When a person comes home from the synagogue on Friday night, he is said to be accompanied by two ministering angels, one good and the other bad. If the house is tidy and the table is set and ready for the meal, the good angel blesses the family that the same situation should prevail next week too, and the evil angel is forced to respond Amen. If the situation at home is otherwise, the evil angel “blesses” the family that the same situation should prevail the following week, and the good angel is forced to respond Amen. This idea is the basis for the liturgical poem Shalom Aleikhem, “Welcome to you, ministering angels,” which is sung upon one’s return from the synagogue, before Kiddush and the meal.

After Shalom Aleikhem, the family recites or sings the verses of Woman of Valor [Eshet Hayil], an alphabetical acrostic from the book of Proverbs (31:10–31). The basic reason for this recitation is that it constitutes a good opportunity to thank the woman of the house, a true woman of valor, who works hard to prepare Shabbat. According to another explanation, the Divine Presence is also called “a woman of valor,” and the passage is chanted in its honor. A third reason is that according to kabbalistic tradition, the twenty-two verses of Eshet Hayil correspond to the twenty-two “channels” of spiritual abundance that are given to us on Shabbat.