Seated at the Sabbath table with Rashi and Rambam

INTRODUCTION

Rashi (Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, 1040–1105 CE) and Rambam (Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon, 1135–1204 CE), two of the greatest Jewish rabbis and scholars, were interested in and knowledgeable about the food habits and customs of their times and both had professions that gave them insights into what people ate and drank. Rashi¹ was a grape grower and vintner and Rambam was a physician. Study of their commentaries and practices related to food gives us insight into their lives and into the Jewish cultural and dietary issues of medieval times (5^th–15^th century CE).

Rashi was one of the first Jewish scholars to systematically write commentary on the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud, and he is still considered one of the greatest. Born in 1040, he lived in northern France, in Troyes, for most of his life, although he studied in yeshivot (academies) in Mainz and Worms on the Rhine River in what is now Germany. In Troyes, while he supported himself by growing grapes and making wine, he also established a yeshiva of his own, and students came from all over Europe to study with him. He married and had three daughters, whom he educated in an era when education for girls was uncommon. Rashi lived during the time of the First Crusade and, although he was not personally involved, he knew about its devastating effects on Jewish communities.²

Rashi's exceptional efforts were directed at explaining passages in the Bible and the Talmud for students. He tried to anticipate students' questions and to answer them as simply and clearly as possible. He often used midrashim (stories taught by the Rabbis as explanations of Biblical and Talmudic passages). He explained the meaning of many obscure words. In fact, he translated and described many Hebrew words into Old French using Hebrew transliteration, and scholars still use Rashi as a source in etymological studies of the French language.³ His work became very popular and his commentary on the Hebrew Bible became the first book printed entirely in Hebrew letters (about 1470 CE), only 14 years after Gutenberg printed his Bible in Latin.

Rambam lived for most of his life in North Africa in Fostat, the first capital of Egypt, which later became absorbed into Cairo. Born in 1135, he is also known by his Greek name, Maimonides. He was born in Spain but fled that country as a teen, due to harsh Muslim rule. The family eventually moved to Fez, Morocco. He visited the Land of Israel for several months but did not find it conducive to his study or to his ability to make a living. He then settled in Egypt. In spite of leaving Spain at an early age, he was highly influenced by philosophers and theologians there. He knew the works of Greek philosophers as well as Islamic theologians, physicians, and philosophers. He eventually became a physician and wrote many books on health, hygiene, and nutrition, integrating the mind and body hundreds of years before today's so-called holistic practitioners. His fame and status grew until he became the physician to the Grand Vizier in Egypt. Why do we still remember Rambam? Because he attempted to harmonize faith and reason, religion and science, in order to help people know the proper path in life. Books he wrote include the Mishneh Torah and the Guide for the Perplexed. The Mishneh Torah attempted to systematically codify all Jewish law (Halacha) while relating it to the ethical and spiritual principles in Judaism. This fourteen-volume code was intended for the layperson. The Guide for the Perplexed was written for intellectuals with the proper background to understand its combination of Greek rationalism and Hebrew piety, as it delved into theology and philosophy. Maimonides also offered guidance to those Jews who had been forcibly converted to Islam.³

Rambam endorsed the medieval view of “humors” being the foundation of health and disease.⁴ Before there was knowledge of germs and viruses, this was a logical notion in a world in which humans are inherently connected to the natural elements. These humors reflected the elements of the macrocosm: air, water, earth, and fire. According to this view, an ideal person had all of his humors in balance and illness occurred when one of the humors was out of balance. In Maimonides Twentieth Treatise, he devotes an entire book to aphorisms about foods and beverages.⁵ He observes: “A knowledge of dietetics is practically one of the most helpful types of knowledge in medicine because of the constant need for food which is never ending, during health as well as illness”.⁴

He remarks on the beneficial effect of chicken and its broth on body humors: “One should always attempt to partake of the meat of chickens or pullets and one should always drink their broth because this fowl has the property of improving the harmful humors, no matter what type of harmfulness, and particularly the black humors, so much so that the physicians mention that chicken soup is effective against leprosy . . . ”.⁴

