like, and this entails some nullification of oneg Shabbat. But, in any case, one for whom eating is harmful, is permitted to avoid increasing food on Shabbat. And thus, one who is always accustomed to eating only natural or vegetarian foods is permitted to act thus also on Shabbat, and is not obligated to eat specifically meat and fish.

There is room for leniency to restrict eating [on Shabbat], as long as one does this in order to preserve his health, even if he nullifies oneg Shabbat a bit. For it is explained in Shulchan Aruch (288:2) “that a person for whom eating is harmful, so that his pleasure [oneg] is not to eat, should not eat.”

One should be very careful to fulfill seuda shelishit, and even if one is sated he can fulfill it with a ke-beitza [egg-volume of food].

There are those who say that even with a ke-zayit one discharges the obligation of the meal and it is correct to be stringent from the outset if it is possible for him.

Ezra enacted…that a woman arise early and bake…

Ezra enacted for Israel…that they would bake bread on Fridays, that there be a piece of bread available for the poor.

Gloss: We have the custom to knead a sufficient quantity for [separating] challa at home, to make from it loaves to break on Shabbat and Yom Tov…and it is from kevod Shabbat and Yom Tov, and one should not change [from this practice].

There is a hint to this in the Scripture, “and it will be on the sixth day, prepare that which you will bring,” “that which you will bake, bake” etc. It implies that one should bake on Erev Shabbat to prepare for Shabbat. Also in the time of the Gemara there was a fixed custom for this, as Magen Avraham cites, but in our great iniquities today some women have begun to refrain from this custom and purchase from the baker and they do not do well, for they reduce the honor of Shabbat with this.

Perhaps one can say that the fundamental rationale is because of kevod Shabbat, for this is among the enactments of Ezra the Scribe, and the rationale of separating challa comes to strengthen the custom, and since the whole thing is a matter of custom, and as is inferred from Magen Avraham here, and since today in the stores there are challot in honor of Shabbat, naturally there is not such a need for this custom.

My mother had always insisted that her mother was an amazing baker, and her challah was second to none. So, when I first started baking challah, I wanted my grandmother’s recipe. But my grandmother wasn’t available for asking. She was dead, murdered by the Nazis. Back in the late 1980s, when I was a new bride, I phoned my mother long distance, from my home in Jerusalem to her home in New York. “I don’t have a recipe,” she told me. “Why potchke? Buy! The bakery makes such good challahs.” But I wanted to bake. I wanted to stretch my muscles, dirty my fingers, and knead my prayers into my dough as I imagined my grandmother had done.

This mitzva should not have an advantage over any positive time-bound mitzva from which women are exempt. And a woman’s obligation in the mitzva of Yom Tov is only for the negative [mitzva] of not performing any labor, but not the positive mitzvot of Yom Tov…and naturally she is obligated also in the mitzva of oneg Shabbat and is prohibited to fast…That she is obligated in simcha, in any case, that means that she is forbidden in eulogizing and fasting, and should have simcha with drinking wine and with meat. But in any case, it seems that she is not obligated in eating bread, since it seems that eating bread is not based on the obligation of simcha, for on Shabbat there is no obligation of simcha, but it seems that establishing a meal over bread is due to kevod Shabbat.

Therefore, it seems to Rabbeinu Yehuda that a person is obligated to eat bread on Yom Tov because of simcha.

Mishna: One who provides food for his wife via a third party should give her no less than two kabin of wheat or four kabin of barley. Gemara:…If so, these are sixteen [meals per week]. Like whom [is this view]? Like Rabbi Chidka, for he said: A person must eat four meals on Shabbat. You can even say it is our sages’ [view], deduct one [meal] for guests and travelers.

In the fifth chapter of Ketubot, where they speak in the Talmud of “one who provides food for his wife,” it proves that women are obligated in three meals [on Shabbat]. And it is surprising, for it is a positive time-bound mitzva, and “all positive time-bound mitzvot—women are exempt.” And it seems to me that it says “Eat it today” etc., about everyone, and both men and women were included in this eating [of manna].

