1: Shabbos: variant spelling for Shabbat:
"Shabbat" and "Shabbos," or sometimes also "Shabbes,"
all mean the Sabbath, which is on Saturday, the 7th day of the
week. It refers to the day when G-d rested from creating the
world, which he completed on the end of the sixth day. This is a
holy day of rest, separated from the rest of the week by it's
purpose, laws, customs and tone .
"Shabbat" is the Sephardic Jewish (Jews mainly descendant from
the Iberian peninsula) and modern-day Israeli pronunciation, and
"Shabbos" or "Shabbes" is the Ashkenazic Jewish (Jews
mainly originating from Eastern Europe) pronunciation of the
word. They are used interchangeably on this site.
"Seudah Shelisheet" literally means "the third
festive meal." It refers to the third meal of the three meals
one is supposed to eat on the Sabbath day (on Shabbat/Shabbos).
This custom of eating three meals is written
about in the Talmud, explaining the derivation from the book of
Exodus (16:25) in the Torah. In the verse about the "mahn"
("manna" from Heaven given to the Israelites in
the desert), the word "hayom," meaning 'today' (referring to
Shabbat) is written 3 times. The manna was given in a double
portion on Friday, because it was to serve for the Sabbath as
well (it was not permitted to glean the Manna from the fields on
From the mention of "hayom" three times, the Talmud tells us we
should eat 3 meals on Shabbat, which is a Holy day, and
different from an ordinary day, when it was customary in olden
times to eat only 2 meals , one during the day, and one at
This third meal has even greater spiritual significance than the
first two (the first eaten on Friday night, the second, after
services end around noontime), because it is not eaten for
physical satiety, but rather to fulfill a Divine mitzvah or
commandment. It can be (and usually is) a lighter meal than the
first two, often consisting of salads and gefilte fish, eaten in
the late afternoon after Mincha (the afternoon prayers), when
the day is waning.
This third meal, Seudah Shelisheet, foreshadows the spiritual
state of the World to Come, and is eaten to honor the Shabbat.
It is customary to sing special, emotionally moving "z'mirot"
(or, in the Ashkenazic pronunciation, "z'miros") which are
liturgical poems and songs connecting us with G-d--such as "Yedid
Nefesh"--during the meal. There is also a slight element
of sadness at that time, because we know that the Holy Shabbat
is waning, and the day is almost over...