KASHRUT

Kashrut, or dietary laws, are the body of Jewish law dealing with foods that can or cannot be consumed and how they must be prepared.¹⁴ The word kosher means “fit” or “proper” and pertains to foods that Jews may eat. The dietary laws originate from passages in the Torah (Pentateuch) in Leviticus and Deuteronomy and are expanded in the Talmud (commentary on the Hebrew Bible 1^st–6^th century CE) and the later Jewish law codes. In the early Middle Ages, there appeared to be an emphasis on the types of animals that could be used, how they should be slaughtered and by whom, and what components of the animal were permitted, e.g., blood was prohibited, and hindquarters could not be used unless certain nerves and blood vessels were removed. Shechitah, a quick deep stroke across the animal's throat with a knife blade that is perfectly smooth and sharp, was the method of humane slaughter used then, as now.¹⁵

Kashrut also divides food into categories: meat and meat products; dairy and dairy products; and pareve or neutral foods that include fish, eggs, fruit, vegetables, nuts, and grains.¹⁴ In medieval times, there were discussions about the prohibitions regarding the mixing of meat and dairy and the timing of the consumption of foods from each category, with Maimonides recommending six hours between meals of milk or meat.¹⁵

Goitein, a historian of the Cairo Geniza, an archive in a synagogue in Old Cairo (Fostat), also noted the following: “The dichotomy of the kitchen into a meat and a milk section, so basic in an observant Jewish household, was unknown in Jerba and never mentioned in the Geniza”.¹⁶ The Geniza was a repository of discarded writings, dating from the 11^th to the 13^th century CE, that were not thrown away because they could contain the name of God.¹³ In northern France, Rashi remarks, “It is forbidden to eat milk with spoons with which they ate hot meat foods”, showing concern for the utensil but not relating it to a broader separation of dishes.¹⁷

THE KITCHEN

In the early Middle Ages, the people who did the cooking differed according to the status and wealth of the household. In a wealthy household, it would have been the cooks and servants. In a poorer home, the wife of the householder and her daughters, assisted by one or two servants, would have been responsible for providing food for the family. In most households, part of a room would be set aside for food preparation.¹⁸ The cooks, of no matter what social strata, used equipment we would recognize today. They often had an outdoor fire with a large cauldron set on a tripod stand or hung on a hook arrangement. A grill could also have been set over the fire. Indoors, they may have had a fireplace, a sturdy table, and a pantry or a storage area. Most households would not have had their own oven. Platters and bowls made of pottery and wood could have been stacked on the shelves. Knives, spoons, and ladles were known, but there were no forks. There were also specialized knives for meat and for figs, and a special board was designated for cutting meat.¹⁰ A mortar and pestle was used for breaking and grinding spices. There were sieves made out of cloth and metal for sifting grain, flour, and dried legumes.¹⁰ Cloth sacks or wooden barrels were used for storage of provisions; pottery containers were used in Egypt. Rashi also mentions glass bottles for holding wine.¹⁰ There were wooden buckets for fetching and holding water and copper cauldrons for boiling water.

There would also be equipment unfamiliar to us. Hot water was kept warm in an implement that probably was the ancestor of the samovar.¹⁰ It consisted of a large container filled with water with a smaller container, attached to its side, in which charcoal was burned to keep the water hot.¹⁰ Rashi describes a broom of twigs used to sweep the floor.¹⁰

For cleaning purposes, there were several ingenious devices. These included a special grass for scrubbing and polishing and the rough skin of a certain fish, which was used to clean and smooth wooden plates and trenchers.¹⁰

FOOD PRESERVATION

Food preservation was always an important consideration. There was no refrigeration and, while ice or hail was used when it was available, e.g., to cool wine,⁸ other methods of food preservation were emphasized. Smoking, drying, marinating in acid, pickling, and keeping foods hot were all methods used to lengthen the time that food could be kept without spoilage.

Both fish and meat were salted and dried. Rashi mentions a “salted”⁸ fish, which probably was a herring, while in Egypt a favorite was salt cod.¹³

When salted meat was cooked, it first required soaking in many changes of water; it was then stewed with dried legumes, grains, or breadcrumbs in an attempt to have some of the salt absorbed.¹²

Air drying was used to conserve fruit and meat. Rashi, in a discussion on the preparation of food on the Sabbath, says: “But whatever was not put into the hot water before the Sabbath: for instance, dried meat which could be eaten uncooked if necessary . . . ”,⁸ thus noting the use of meat that had been dried. Dried fruit was cooked with spices to add zest to side dishes served with meat.

