Both men and women are obligated to eat three meals over the course of Shabbat: on Friday night, Shabbat day, and Shabbat afternoon. The third meal is referred to as seuda shelishit, meaning “the third meal.” This halakha is also derived from the manna provided to the children of Israel in the wilderness, as the verse that describes Moses’ instruction to the Israelites to gather the manna mentions the word “today” three times (Exodus 16:25).

The Shabbat meal should include bread, and therefore it starts with ritually washing one’s hands and reciting the blessing of HaMotzi over the hallot. One should eat at least an olive-bulk of the bread, roughly equivalent to one slice the thickness of ordinary sliced ​​bread. Ideally, one should eat bread at each of the three meals, including the third, as the Torah refers to the manna as “bread.”

During the Shabbat meal it is customary to sing Shabbat songs, which are called zemirot. Some of these songs are customarily sung in all communities, while others are unique to a particular community. Some of the zemirot are specific to particular Shabbat meals.

At the end of the meal, one recites Grace after Meals, as one does after every meal at which bread was eaten (see p. 527).

The Sages instituted that on special days like Shabbat or festival days, the events of that day should be mentioned in the prayers. Accordingly, in Grace after Meals of Shabbat one adds a special paragraph for Shabbat, called Retzeh, which begins, “Favor [retzeh] and strengthen us…through the commandment of the seventh day, this great and holy Shabbat, etc.”

Likewise, in the final blessing, Al hamihya, which is recited after eating food products from the five species of grain, eating a fruit of the seven species, or drinking wine, one mentions and commemorates Shabbat.