It is a simple matter in all of the Talmud that the three meals are presumed to be with bread, but if one comes to fill them out with various delicacies, he has discharged his obligation. And women, [regarding] if they are obligated, it seems that they, too, [af hen] were included in that miracle, for a double portion of manna was for everyone. And similarly they [women] are obligated to break bread over two loaves.

Why did women not practice lechem mishneh? ….Since they [the men of Israel] did not wait and complained about God, therefore He made them a miracle…but the women did not grumble…therefore they [the women] have no cause to give thanks for this and therefore they don’t practice it.

Rabbeinu Tam says that women are obligated in three meals, for they, too, [af hen] were included in the miracle of the manna and they are obligated to break bread over two loaves for this reason. But there is no need, for with all acts of Shabbat man and woman are equivalent.

Women are obligated in seuda shelishit.

Women are obligated etc.- and also are obligated in the mitzva of lechem mishneh.

…On Yom Tov as well, one must break bread over two loaves. And women are also obligated in lechem mishneh, for they also were included in the miracle of the manna.

Rav Yehuda son of Rav Shemuel son of Shilat said in the name of Rav: Those who eat are not permitted to eat anything until thebotzei’a [one breaking it up] tastes it…Rabba bar bar Chana…taught to his son: The botzei’a is not permitted to break up [the bread] until those responding finish saying amen.

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai: The head of the household breaks the bread and a guest recites birkat ha-mazon. The head of the household breaks the bread in order that he break it up generously. And a guest recites birkat ha-mazon in order that he bless the head of the household [within it].

One breaks bread over two [full] loaves, that he holds both of them in his hand and breaks up the bottom one. Rema: and specifically on Shabbat night, but on Shabbat day or on the nights of Yom Tov he breaks up the top one (Kol Bo and Hagahot Maimoniyot). And the reason is kabbalistic…[Shulchan Aruch] Those eating are not permitted to taste until the one botzei’a has tasted. But if there is lechem mishneh before each of them, they can taste it even though he [the botzei’a] hasn’t tasted it…

Now they have the custom to make kiddush for widows…but to make birkat ha-motzi for them [widows], it is clear that it is prohibited, for that is a beracha over bread, for he said one should not break up [and recite the beracha over] the bread for guests unless he eats bread with them.

All Israel have the custom that the head of the household recites the beracha and breaks the bread at Shabbat and Yom Tov meals, and distributes it to all at the meal. However, this is not obligatory, and others can also recite the beracha and break the bread, with the permission of the head of the household. If a woman is the head of a household, she is permitted to recite the beracha and break the bread herself, even when she hosts other families. There are women who do not feel comfortable reciting the beracha and breaking the bread (and there are also men like this, when an honored figure is among the guests), and they can authorize others to recite the beracha and break the bread. Halachically, it is clear that a married woman is permitted to recite the beracha and break the bread herself even when her husband is with her. In practice, this depends on mutual agreement, and shalom is the fundamental value.

Rabbi Elazar said: A person should always set his table on Erev Shabbat, even though he only needs a ke-zayit. And Rabbi Chanina said: A person should always set his table on Motza’ei Shabbat, even though he only needs a ke-zayit. Hot water on Motza’ei Shabbat is healing. Hot bread on Motza’ei Shabbat is healing. Rabbi Abbahu would prepare for himself a third calf [a delicacy] on Motza’ei Shabbat. He would eat a kidney from it. When his son, Avimi, grew up, he said to him: Why should you squander so much? Let’s leave over a kidney from before Shabbat. He left one and a lion came and ate it…

A person should set his table on Erev Shabbat, even though he only needs a ke-zayit, and similarly he should set his table on Motza’ei Shabbat, even though he only needs a ke-zayit, in order to honor it [Shabbat] as it enters and as it departs.