Vinegar, wine, and juice made from unripe grapes mixed with spices were used to preserve meat and fish.¹⁸ This method of marinating also tenderized the protein and provided flavor. The use of vinegar made from grapes was probably familiar to Rashi. Pickling allowed some vegetables to be kept for longer periods. Turnips and cucumbers were favorites. Rashi observed that the heads and feet of cattle were pickled as well.⁸

UNKNOWN FOOD

In the 10^th and 11^th centuries, the New World had not yet been opened to exploration, so any food that originated in the Americas did not exist in Europe or Egypt. New World foods that would not have been available would have included some spices, including allspice (Jamaican pepper), vanilla bean, and chili peppers. Unavailable vegetables would have included sweet peppers (green, red, and orange peppers), green beans, iceberg lettuce, Indian corn, potatoes, squash, tomatoes, and yams. The Romans knew about broccoli, but it was not introduced into France until the 1500s.¹⁹ Some fruits known only in the Americas included cranberries, which grew in the northern continent, and pineapple, which grew in the southern continent. Bananas, which originated in the Indus valley, and rhubarb, from China, were known but rarely eaten.¹² Peanuts were also unknown.

As for beverages, coffee and tea were late arrivals. They did not reach Europe until the 1500s.¹² Cocoa and chocolate were New World foods that were introduced into Spain and Portugal in the 1600s and were thus unknown to both Rashi and Rambam.

TRADE ROUTES

Jewish merchants played a role in the provision of foods in both France and Egypt. An important merchant group called the Radhanites,²⁰ a Jewish firm, which may have had its beginnings in Mesopotamia, was based in southern France or Spain. They had branches and representatives in many ports and appeared to travel along four distinct routes. Two utilized coastal routes along the Mediterranean to Iraq and Iran. Another went by sea and overland to China, while a fourth went northward through Europe, passing through Prague, Bulgaria, and Central Asia. The Radhanites often had a virtual trade monopoly, for reasons specific to the medieval world. In early medieval times (∼900 CE), Muslims were excluded from European markets, and Christians were effectively barred from Islamic waters, so Jews acted as commercial travelers in both venues.²¹ Also, Radhanites could stay with other Jews wherever they went. Jewish travelers and traders had the benefit of Hebrew as a common language as well the precepts of Talmudic law for conducting business. Some of the food goods the Rhadhanites brought back to Europe were spices and medicinal plants.

GRAINS AND BREADS

The food supply of the times, both in France and in Egypt, depended on local markets and merchants for staples. Wine and grains such as wheat, rye, barley, millet, spelt, and legumes were purchased from local merchants. Storing provisions carried the risks that the wheat would deteriorate or spoil or that robbers would steal them. A letter from the Cairo Geniza¹³ explains that to avoid such disasters, “one stored the wheat in big jars of porous clay, put them on the uppermost floor of the house, and if feasible, on its sunny side . . . to protect it from humidity”. Householders in both countries purchased grain, usually wheat, a year's worth at a time. When flour was needed, the wheat was taken to the mill, where it was ground into flour. After the grinding, the flour was taken home, where the dough was prepared. If there was an oven associated with the home, the bread could be baked there; if not, the bread was taken to the local baker, who baked the loaves for the householder. This method had the triple advantage of being cheaper than buying bread daily, affording safety against the fluctuations of the market, and hedging against the outright unavailability of the foodstuff.¹³

There was a difference in the quality of the flour in Egypt versus France. The wheat of all grades in Egypt was purer, in the sense that it was not mixed with other grains. The bread in Egypt consisted of flat, soft, round breads, which made up a significant proportion of the daily diet. In France, rye and wheat were grown in the same plots and the two grains were harvested together, so the European loaves, called maslin, were darker and coarser.¹³ A type of pancake baked in a well on top of a stove was enjoyed. A significant dish made from wheat in the Middle Ages was called frumenty, which was made from hulled wheat or another grain soaked in salted water for 12–24 h. It was boiled until the wheat swelled and burst. It was then drained, and milk was added. This mixture was simmered for several hours until it formed a thick porridge. It was removed from the heat and several egg yolks were stirred in along with salt and ginger. It was then served hot, sweetened with honey. This dish can also be made with water or broth instead of milk, making a nice accompaniment to meat dishes. Food historians argue that more frumenty than bread was eaten in Europe at that time.¹²

The predominant legumes of the day also differed by region. In northern France, the dried split pea and the broad bean were important, while, in Egypt, the chickpea and the fava bean predominated. The dried peas were cooked into a purée known as pease porridge, as in the nursery rhyme “Pease Porridge Hot”.

