Seudah Shlishis on Yom Tov
[1] (halacha 1065)
The Third Seudah on Yom Tov
Question: Must one eat a third seudah on Yom Tov?
Answer: The Rambam wrote1 [and see also the Semag2]: 'A person is obligated to eat three seudos on Shabbos — one in the evening, one in the morning, and one at Mincha .. and one must establish each of the three seudos over wine and break bread over two loaves, and likewise on Yamim Tovim'.
And from the plain meaning of his words it appears that on Yom Tov too there is an obligation of three seudos, as the Kolbo wrote3: 'And a person is obligated to eat three seudos on Yamim Tovim just as on Shabbosos, and to establish all three over wine and to break bread over two whole loaves, as a remembrance of the mann which did not fall on Yom Tov and fell double the day before .. all this is the opinion of the Rambam, and some have written that the third seudah on Yom Tov is when one eats one [additional] cooked dish' apart from the first, even though one does not interrupt it with birkas hamazon, and they were stringent to make them only on Shabbos, since even on Shabbos we do not find this mitzvah expounded in the Torah but only from the fine points of the verses, and they are but a mere asmachta, and it suffices for us to be exacting about it on Shabbos because of the stringency of Shabbos, not on Yom Tov, on which we bake and cook all the day's needs'.
And the Manhig wrote4: 'Three seudos for Shabbos and for Yom Tov; the minhag of Spain and Provence is to make it at Mincha, and they have great support, for we say [so] in [tractate] Shabbos, chapter Kol Kisvei HaKodesh'.
And Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel explained5: 'It implies that lechem mishneh would fall on Yom Tov just as on Shabbosos, and correspondingly one would need lechem mishneh on Yom Tov just as on Shabbosos, and perhaps also three seudos, and they disagree with that which we say, 'And He blessed it above all the days and He sanctified it above all the times,' and we expound: with what did He bless it? With the mann, which would fall double for Shabbos; and with what did He sanctify it? With the mann, which did not fall on Shabbos and would fall on the other Yamim Tovim. And perhaps upon this they rely that one does not make three seudos on Yom Tov, or perhaps since the third seudah on Shabbos comes only from an inclusion [in the verse], one completes it with types of sweetmeats. And my teacher שי' explained that an extra portion brought for the dessert of the seudah counts as a third seudah, even though one does not interrupt in between, and the proof is from what is said in chapter HeYashen, that Rabbi Eliezer said: fifteen seudos a person is obligated to eat in the sukkah; Agrippas said to him: one such as I, what shall I do? He said to him: every day you bring out several delicacies in your own honor; now bring out one delicacy in honor of your Maker'.
And the Ritva wrote6: 'But on Shabbosos and Yamim Tovim one is obligated to eat bread at three seudos, and therefore if he did not mention the theme of the occasion at any of his seudos [he repeats]'.
The Rivevan7 brought both opinions, and this is his wording: 'Some say that since 'היום' ('today') is written three [times] regarding Shabbos, we infer from it that on Yom Tov one is not obligated in three seudos. Some say that on Yom Tov too one is obligated, for the mann would not fall on Shabbos and on Yom Tov, and even on Yom Tov one needs three seudos'.
And the Tur wrote8: 'And some say that one must make three seudos on it, and so wrote the Rambam of blessed memory; but my lord father, the Rosh, did not conduct himself so'9.
But the Beis Yosef commented on the words of the Tur: 'And some say that one must make three seudos on it, and so wrote the Rambam in ch. 30 of Hil. Shabbos — but it is not compelled from his words'.
> Thus we have seen that the Rishonim disagree as to whether there is an obligation to eat a third seudah on Yom Tov10.
In practice, the Mechaber wrote11: 'And one is obligated to break bread over two loaves and to establish each seudah over wine .. and it is not the custom to make a third seudah on it'.
And regarding the reason that there is no obligation of a third seudah on Yom Tov, the Levush wrote12: 'However, the custom is not to make a third seudah on Yom Tov, because they rely on the fact that one eats several cooked dishes on Yom Tov, and one of them is considered the third seudah, even though they did not recite birkas hamazon in between — that is of no concern to us, for they were stringent to make a third seudah on its own with an interruption of birkas hamazon only on Shabbos, because 'היום' ('today') appears three times explicitly written regarding Shabbos and not regarding Yom Tov; and although with respect to the falling of the mann Yom Tov and Shabbos were equal, they were not stringent on Yom Tov — and all this is because of the joy of Yom Tov, for at times there is exertion involved in a third seudah'.
And the Magen Avraham wrote13: 'And it is not the custom to make [one]. And so it is implied in [tractate] Sukkah, chapter 2, that one is obligated to eat only two seudos, and so wrote the Tosfos Yom Tov, ch. 5 of Maaser Sheni, mishnah 10; but in Seder HaYom he wrote that it is good to eat fruit at the third seudah, and the Kolbo wrote that from this the custom spread to eat one additional cooked dish on Yom Tov, which is considered in place of the third seudah, even though one does not interrupt with birkas hamazon — Rabbeinu Yerucham (Yam Shel Shlomo); and nevertheless, when Yom Tov falls on Shabbos one should not rely on this'.