A parable: That we escort the king when he departs as we escort him when he enters. And it is explained in the siddurim, there is one limb that a person has, and its name is naskoy, and it benefits from eating only on Motza’ei Shabbat.

…In any case one should perform preparation in setting the table, such as spreading a cloth and the like as for a full meal, in order to escort the Shabbat when it departs in an honorable way as when it enters as is explained in 262. And therefore, there are those who have the practice to have many candles on Motza’ei Shabbat more than on other weekday nights, and also have the practice to recite liturgical poems and songs after havdala to escort Shabbat after it has departed, as one escorts the king after he has departed from the city.

For a ke-zayit. As it says in the Gemara. And specifically with bread as on Erev Shabbat as the statements of Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Chanina were said together there on 119b, see there.

The Gemara implies that it is proper to cook meat on Motza’ei Shabbat or something else. And see 291. And in our time, when we make seuda shelishit so late that we cannot eat on Motza’ei Shabbat, we can fulfill it [melaveh malka] with fruits.

Know that in any case this meal [melaveh malka] is not obligatory upon one like the three meals of Shabbat, for there we connect it to Scripture and this [melaveh malka] is a mere mitzva [not a full obligation]…

I learned that if seuda shelishit is drawn out until after dark, there is no need to eat another fourth meal on Motza’ei Shabbat.

Rash [Rav Shimon of Sens] wrote: “Women do not make havdala for themselves because havdala is not dependent on keeping Shabbat…

…It is possible that women are not obligated in this meal, and see siman 296:8, and here [melaveh malka] does not belong to Shabbat. And nevertheless, according to what Taz [cited], “There is one limb” etc., it is fitting also for women.

‘See the end of 291.” For Magen Avraham wrote there that for all matters of Shabbat, women are obligated like men, and if so, this is the law for this meal [melaveh malka]…

[Gera] was accustomed to eat radish at melaveh malka. He also would seek after hot bread…His wife accepted upon herself to fast a continuous fast and stopped eating with seuda shelishit and right after havdala lay down to rest. And he found out about it, and he sent her that all of the continuous fasts still could not make amends for losing a single melaveh malka. Then she immediately arose and ate.

Women are also obligated in three meals on Shabbat, and so they are obligated in the fourth meal on Motza’ei Shabbat. And it is a mitzva from the outset to make a fourth meal over bread, and if it is impossible with bread, they should do it with mezonot. And if it is impossible with mezonot, they should do it with fruits.

The reason why women had the custom to draw water on Motza’ei Shabbat immediately upon hearing barechu is because we found in the Midrash Aggada that Miryam’s well is hidden in the Sea of Teverya, and every Motza’ei Shabbat [its waters] make the rounds of all the springs and wells, and whoever is sick and comes across this water and drinks, even if his whole body is afflicted with boils, he is immediately healed. A story of one man who was afflicted with boils and his wife went on Motza’ei Shabbat to draw water and was delayed too much, and the well of Miryam came to her and she filled her pitcher from those waters. When she came to her husband he was angry with her, and in his great anger he knocked her pitcher from her shoulder, and the pitcher broke and some drops of the water fell on his flesh and in every place where water splashed the boils were healed. Regarding this, the sages said that one who tends to anger accomplishes nothing other than his anger. And therefore they [women] had the custom to draw water on every Motza’ei Shabbat.

There are those who say to draw water every Motza’ei Shabbat. for the well of Miryam makes the rounds every Motza’ei Shabbat to all the wells and whoever encounters it and drinks from it will be healed from all his illnesses (Kolbo). But I have not seen this custom.

