Teaching Team

What is the Meal of Messiah? Part 2 of 3

As you may have heard Vine of David is publishing the Vine of David Passover Haggadah and the Vine of David Meal of Messiah this year in time for Passover. (For pre-order and general information click here) While most believers in Messiah are familiar Passover and the traditional seder, very few have heard of the Meal of Messiah. To aid with this we have decided to post my forthcoming article from Messiah Journal 103 on this beautiful tradition in three blog posts.

Here is part 1.

The Meal of Messiah

In the seventeenth century the founder of the Chassidic movement, Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer (the Baal Shem Tov) instituted a new custom for the last day of Passover. He called it the Meal of Messiah (Seudat Mashiach,סעודת משיח ). It consisted of a special, additional meal on the afternoon of the last day of Passover, paralleling the traditional third meal of Shabbat. The Baal Shem Tov emphasized that the main component of the meal was matzah. After all, it was the last meal on the last day of Chag HaMatzot, the feast of Unleavened Bread. A few generations later, the Rebbe Rashab (1860-1920) added the custom of four cups of wine, mirroring the seder of the first night. Some Chassidic Jews still celebrate this special Messiah seder on the last day of the festival. They gather together to end the festival with matzah, four cups of wine, and a special focus on the Messiah.

The entire theme of the meal focuses on the coming of Messiah and the final redemption. The meal is festive in spirit. Everyone wishes one another "L'chayim! (to life!)" while discussing their insights into Messiah and their dreams and hopes for the Messianic Era. The meal concludes with fervent singing and dancing in joyous elation over the promise of the Messianic redemption.

What is the connection between the last day of Passover and the coming of Messiah? The Tzemach Tzedek writes:

The last day of Pesach is the conclusion of that which began on the first night of Pesach. The first night of Pesach is our festival commemorating our redemption from Egypt by the Holy One, Blessed be He. It was the first redemption, carried out through Moshe Rabbeinu, who was the first redeemer; it was the beginning. The last day of Pesach is our festival commemorating the final redemption, when the Holy One, Blessed be He, will redeem us from the last exile through our righteous Moshiach, who is the final redeemer. The first day of Pesach is Moshe Rabbeinu's festival; the last day of Pesach is Moshiach's festival.[1]

One is incomplete without the other: the first redemption is connected to the last. The sages say, "In Nisan they were redeemed and in Nisan they will be redeemed in the time to come."[2] In fact the prophet Jeremiah tells us that the second exodus will be so great that it will overshadow the first.[3]

Jews who celebrate the meal of Messiah on the last day of Passover connect the coming of Messiah with the haftarah portions that are read at the end of Passover. The reading from Isaiah 10:32-12:6 is loaded with prophecies that reveal the Messiah and the Messianic Age. For example it contains the famous prophecies like "there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit" (Isaiah 11:1), as well as the Messianic foreshadowing, "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb" (Isaiah 11:6) and "He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth" (Isaiah 11:12). These prophecies fuel the Messianic expectation of the final day of Passover. The Lubavitcher Rebbe stated, "The last day of Passover is the disclosure of Messiah."[4] Chassidim believe that God grants revelations about Messiah on the last day.

Physical Connection

The Baal Shem Tov sought to draw a physical connection between the anticipation of Messiah's coming and the last day of Passover through the ritual of eating matzah at his Meal of Messiah.

By instituting Moshiach's Seudah, the Baal Shem Tov added a new dimension. Moshiach is appreciated not only in speech and in Torah, but also connected with physical activity, assimilated into our system, becoming part of our flesh and blood.[5]

Moreover, the food from Moshiach's seudah becomes part of our flesh and blood, and our faith in, and yearning for Moshiach permeates not just the soul's faculties but also the physical body.[6]

Chassidim who keep the custom of celebrating the Meal of Messiah on the last day believe that by eating the matzah and drinking the wine, they are connecting with Messiah in both a tangible and spiritual way. God created us with our five senses, and he desires to bind us to him through our senses. To me, the parallels between this concept and the Master's words at his last seder are astounding. It brings to my mind the Master's words of "Take, eat; this is my body" and "Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood."[7] Chassidim actually believe that when matzah is eaten at Passover that "we are eating G-dliness."[8] In fact:

Through eating at the time of ... Moshiach's Seudah we connect them with the physical world. In this manner, we create "a dwelling place" for G-d on the material plane.[9]

Some Chassidic sources say that participation in the Meal of Messiah causes the person to carry the light of Messiah within him throughout the rest of the year and thus it infuses every action of his day. It foreshadows the Messianic Era when all mankind will be saturated with Godliness. Through this feast, the Chassid hopes that he has connected with the very soul of Messiah.

Keep reading: What is the Meal of Messiah? Part 3.

[1] Likkutei Sichos 22:34 (Translation from Yosef HaLevi Loebenstein, Days of Destiny: The Jewish Year Under a Chassidic Microscope [Brooklyn, NY: Sichos in English, 1998], 170).
[2] b.Rosh HaShannah 11a.
[3] Jeremiah 16:14-15, 23:7-8.
[4] Sefer HaSichot 5704, 107 (Translation as found in Elliot R. Wolfson, Open Secret: Postmessianic Messianism and the Mystical Revision of Menahem Mendel Schneerson [New York: Columbia University Press, 2009], 201).
[5] Schneerson, Sichos in English, 3:20.
[6] Days of Destiny, 174-175.
[7] Matthew 26:26-28.
[8] Schneerson, Sichos in English, 3:20.
[9] Ibid., 3:22-23.

About the Author: Boaz Michael is the President and Founder of First Fruits of Zion.