Melavveh Malkah

("Escorting the [Sabbath] Queen"). Festive gathering and meal arranged by many congregations on Saturday night after Havdalah has been recited at the termination of the Sabbath. This practice was evidently instituted in talmudic times, when the sages differed over the number of meals to be eaten on the Sabbath (Shab. 117b), one opinion being that after the Sabbath a light meal should be served (Shab 119b; see also Se'Udah). An obvious parallel exists between the Kabbalat Shabbat service welcoming the Sabbath on Friday evening and the Melavveh Malkah ceremony prolonging its departure, as it were, on Saturday night. Another name for this gathering is Se'udat David ("[King] David's Banquet"), which recalls the tradition that David learned from God that he would die on a Sabbath but was never given the precise date (Shab. 30a). Each new Sabbath's conclusion therefore provided grounds for rejoicing.

The gathering is sometimes also known as "Rabbi Ḥidka's Meal," being named for a talmudic sage who held that one should eat four (not three) meals on the Sabbath (Shab. 117b). Its mystical importance was particularly emphasized by the 16th-century kabbalists of Safed and by ḥasidism. Unlike the three Sabbath meals, however, no halakhic obligation is attached to the Melavveh Malkah and it is merely regarded as a praiseworthy custom.

The standard practice nowadays is for this gathering to take place in a synagogue or communal hall. Light refreshments are normally served (although Ḥasidic Jews may prepare a fish meal), the rabbi or some guest speaker gives an appropriate talk, and in Ashkenazi communities the cantor sings traditional Hebrew and Yiddish melodies. Since, according to an old legend, the prophet Elijah will bring tidings of the messianic Redemption shortly after the Sabbath terminates, Eliyyahu ha-Navi ("Elijah the Prophet") is one of the songs (Zemirot) most often chanted.

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