After havdala when one has finished all the verses, one should drink water drawn [just] before or after havdala…and from here is a living reproof not to be angry in any place or at any time even with a matter that merits anger, for anger rests in the lap of fools, and especially on Motza’ei Shabbat…and it seems that aside from the positive property of healing the soul for one who drinks water from Miryam’s well, another extra one is found, that they have the property of opening one’s heart to the wisdom of Torah…and if so at the time of drinking the water after havdala, when one is still drinking the water, one should intend in his mind to the verses of parashat Chukat, “then Israel sang” until “over the Yeshimon” and he is prepared to become wise in Torah with help from God.

And it was on the sixth day they gathered a double portion of food (lechem mishneh), two omers per individual, and all the heads of the nation came and told Moshe. And he said to them, “This is what God spoke: tomorrow is a day of rest, a sacred Shabbat for God. Whatever you will bake, bake, and whatever you will cook, cook, and all the excess leave for yourselves in safekeeping till morning.” And they left it till the morning as Moshe commanded and it did not spoil and worms were not in it. And Moshe said, “Eat it today (ha-yom), for today (ha-yom) is a Shabbat for God, today (ha-yom) you will not find it in the field. Six days shall you gather it and on the seventh day, Shabbat, it won’t be in it. And it was on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather and did not find. And God said to Moshe, how far do you refuse to keep My commandments and My teachings. See that God gave you the Shabbat. Therefore, He gives you on the sixth day two days of food, each person should remain in his place, no man should go out from his place on the seventh day. And the people rested on the seventh day.

“Therefore God blessed the Shabbat day and sanctified it.” With what did He bless it? He blessed it with manna and He sanctified it with manna. Every day it says “an omer per head,” but on Shabbat it says two omer. Every day it says “and it spoiled” but on Shabbat it says “and it didn’t spoil.”

Rabbi Abba said: On Shabbat a person is obligated to break bread over two loaves, for it is written “lechem mishneh”…Our rabbis taught, how many meals is a person obligated to eat on Shabbat? Three. Rabbi Chidka says four. Rabbi Yochanan said: And both of them expounded the same verse (Shemot 16:21) ” And Moshe said, “Eat it today (ha-yom), for today (ha-yom) is a Shabbat for God, today (ha-yom) you will not find it in the field.” Rabbi Chidka thought that these three “ha-yom“s are aside from the evening, and the rabbis thought that it taught about the one for evening.

We are accustomed to spread a cloth [over the challot] and to recite kiddush, and the reason is explicit in the She’iltot, in order that his Shabbat meal be blessed with honor. And there is he who explains it as a commemoration of the manna that did not descend on Shabbat and Yom Tov, and there was dew above and below and the manna in between.

“Six days shall you gather it,” Rabbi Yehoshua says we learned that it [manna] did not descend on Shabbat. On Yom Tov whence do we know [that it did not descend]? The verse teaches “Shabbat, it won’t be in it.”

And they asked before Rav Natronai: On Yom Tov do we need to break bread over two loaves or not? And he responded thus: You should know that we need to break bread over two loaves on Yom Tov as we need to break bread on Shabbat…

A person is obligated to eat three meals on Shabbat, one at night and one in the morning and one in the afternoon…And he must establish each meal of the three over wine and break bread over two loaves, and so on Yom Tov.

The mitzva of Yom Tov is to split it—half for the study hall, and half for eating and drinking…and one is obligated to break bread over two loaves and to establish every meal over wine…and they did not have the practice of making seuda shelishit on it.

Regarding the matter of three meals…”ha-yom” was written three times in the verse only about Shabbat…And Rabbeinu Tam suggested that we maintain halacha like Rabbi Yehoshua who said “half for you and half for God.” Now if he was burdening himself with the third [meal] it would all be “for you.”

Less than one loaf – For on the sixth day the manna descended, two amarim for each person, and from each omer they made two loaves. Behold, four [loaves] from two amarim. He ate one on Erev Shabbat [Friday] and one on the night of Shabbat and one in the morning; behold, only one full [loaf] remained for him for seuda shelishit.