The Chida14 wrote: 'And it is not the custom to make a third seudah on it.' The minhag of Israel is Torah, and 'leave Israel be — if they are not prophets,' etc., for according to the way of truth there is no place on Yom Tov for a third seudah.
And this is the wording of the Alter Rebbe15: 'Which oneg is this — that which the Sages said, that a person is obligated to eat on every Yom Tov two seudos, one at night and one by day at Shacharis; but one need not eat a third seudah unless it falls on Shabbos'.
> Thus we have seen that on Yom Tov there is no obligation [and likewise, according to the hidden [teaching], it was not the custom] to eat a third seudah (and some have written that one should eat fruit, and some have written that the additional cooked dish present in the Yom Tov seudos is considered like a seudah); and in the next halacha we shall see regarding the third seudah on the last day of Pesach.
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Notes:
1 Hil. Shabbos ch. 30, halacha 9 ↩
2 Asin siman 30 ↩
3 siman 58 ↩
4 Hil. Shabbos p. 179 ↩
5 Beshalach ch. 16, v. 26 ↩
6 Hil. Brochos ch. 7, os 6. But see the reference in note 15 ↩
7 Shabbos 117b ↩
8 OC siman 529 ↩
9 And see Tosfos Yom Tov, Maaser Sheni ch. 5, mishnah 10: 'At Mincha on the last day of Yom Tov — because there is no later time on Yom Tov than the last Mincha. And they delayed it for the confession as long as they were able to delay it. On the basis of the Yerushalmi that I brought in mishnah 6. And from here there is a proof, and it is a great one to me, that one is not obligated in a third seudah on Yom Tov, not like those who hold that on Yom Tov too one is obligated, as stated in OC siman 529. For the Yerushalmi says regarding the morning [seudah]: up to here it is a mitzvah to eat.' And see the explanation of Rabbi Y. Perla on the Sefer HaMitzvos of Rasag, positive commandments, positive commandment 2, s.v. 'And I have seen concerning Rabbeinu,' what he wrote on this and on the words of the Magen Avraham below ↩
10 And see further at length and with additional proofs in an early commentary on the Rif, printed in Kovetz Yeshurun 9, p. 52 onward ↩
11 Shulchan Aruch OC siman 529, se'if 1 ↩
12 ibid. se'if 1 ↩
13 ibid. s.k. 5. And see Mishnah Berurah there, s.k. 13 ↩
14 In Birkei Yosef there, s.k. 3. And in Moreh B'Etzba (siman 7, os 215) he wrote: *'On Yom Tov one should not make a third seudah, for according to the hidden [teaching] there is no relation to a third seudah, and no stringency applies in this'* ↩
15 Shulchan Aruch there, se'if 3. And see also siman 188, se'if 15: 'And regarding the third seudah on Yom Tov, according to all opinions he does not repeat, since it is only optional' ↩
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[Seventh] (halacha 1066)
The Last Day of Pesach
In the previous halacha we saw that in practice it is ruled that on Yom Tov there is no obligation to eat a third seudah.
Question: On the last day of the festival of Pesach, does one eat a third seudah?
Answer: The Rebbe wrote in the Hayom Yom1 [based on the sichos of the Rebbe Rayatz2]: 'The Baal Shem Tov would eat three seudos on the last day of Pesach. The seudah of acharon shel Pesach was called — by the Besht — 'Moshiach's seudah.' Acharon shel Pesach is Moshiach's seudah, because on acharon shel Pesach [= it is the seudah of Moshiach, for on acharon shel Pesach] the revelation of the light of Moshiach shines'.
[Note also what is brought in Maaseh Rav, the practices of the Gra3 : 'And on the last day of Yom Tov he would eat a third seudah, even though he would not eat three seudos on the other Yamim Tovim, because of the dearness of the mitzvah of eating matzah, whose time is departing'4].
The Rebbe Rayatz said5: 'The Besht called the seudah of acharon shel Pesach 'the seudah of Moshiach.' Just as there are names for the seudos of Shabbos and Yom Tov — Atika Kadisha, Zeir Anpin, etc. — so too, by the Besht, the seudah of the day of acharon shel Pesach was called 'the seudah of Moshiach.' At that seudah it was the minhag that the door was open to all, and whoever was present in the home of the Besht tasted of the seudah of acharon shel Pesach. There is a long story about this. In general, in the days of the Besht there were also opponents, as the well-known adage goes: all around, the sea is dry. And as a kind of introduction to the story: it was a minhag by the Besht that in honor of Pesach they would buy new vessels, and among them also many cups, which they would immerse. The cups they would call by Torah names — 'a revi'is,' 'a kos,' and the like. The Besht would examine the vessels and say: this vessel is to be placed on the table, and this vessel is not to be placed on the table — and he gave no reasons for it. Once it happened that at the 'seudah of Moshiach' of acharon shel Pesach the Besht instructed that a cup be removed from the table, because it had not been immersed. Now, to the seudah of acharon shel Pesach new people would keep arriving, and each one would taste something; one entered and requested: give me too something to taste, and those seated replied to him that there was no cup. Upon seeing the cup that had been set aside, that guest said: here stands an empty cup. Those seated replied to him that this cup had not been immersed. The guest responded and said: it does not matter. When the Besht heard the guest's words, he said: he has revealed this about himself. That Jew afterward became a complete baal teshuvah. After a time it became known that his children [born] before this incident had been born not in purity. There is much length in this story, but here I have told it in brief. 'The seudah of Moshiach' is on acharon shel Pesach, for on acharon shel Pesach the revelation of the light of Moshiach Tzidkeinu shines'.
