Melaveh Malkah

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Melaveh Malkah (Hebrew: מלווה מלכּה, lit. "Escorting the Queen") is the name of a meal that, as per halakha, is customarily held by Jews after Shabbat (i.e. Saturday evening). The intent of the meal is to figuratively escort the Sabbath Queen (the traditional metaphor for Shabbat in Jewish liturgy) on her way out via singing and eating, as one would escort a monarch upon his departure from a city. This meal is alternatively called "the fourth meal."

The origin of this minhag lies in the Gemara: "A man shall always set his table after Shabbat - though he does not require even a ke'zayit of chamin," that is, though he is quite full and satisfied (Shabbat 119b). In Aramaic, the meal is referred to as "the meal of King David" (סעודתא דדוד מלכא). The origin of the name lies in a midrash according to which King David asked God when he would die and God revealed to him that he would die on Shabbat. From that time on, on the evening after each Shabbat David would hold a meal for the members of his household in order to thank God that he was still alive.

Rabbi Isaac Luria is claimed to have said that the 'additional soul' (נשמה יתרה), which in Kabbalah is accorded to devout practitioners on each Shabbat, does not leave a person until after the Melaveh Malkah. For this reason, many believers are accustomed to refrain from work and to stay in the Sabbath clothes until after the meal.

Those seeking to 'beautify' the mitzvah prepare a special dish for the meal. In the Talmud, it is told (Shabbat 119b) of the household of Rabbi Abhu, in which they would slaughter a calf after every Shabbat, and Rabbi Abhu would eat one of its kidneys. When his son grew up, he asked why it is that an additional calf must be slaughtered after Shabbat especially for the Melaveh Malkah when they could instead merely save the kidney from the calf slaughtered for Shabbat. His advice was followed, and a bit of the Shabbat meat was saved for the meal after Shabbat. But then a lion came and devoured the calf that had been intended for after Shabbat, so that nothing was gained by the suggestion. This story appears in the Talmud to show that it is proper to beautify the mitzvah by preparing a special dish in honor of the Melaveh Malkah meal, and to not be satisfied with eating leftovers from the Shabbat foods.