…If a variety of delicacies can be effective to complete the three meals of Shabbat? … This is specifically at seuda shelishit, but not at the meal of the night or the day, for they are the essence of honoring Shabbat.

One must make it [seuda shelishit] with bread. And there are those who say that one can make it with any food made of one of the five species of grain. And there are those who say that one can make it with things that accompany bread, such as meat and fish, but not with fruits. And there are those who say that one can make it even with fruits. And the first line of thinking is the fundamental [halacha], that one must make it with bread unless he is excessively sated.

Rabbi Yehoshua [rules] in accordance with his rationale, for he said: Rejoicing on Yom Tov is also a mitzva. For we learn in a Baraita: Rabbi Eliezer says: A person on Yom Tov should either eat and drink, or sit and study. Rabbi Yehoshua says: split it—half for eating and drinking, and half for the beit midrash. Rabbi Yochanan said: both of them expounded the same verse[s]. One verse says, “a day of assembly for the Lord your God” and one verse says, “a day of assembly for you.” Rabbi Eliezer thought: Either it is all for God or all for you. Rabbi Yehoshua thought: Split it—half for God and half for you…

… Shabbat and Yom Tov, as it isn’t possible not to eat, so, too, if one erred [with omissions in birkat ha-mazon] he repeats it? He said to him: yes.

If you restrain your foot from Shabbat, from pursuing your needs on My holy day, and you call Shabbat an oneg [pleasure] and the holy [day] of God honored, and honor it [by refraining] from doing your ways, from seeking your needs and speaking of matters.

…One must set up his home while it is still daytime because of the honor of Shabbat, and there should be a lit candle and a set table and a made bed, for all of these are in honor of Shabbat. Even if a person is very important and he does not normally purchase items from the marketplace or occupy himself with domestic labor, he is obligated to do things necessary for Shabbat himself, for this is its honor. Among the early sages were those…who would cook or salt the meat…and whoever does more of this is praised. What is oneg? This is what the sages said that one must prepare the fattest cooked dish and intoxicating drink for Shabbat, everything according to a person’s finances…

Rabbi Acha [and] Rabbi Abbahu in the name of Rabbi Yosei son of Chanina: It is prohibited to fast through six halachic hours on Shabbat.

It is prohibited to fast on Shabbat through the sixth hour…There are those who say that a person for whom eating is harmful, so that his pleasure [oneg] is not to eat, should not eat.

The law of fasting on Yom Tov is like on Shabbat, and see above Siman 288.

“One should not eat” – and eating almost approaches a prohibition since he assesses that it will harm him…and this is if even a ke-zayit is difficult for him to eat.

Since eating gluten harms and even is dangerous for someone with celiac, it is naturally “oneg” for him not to eat bread that has gluten in it, and he should fulfill “oneg Shabbat” through eating foods suited for him.

One should not avoid eating foods on Shabbat for reasons of weight watching and the like, and this entails some nullification of oneg Shabbat. But, in any case, one for whom eating is harmful, is permitted to avoid increasing food on Shabbat. And thus, one who is always accustomed to eating only natural or vegetarian foods is permitted to act thus also on Shabbat, and is not obligated to eat specifically meat and fish.

There is room for leniency to restrict eating [on Shabbat], as long as one does this in order to preserve his health, even if he nullifies oneg Shabbat a bit. For it is explained in Shulchan Aruch (288:2) “that a person for whom eating is harmful, so that his pleasure [oneg] is not to eat, should not eat.”

One should be very careful to fulfill seuda shelishit, and even if one is sated he can fulfill it with a ke-beitza [egg-volume of food].

There are those who say that even with a ke-zayit one discharges the obligation of the meal and it is correct to be stringent from the outset if it is possible for him.

Ezra enacted…that a woman arise early and bake…

Ezra enacted for Israel…that they would bake bread on Fridays, that there be a piece of bread available for the poor.