However, some have written that the reason for the Besht's minhag of this seudah was because of the Besht's victory over the sect of the Frankists, or because of a miracle that occurred to him on his way to the Holy Land6, but as [stated] above from the Hayom Yom and in the sichos of the Rebbe Rayatz — our Rebbeim, our leaders, emphasized that the reason for this seudah is because on acharon shel Pesach a revelation of Moshiach shines.
And as mentioned in a sicha of the Rebbe Rayatz7: 'They asked the Rebbe [Maharayatz] whether it is true that the seudah of acharon shel Pesach relates to some miracle that occurred with the Besht, and he said that he does not know; he only heard people say that then there was a spiritual victory over the Frankists .. for on acharon shel Pesach he said that they would be defeated. Once they said that this is the seudah of Moshiach, 'ויצא חוטר' ('And a shoot shall come forth') [the haftarah of acharon shel Pesach].
The Rebbe mentioned in the sicha of acharon shel Pesach 57498 that since this minhag has spread, therefore, even according to the revealed [dimension] of the Torah, one should observe it, so as not to separate from the community. And in the Land of Israel they observe the minhag on the seventh day of Pesach9.
> Drinking Four Cups
The Rebbe wrote in the Hayom Yom there: 'In the year 5666 the arrangement began whereby the students of Tomchei Temimim would eat together on the last day of Pesach in the study hall, and there were then 310 students and 18 tables. My revered father [= the Rebbe Rashab] ate the seudah of acharon shel Pesach together with the students, and instructed that each student be given four cups. And he said then: this is the seudah of Moshiach'.
And at the farbrengen of acharon shel Pesach 574910 the Rebbe mentioned that although the beginning of this minhag that the Rebbe Rashab, of blessed memory, established — to drink four cups at the seudah of Moshiach on acharon shel Pesach — was in regard to the students of the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva, nevertheless afterward the minhag spread and became established also outside the yeshiva: not only in regard to the students of the yeshiva themselves, who continue to observe this minhag even after marriage upon leaving the walls of the yeshiva, but also in regard to their parents and relatives (who did not study in Tomchei Temimim). And in recent years it continues to spread and has become a widespread minhag in all the places of settlement of Anash, among all those who belong to and join Anash in an ever-increasing manner .. to the point that even those who in many matters and customs (including and especially in matters of eating and drinking) do not belong to Anash — the minhag of drinking four cups on the last day of Pesach has spread among them as well'. [And the Rebbe aroused there that they should act until this minhag finally reaches every Jewish home].
> Intention in Drinking the Cups
At the aforementioned farbrengen the Rebbe said11: 'And certainly everyone should complete the four cups, and even those who are in doubt whether they drank all four cups with this intention (that this relates to the future redemption) should certainly complete [them], for the drinking of the four cups must be in a certain and clear manner, and as stated, through this one hastens the future redemption'.
> Thus we have seen that the Besht instituted making a third seudah on the last day of Pesach12, and the Rebbe Rashab said in the year 5666 to the students of the students that one should drink four cups of wine at this seudah; the Rebbe aroused [awareness of] this minhag for all of Israel, and wrote that one should have in mind that they correspond to the future redemption'.
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Notes:
1 22 Nisan ↩
2 See below, and see what is collected in Otzar Minhagei Chabad, Pesach, p. 18 onward ↩
3 os 185 ↩
4 And Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Zevin wrote on this in HaMoadim BaHalacha, Pesach ch. 3, note 106: 'In this minhag, incidentally, the extremes met: 'The Besht would eat three seudos on acharon shel Pesach' (the Lubavitch 'Hayom Yom' calendar, Brooklyn 5703, p. 47)' ↩
5 On acharon shel Pesach 5702 ↩
6 See the account in Nitei Gavriel, Pesach vol. 3, p. 452 ↩
7 Sefer HaSichos 5696, p. 140 ↩
8 Toras Menachem vol. 3, pp. 55-6 ↩
9 See there, note 12. And see also the sicha of acharon shel Pesach 5751 (Toras Menachem vol. 3, p. 86, note 77). And in many places ↩
10 ibid. p. 58 onward ↩
11 See there, p. 62, and in the maamar beginning 'Vehecherim' 5749 (Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat vol. 3, note 20) ↩
12 And as a sharp aside, one may say that we saw in the previous halacha that the opinion of the Rambam is that on Yom Tov too one should eat a third seudah; and if so, at the conclusion of Pesach, which is close to the birth of the Rambam, we conduct ourselves according to his words to eat a third seudah on Yom Tov, and it is close to the Maimuna seudah, which some have also written is in merit of the Rambam — ben Maimon ↩