Why do Friday Night Shabbat meals consist of soup, chicken and kugel?

by Rabbi Naftali Silberberg

Library » Shabbat » Shabbat Meals | Subscribe | What is RSS? PRINT EMAIL COMMENT The simple explanation is -- it tastes good... There isn't any Halachic reason for this; it is simply the age-old cuisine of European Jewry. Sephardic Jews, on the other hand, partake in other dishes. It is considered part of Oneg Shabbat (pleasure of Shabbat) to eat fish and meat (or chicken) by both of the Shabbat meals. It is, however, considered part of Oneg Shabbat (pleasure of Shabbat) to eat fish and meat (or chicken) by both of the Shabbat meals. TAGS: kugel, chicken soup ADD A COMMENT Please email me when new comments are posted (you must be  logged in). COMMENTS soup and kugel Posted by: Ari, NY on Sep 29, 2005 We have soup on friday night just like we have cholent on shabbos day. We need a hot dish to show that we keep the Oral Torah unlike the karaites who only ate cold food. We have kugel to show that just as we turn over the kugel, may Hashem turn over the judgement of Din and turn it to Rachamim. read more less Why we eat chicken soup and kugel Friday night. Posted by: ANON on Aug 30, 2007 Meat and soup in Hebrew have a mispar katan of 7 [the Gematria of 'basar' - meat - is 502. The mispar katan is 5+0+2=7. The Gematria of 'marak' - soup - is 340. The mispar katan is 3+4+0=7. ed.] . Kugel is really pashtida ['pashtida' is Talmud lingo for kugel, ed.] which consisted of two layers of dough with a layer of meat inside. This commemorates the way the manna was given, in between two layers of dew. read more less Email to a friend Post a comment cancel Loading...