Gloss: We have the custom to knead a sufficient quantity for [separating] challa at home, to make from it loaves to break on Shabbat and Yom Tov…and it is from kevod Shabbat and Yom Tov, and one should not change [from this practice].

There is a hint to this in the Scripture, “and it will be on the sixth day, prepare that which you will bring,” “that which you will bake, bake” etc. It implies that one should bake on Erev Shabbat to prepare for Shabbat. Also in the time of the Gemara there was a fixed custom for this, as Magen Avraham cites, but in our great iniquities today some women have begun to refrain from this custom and purchase from the baker and they do not do well, for they reduce the honor of Shabbat with this.

Perhaps one can say that the fundamental rationale is because of kevod Shabbat, for this is among the enactments of Ezra the Scribe, and the rationale of separating challa comes to strengthen the custom, and since the whole thing is a matter of custom, and as is inferred from Magen Avraham here, and since today in the stores there are challot in honor of Shabbat, naturally there is not such a need for this custom.

My mother had always insisted that her mother was an amazing baker, and her challah was second to none. So, when I first started baking challah, I wanted my grandmother’s recipe. But my grandmother wasn’t available for asking. She was dead, murdered by the Nazis. Back in the late 1980s, when I was a new bride, I phoned my mother long distance, from my home in Jerusalem to her home in New York. “I don’t have a recipe,” she told me. “Why potchke? Buy! The bakery makes such good challahs.” But I wanted to bake. I wanted to stretch my muscles, dirty my fingers, and knead my prayers into my dough as I imagined my grandmother had done.

This mitzva should not have an advantage over any positive time-bound mitzva from which women are exempt. And a woman’s obligation in the mitzva of Yom Tov is only for the negative [mitzva] of not performing any labor, but not the positive mitzvot of Yom Tov…and naturally she is obligated also in the mitzva of oneg Shabbat and is prohibited to fast…That she is obligated in simcha, in any case, that means that she is forbidden in eulogizing and fasting, and should have simcha with drinking wine and with meat. But in any case, it seems that she is not obligated in eating bread, since it seems that eating bread is not based on the obligation of simcha, for on Shabbat there is no obligation of simcha, but it seems that establishing a meal over bread is due to kevod Shabbat.

Therefore, it seems to Rabbeinu Yehuda that a person is obligated to eat bread on Yom Tov because of simcha.

Mishna: One who provides food for his wife via a third party should give her no less than two kabin of wheat or four kabin of barley. Gemara:…If so, these are sixteen [meals per week]. Like whom [is this view]? Like Rabbi Chidka, for he said: A person must eat four meals on Shabbat. You can even say it is our sages’ [view], deduct one [meal] for guests and travelers.

In the fifth chapter of Ketubot, where they speak in the Talmud of “one who provides food for his wife,” it proves that women are obligated in three meals [on Shabbat]. And it is surprising, for it is a positive time-bound mitzva, and “all positive time-bound mitzvot—women are exempt.” And it seems to me that it says “Eat it today” etc., about everyone, and both men and women were included in this eating [of manna].

It is a simple matter in all of the Talmud that the three meals are presumed to be with bread, but if one comes to fill them out with various delicacies, he has discharged his obligation. And women, [regarding] if they are obligated, it seems that they, too, [af hen] were included in that miracle, for a double portion of manna was for everyone. And similarly they [women] are obligated to break bread over two loaves.

Why did women not practice lechem mishneh? ….Since they [the men of Israel] did not wait and complained about God, therefore He made them a miracle…but the women did not grumble…therefore they [the women] have no cause to give thanks for this and therefore they don’t practice it.

Rabbeinu Tam says that women are obligated in three meals, for they, too, [af hen] were included in the miracle of the manna and they are obligated to break bread over two loaves for this reason. But there is no need, for with all acts of Shabbat man and woman are equivalent.

Women are obligated in seuda shelishit.

Women are obligated etc.- and also are obligated in the mitzva of lechem mishneh.

