Melaveh Malka
THIS is the Supper of King David
These words are spoken by the Commissioning Officer after the installation of a
Supreme Ruler in our Order and it has been suggested by our Rt Wty. Provincial
Grand Supreme Ruler that there are probably many brethren who do not appreciate
or understand the significance of these words or why they are used in our Order.
He suggests that some explanation should be given here today and I will attempt
to do just that.
Let us start by considering the literal translation of those two Hebrew words
Melaveh Malka.
Malka means Queen. Melaveh loosely means to accompany or to celebrate or perhaps
to welcome..........
Melaveh Malka - To celebrate or welcome the Queen.- but which Queen?
Now you all know that there are several important Jewish Holidays each year.
Passover, which is celebrated round about Easter time, The New Year and Day of
Atonement around Harvest time, Chanukah, the Feast of Lights, at about Christmas
time and there are many others.
There is however one Holiday that takes preference over all others. One all
important Holy Day and that is the Sabbath. The day of rest and re-charge given
to all creatures by the Almighty. A God-given day to be welcomed each week as
one would welcome a Bride or a Queen and this indeed is the Queen of the Melaveh
Malka. The celebration of the Sabbath but paradoxically it means the celebration
of the ending of the Sabbath or the completion of the whole Sabbath day. You may
well ask-Why celebrate the completion of the Sabbath Day?
The reason for this has to do with King David, hence its connection with our
Order. The Bible tells us that as a young man David's victory over Goliath so
endeared him to the population that he was showered with gifts of ,jewellery,
gold and silver especially by the ladies of the land. David decreed that ail
these treasures should be collected and held in a special reserve account to be
used only for the construction of a magnificent temple to be built to the honour
and glory of the Most High. However we are also told that because of the great
sin of King David in not using this wealth to buy food from the surrounding
nations during the three year famine that followed some time later but instead
allowing many of his people to die from hunger thus wasting God's gift of life,
he would not be allowed to build such a temple and only after David's death
would his illustrious son be allowed such an honour.
David was also told by the Almighty that he would die on a Sabbath day and
although he did in fact live to a ripe old age he had to treat every Sabbath as
if it could be his last day on earth. As each Sabbath drew to a close at sunset,
King David celebrated as he knew that he would live for at least another week. -
How many of us can say that?.- The whole population celebrated with him for he
was a most popular King and Saturday evening, when the Jewish Sabbath ended,
became a time to have parties and to celebrate occasions such as Weddings,
Engagements, Bar mitzvahs and the like. These parties became known as Melaveh
Malkas - The Sabbath Suppers of King David. These celebrated the fact that his
days were not yet over as well as whatever function was also being celebrated
that day. A double blessing worthy of rejoicing. The custom of Saturday night
parties still exists today, although not everyone knows the origin. It is as a
reminder of this custom that the Commissioning Officer, after the distribution
of food and wine, says "This is the supper of King David" - and then repeats the
words "Melaveh Malka."
So there you have it -the explanation of the Melaveh Malka. but we cannot leave
it there, for it is not quite acceptable to the more orthodox Jewish people .who
believe that if on the most Holy day, the Sabbath day, you spend all your time
completely immersed in the most Holy occupation, the study of the Holy Law as
given to Moses, this would be the most Holy thing that any person could possible
do. So Holy is it that not even the Angel of Death could touch you whilst you
were so occupied. Hence they reasoned that all King David had to do was to spend
every Sabbath Day studying the Holy Law and ,being beyond the reach of the Angel
of Death, he could have lived for ever.
They were right of course. King David did indeed know this and he did spend
every moment of every Sabbath studying the Holy Law, seated by a window to make
the most of the natural light, not even stopping for refreshment. The Almighty
eventually decided that David's allotted time on earth had expired and He
detailed the Angel of Death to collect the king on the following Sabbath Day.
The Angel finding David immersed in the study of the law was unable to carry out
his task. He tried again on the following Sabbath, again with no success even
though he arrived at sunset the previous day (for all Jewish Holidays start at
sunset the previous day and he was forced to report his failure to the Almighty
who as good as told him that if he wanted to keep his job he would make sure
that he did it properly the following Sabbath. Once again he found David
occupied in the study of the Holy Law but in desperation the Angel of Death went
to the King's favourite orchard which David could see from the window where he
was studying, and chopped down one of the trees. David saw this but continued
his studies. It was only after more trees were felled that David went to
investigate, for it was not a windy day, and David could not understand why the
trees were falling. Everything seemed to be quite normal when David arrived and
so he sat down on a nearby seat to watch for a few moments and it was there, in
the orchard, that the Angel of Death was able to complete his task.
Now Brethren, there are not a lot of people that know this tale so when you read
that at a very advanced age, King David finally died peacefully in his garden,
you my Brethren are of the privileged few that now know the whole story.
4th. July 200I.
Walter Goldsmith PGStB.
O.S.M. Provincial Meeting.
Beds. Cambs. & Herts.