In both France and Egypt there was little mention of milk. Unless one had a cow, it was difficult to find milk that had not spoiled. The milk seller had mainly sour milk for sale. Cheese had been known since Roman times. There are illustrations in various medieval handbooks showing milk being stirred over a flame and then the curds hung in a cloth to drain.²² This yielded a white curd that was either eaten fresh or cured for some time. Cheese was used as everyday food and also by travelers, because kosher meat was not readily available on board ships or along the road. Cheese was produced from sheep's milk in Egypt and from cow's milk in the Champagne region. There were Jewish cheese makers in Egypt, but cheese imported from Sicily or other European areas was preferred.¹³

MEAT AND POULTRY

In Egypt, the most expensive and sought after meat was fatty sheep's tail.¹³ People honored the Jewish festivals by eating fat or rich food, and this dish was a favorite. In Fostat, where Rambam lived, people who could afford it had a lamb slaughtered for their own use at their home. Beef was less expensive and was often used in the Sabbath stew called harisa. Chicken was very popular. Chickens were easy to keep, even in the city, and their preparation did not take as much fuel (wood) to cook as beef. Their nutritional value was recognized, especially for infants and the sick. Pigeons were domesticated (in pigeon towers) and served from the grill.¹³ Three people were involved in the preparation of animal food; the shochet (ritual slaughterer), the “picker” of the sciatic nerve from the hindquarters of kosher four-legged animals, and the guard who watched over the meat. The cantor,²³ or the prayer leader for the people, was often the shochet as both were part-time jobs that required a certain level of learning.¹³

In northern France, people used beef for fresh meat when they could afford it. All kosher parts of the animal were used, and beef marrow was a special treat used in a variety of dishes. Beef, veal, lamb, and kid were purchased from the butcher, while chicken and geese were raised in the yard.¹⁸ Chopped meat was often baked in a pie and the pie top was lifted up and then replaced after a portion of the meat was scooped out and served. Eggs were used by themselves and included in many dishes in both France and Egypt. One of Rashi's favorite dishes was eggs mixed with honey and fried in oil.²⁴

Around Troyes, the fats of the day that Jews could use were imported olive oil, fats rendered from chickens and geese, and nut oils. Butter was known but rarely used. In Egypt, olive oil was the principal fat.

NUTS

An important ingredient in both France and Egypt was almonds. Almonds were a versatile ingredient for cooks. They were used in the form of a nut, as a thickener, ground into a paste, as an expressed oil, or as a milk substitute. Almonds were blanched, ground and soaked in water to form a pareve (neutral, neither meat nor dairy) “milk” that did not spoil. Almonds were also steeped in broth or wine, depending on the purpose of the mixture. In Egypt, not only almonds were consumed in large numbers; pistachios were also appreciated.

FISH

In the Middle Ages, the type of fish one used depended on where one lived. For people who lived by the ocean or a river, many types of fresh fish were available. Those who did not had to make do with the pickled, salted, and dried varieties. In northern France, herring, mackerel, “tuny”, trout, carp, and smelts were available. Ever since Talmudic times, it was customary among Jewish families to include fish in their meal on a Friday night. However, in many towns restrictions were often placed on Jews when they tried to buy fish, since first preference was given to Christian inhabitants, who had many meatless days decreed by the Catholic Church.²⁵

In Egypt, anchovy, bass, cod, hake, mackeral, sardines, salmon, sole, trout, and tuna were some of the fish available from the Mediterranean Sea.²⁶ Only some of these would have been available in an inland city like Fostat, but fresh fish might have been available from the nearby Nile River. There was a thriving smoked fish industry in Egypt, which would have allowed those who lived in inland cities to enjoy some of the rich variety.¹³

FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

Because the climate in Egypt was so much warmer than in northern France, a completely different array of fruits was procurable. However, Maimonides felt that fresh fruit's “nourishment is generally bad for people but some are more harmful than others. There are some whose nourishment is bad such as the carob, the lota fruit and the azarole [white Italian Hawthorn, the fruit of which is usually eaten cooked today]. There are some which are less bad, close to being good, like figs and grapes. . . . Just as the best of all fruits are grapes and figs, the worst of all are peach and the apricot. One should under no circumstances go near these two species because they generate humors which mix with the blood and later cause it to boil. This is a major cause for the generation of putrefied humors and fevers.”⁴ On the other hand, dried fruits were welcomed and enjoyed. Thus, apricots, peaches, and plums were imported dried, while local fruits such as raisins and dates were relished. A type of syrup made from dates was recommended by Maimonides as a quick pick-me-up snack for scholars.⁵

In northern France, some fresh fruit was eaten in season and it was often dried for use during the winter months. It was stewed, baked into pies and tarts, and added to other foods for sweetness.¹⁸

Vegetables were often grown in home gardens in northern France. These included carrots, parsnips, cabbage, cauliflower, marrow, celery, cucumbers, onions, asparagus, radishes, and turnips. Soups were made from these vegetables and were often the staple daily foods of ordinary Jews.²⁵ The soups could have stale bread or matzah (unleavened bread eaten at Passover) crumbled into them. Greens such as rocket (arugula), beet greens, turnip greens, and spinach were dressed with oil and vinegar. Popular herbs added to cooked dishes included parsley, tansy, fennel, garlic, rue, and hyssop. These were often picked in the yard or the country side. While there were other herbs that grew there, they were deemed more significant as medications.²⁷

Egypt, too, had herbs that were used to season food. They included chamomile, anise, calendula, dill, cumin, and fenugreek. Onion, garlic, and radishes were eaten daily as relishes with bread. Greengrocers and vegetable sellers are often mentioned in old records and there were many vegetables for sale, including artichokes and carrots.¹³ While chickpeas and eggplants were introduced by the Muslims, a green leafy vegetable known as the Jewish vegetable (Jew's mallow, Corchorus olitorius) was also popular and was used to make a thick and filling soup for everyday use.

SWEETENERS

While the Arabs brought cane sugar to the lands they conquered, including Africa and Spain, it took the Crusaders to bring sugar to Western Europe, probably after the time of Rashi. Crusaders called sugar “the new spice”.²⁸ Other methods of sweetening were popular. Dried fruit was added to dishes, especially to meat, and bee honey was used to flavor and sweeten confections. In Egypt, bee honey remained the sweetener of choice.¹³ A mixture called oxymel, a mixture of honey and vinegar that was both sweet and sour, was of dietetic importance.¹³ Honey, mixed with white flour and melted butter, made a special cake (asida) to be presented as a gift for important occasions. Also, nuts such as almonds, pistachios, walnuts, and hazelnuts were mixed with honey and dried fruit to make sweetmeats.

SPICES AND FLAVORINGS

The Jews of the Middle Ages used a variety of spices to add flavor and to help preserve food. The value placed on spices was often greater than that given to gold or jewels, with black pepper being the most expensive spice.¹² Spice mixtures could be bought from special merchants who ground together favored combinations.¹³

A favorite spice in northern France was mustard seed. Mustard was eaten with fresh and salted meat or fresh and dried fish, and was considered the best sauce for any dish. Because it was locally grown, it was much less expensive than other spices.²⁹

Vinegar, made from both apples (cider vinegar) and grapes (wine vinegar), was used for pickling, in sauces, and mixed with honey.

THE DINNER TABLE

What were some of the dishes that could have appeared on the Sabbath (Shabbat in Hebrew) table of Rashi and Rambam? Although gluttony was to be avoided,³⁰ the finest dishes were made for the Sabbath.

Friday afternoon, after his wife and daughters lit the Shabbat lamps, Rashi would chant kiddush over his finest wine. He would have poured his wine from a glass bottle that had a wood stopper that was wrapped in oily hemp to provide a tight seal.

He would wash his hands and then perhaps his grandsons would make ha'motzi, the blessing over the bread. The loaves would have been baked earlier from a fine grade of wheat and “challah” taken. This means a small piece of dough would have been separated from the larger batch of dough and thrown into the fire as a remembrance of the sacrifices offered up in the Temple in Jerusalem.