…On Yom Tov as well, one must break bread over two loaves. And women are also obligated in lechem mishneh, for they also were included in the miracle of the manna.

Rav Yehuda son of Rav Shemuel son of Shilat said in the name of Rav: Those who eat are not permitted to eat anything until thebotzei’a [one breaking it up] tastes it…Rabba bar bar Chana…taught to his son: The botzei’a is not permitted to break up [the bread] until those responding finish saying amen.

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai: The head of the household breaks the bread and a guest recites birkat ha-mazon. The head of the household breaks the bread in order that he break it up generously. And a guest recites birkat ha-mazon in order that he bless the head of the household [within it].

One breaks bread over two [full] loaves, that he holds both of them in his hand and breaks up the bottom one. Rema: and specifically on Shabbat night, but on Shabbat day or on the nights of Yom Tov he breaks up the top one (Kol Bo and Hagahot Maimoniyot). And the reason is kabbalistic…[Shulchan Aruch] Those eating are not permitted to taste until the one botzei’a has tasted. But if there is lechem mishneh before each of them, they can taste it even though he [the botzei’a] hasn’t tasted it…

Now they have the custom to make kiddush for widows…but to make birkat ha-motzi for them [widows], it is clear that it is prohibited, for that is a beracha over bread, for he said one should not break up [and recite the beracha over] the bread for guests unless he eats bread with them.

All Israel have the custom that the head of the household recites the beracha and breaks the bread at Shabbat and Yom Tov meals, and distributes it to all at the meal. However, this is not obligatory, and others can also recite the beracha and break the bread, with the permission of the head of the household. If a woman is the head of a household, she is permitted to recite the beracha and break the bread herself, even when she hosts other families. There are women who do not feel comfortable reciting the beracha and breaking the bread (and there are also men like this, when an honored figure is among the guests), and they can authorize others to recite the beracha and break the bread. Halachically, it is clear that a married woman is permitted to recite the beracha and break the bread herself even when her husband is with her. In practice, this depends on mutual agreement, and shalom is the fundamental value.

Master of the world, I ask before you, please help me, that when my Levi Yitzchak recites the beracha on Shabbat over these challot, he intend in his heart the same intentions that I have in mind at this time when I knead and bake.

Being able to set the menu, shop, cook, and create an invite list that works to bring like minded people together has been an empowering and motivating experience…..Hosting Shabbat meals has transformed my Shabbat experience from the passive role of being a guest and recipient to an active role of being a host, being a leader. It has allowed me to feel like an equal part of the meal and not feel like I am “still a child” because I do not have my own family. It has allowed me to connect more meaningfully with Shabbat and the rituals, especially when it is a meal with all women and I have the opportunity to recite Kiddush (prayer over wine) and Hamotzi (prayer over challah) for those around me.

Rabbi Elazar said: A person should always set his table on Erev Shabbat, even though he only needs a ke-zayit. And Rabbi Chanina said: A person should always set his table on Motza’ei Shabbat, even though he only needs a ke-zayit. Hot water on Motza’ei Shabbat is healing. Hot bread on Motza’ei Shabbat is healing. Rabbi Abbahu would prepare for himself a third calf [a delicacy] on Motza’ei Shabbat. He would eat a kidney from it. When his son, Avimi, grew up, he said to him: Why should you squander so much? Let’s leave over a kidney from before Shabbat. He left one and a lion came and ate it…

A person should set his table on Erev Shabbat, even though he only needs a ke-zayit, and similarly he should set his table on Motza’ei Shabbat, even though he only needs a ke-zayit, in order to honor it [Shabbat] as it enters and as it departs.

A parable: That we escort the king when he departs as we escort him when he enters. And it is explained in the siddurim, there is one limb that a person has, and its name is naskoy, and it benefits from eating only on Motza’ei Shabbat.

