Every Friday
Shabbat dinner
Jewish families welcome the Sabbath on Friday night with candles, wine, two loaves and a festive meal.
What is eaten for Shabbat dinner
The Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday. Candles are lit, a blessing is said over wine, and another over two braided loaves of challah, which recall the double portion of manna. Then comes the best meal of the week. In Ashkenazi homes it is often gefilte fish, chicken soup and roast chicken with kugel. Sephardi and Mizrahi families serve spiced fish, many salads and rice. No cooking is done once the Sabbath has started.
The dishes
Also part of it, and being written: Chraime (Fish in spicy tomato sauce on North African Jewish tables.).
Written by the Thali desk with AI assistance. Background: "Shabbat meals" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from family to family and place to place. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Chicken soup: Shizhao, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Challah: Yoninah, Public domain, source
- Gefilte fish: Olaf.herfurth, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kugel: Stuart Spivack, CC BY-SA 2.0, source