The meal began with a fish dish, e.g., trout in aspic. A soup made from chickpeas and parsley root would be served next. Before the sun set, signaling the onset of Sabbath, an additional cauldron of soup would have been placed in a box filled with hay,¹⁰ designed to keep the food hot until it was eaten after coming home from attending services at the synagogue the next day. A chicken dish flavored with fennel or a hearty meat pie filled with chopped udder would then be brought to the table.²⁵ Perhaps there would be a “salat” of rocket seasoned with vinegar. This could be followed by an apple confection like apfelmus, thickened with ground almonds and sugar.

Beverages could have consisted of watered-down wine or barley beer. Water for drinking was not recommended unless it came from a spring directly out of a rock or the ground. Water was known to be “poisonous” and it could also cool down the body's digestive functions.

Before saying grace after the meal, a handful of spices (cardamom, anise, and caraway seeds) might have been chewed.

In Egypt, the story is different. Rambam, due to his many responsibilities, only had time to eat one hurried meal per day. Even on the Sabbath day, between services, he led study sessions.³ So Friday eve dinner must have been a true respite for him. Obadiah of Bertinoro writes at the end of the 15^th century, several centuries after the death of Maimonides, about a visit he made to Alexandria, in Egypt, for Shabbat.¹³

“On a Friday all go to bathe, and on their return the women bring them wine, of which they drink copiously; word is then brought that the supper is ready, and it is eaten during the daytime, before evening. Then they all come to the synagogue, cleanly and neatly dressed . . . On return home they repeat kiddush, eat only a piece of bread the size of an olive, and recite grace after meals”.¹³ Maimonides would have frowned on this sequence of events, as he forbids drinking any wine prior to the Kiddush.³¹ Obadiah also notes that the women cook only for Shabbat, being occupied with other matters during the week.¹³

Rabbi Moses ben Maimon may have taken part in the Sabbath shopping and preparations himself, as he recommended in his Book of Seasons.³¹ For Shabbat dinner, Maimonides may have sat on the floor on a carpet with a small cloth spread on the carpet or at a table set with a cloth. Fruits in season (only of the kind recommended by Maimonides) would be spread out on the cloth. He would make kiddush over wine and the blessings over the round flat loaves baked fresh for the Sabbath. Maimonides preferred a bread “baked of unrefined ground wheat flour with plenty of salt added to the dough”.²⁵ A pickled fish dish might be brought in.²⁵ A meat course could consist of a shoulder roast of lamb seasoned with onions, a meat stew with legumes, grains, and vegetables or a roast chicken. A side dish of colcas, a taro-like vegetable, could have been served to absorb the juices from the meat. The meal would conclude with some type of confectionary made from almonds, dates, raisins, ginger, and coriander seeds and more wine.

There were probably many discussions among Jews, in the early Middle Ages, about the “enjoyment of hot food on the Shabbat”, due to the controversy between the medieval rabbis (Rabbanites) and the Karaites. The Karaites did not follow the rabbinic-talmudic tradition, but only the precepts found in the Torah (Pentateuch). They insisted that if food were left hot, expansion and contraction would take place in it during the Sabbath day, which they said was against Jewish law. Thus, it is likely that the practice of having hot food on the Sabbath day arose as a refutation to the Karaites. The later custom of the Sephardic hamin (hot) and the Ashkenazic equivalent cholent, both stew-like dishes that were cooked overnight from before sundown Friday to be eaten later on the Sabbath day, probably evolved from this controversy.

CONCLUSION

Thus, separated by a century and a continent, Rashi and Rambam's food selections were separated by the climate and environment in which they lived, yet they were bound together by their religion, customs, and traditions. Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi) would have enjoyed the white bread or meat of the Shabbat, but during the week he might have subsisted on the gruel, vegetables and fruit, and dark bread of his fellow countrymen, brightened by the wine from his vineyard. While Moses Maimonides (Rambam) may have benefitted from the greater variety of foodstuffs in a warmer climate, he limited his food intake according to his medical and religious beliefs. Yet both men, because of their commitment to Judaism and its convictions and laws, celebrated the Sabbath as the Jewish day of restoration and celebration with the best food and beverages that their households could muster. In this review, conclusions have been drawn based on Rashi's and Rambam's own writings, as well as early medieval food studies, to theorize how their Sabbath table might have appeared.