…In any case one should perform preparation in setting the table, such as spreading a cloth and the like as for a full meal, in order to escort the Shabbat when it departs in an honorable way as when it enters as is explained in 262. And therefore, there are those who have the practice to have many candles on Motza’ei Shabbat more than on other weekday nights, and also have the practice to recite liturgical poems and songs after havdala to escort Shabbat after it has departed, as one escorts the king after he has departed from the city.

For a ke-zayit. As it says in the Gemara. And specifically with bread as on Erev Shabbat as the statements of Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Chanina were said together there on 119b, see there.

The Gemara implies that it is proper to cook meat on Motza’ei Shabbat or something else. And see 291. And in our time, when we make seuda shelishit so late that we cannot eat on Motza’ei Shabbat, we can fulfill it [melaveh malka] with fruits.

Know that in any case this meal [melaveh malka] is not obligatory upon one like the three meals of Shabbat, for there we connect it to Scripture and this [melaveh malka] is a mere mitzva [not a full obligation]…

I learned that if seuda shelishit is drawn out until after dark, there is no need to eat another fourth meal on Motza’ei Shabbat.

Rash [Rav Shimon of Sens] wrote: “Women do not make havdala for themselves because havdala is not dependent on keeping Shabbat…

…It is possible that women are not obligated in this meal, and see siman 296:8, and here [melaveh malka] does not belong to Shabbat. And nevertheless, according to what Taz [cited], “There is one limb” etc., it is fitting also for women.

‘See the end of 291.” For Magen Avraham wrote there that for all matters of Shabbat, women are obligated like men, and if so, this is the law for this meal [melaveh malka]…

[Gera] was accustomed to eat radish at melaveh malka. He also would seek after hot bread…His wife accepted upon herself to fast a continuous fast and stopped eating with seuda shelishit and right after havdala lay down to rest. And he found out about it, and he sent her that all of the continuous fasts still could not make amends for losing a single melaveh malka. Then she immediately arose and ate.

Women are also obligated in three meals on Shabbat, and so they are obligated in the fourth meal on Motza’ei Shabbat. And it is a mitzva from the outset to make a fourth meal over bread, and if it is impossible with bread, they should do it with mezonot. And if it is impossible with mezonot, they should do it with fruits.

The reason why women had the custom to draw water on Motza’ei Shabbat immediately upon hearing barechu is because we found in the Midrash Aggada that Miryam’s well is hidden in the Sea of Teverya, and every Motza’ei Shabbat [its waters] make the rounds of all the springs and wells, and whoever is sick and comes across this water and drinks, even if his whole body is afflicted with boils, he is immediately healed. A story of one man who was afflicted with boils and his wife went on Motza’ei Shabbat to draw water and was delayed too much, and the well of Miryam came to her and she filled her pitcher from those waters. When she came to her husband he was angry with her, and in his great anger he knocked her pitcher from her shoulder, and the pitcher broke and some drops of the water fell on his flesh and in every place where water splashed the boils were healed. Regarding this, the sages said that one who tends to anger accomplishes nothing other than his anger. And therefore they [women] had the custom to draw water on every Motza’ei Shabbat.

There are those who say to draw water every Motza’ei Shabbat. for the well of Miryam makes the rounds every Motza’ei Shabbat to all the wells and whoever encounters it and drinks from it will be healed from all his illnesses (Kolbo). But I have not seen this custom.

After havdala when one has finished all the verses, one should drink water drawn [just] before or after havdala…and from here is a living reproof not to be angry in any place or at any time even with a matter that merits anger, for anger rests in the lap of fools, and especially on Motza’ei Shabbat…and it seems that aside from the positive property of healing the soul for one who drinks water from Miryam’s well, another extra one is found, that they have the property of opening one’s heart to the wisdom of Torah…and if so at the time of drinking the water after havdala, when one is still drinking the water, one should intend in his mind to the verses of parashat Chukat, “then Israel sang” until “over the Yeshimon” and he is prepared to become wise in Torah with help from God.