On the recently announced “Vine of David” website from First Fruits of Zion, one can find a repository of works from Jewish believers of the last century. One of those works, The Meal of the Holy King, by Paul Philip Levertoff has struck my particular interest.

The Meal of the Holy King is a Hebrew-Christian Liturgy that Levertoff created for use during the celebration of the Eucharist at his congregation, Holy Trinity Church. Levertoff was known for his thorough knowledge and appreciation of the  mysticism of his Orthodox Jewish roots. Meal of the Holy King is a prime example of how Levertoff integrated his mystical Jewish upbringing with his faith in Yeshua. While this liturgy incorporates liturgy from many parts of the siddur, I’d like to focus here on the influence Levertoff took from the traditional meals of Shabbat.

The title “Meal of the Holy King” is not just fancy church-speak, but is highly evokative of Jewish mysticism. Its Aramaic title is diseudata d’malka kadisha. These very words are based on the Zohar, and are a part of the meal liturgy for the Sabbath. Here are the opening words of this prayer from the the ArtScroll siddur,

I shall prepare the feast of perfect faith, the joy of the Holy King. I shall prepare the feast of the King. This is the feast of the Miniature Presence.

Just as in Levertoff’s title, this prayer is composed entirely in Aramaic, not the Hebrew characteristic throughout most of the siddur.

As one reads through Levertoff’s liturgy, one finds many references and allusions to the meal of the Sabbath. In preparation for the Eucharist, Levertoff’s liturgy instructs the congregation to sing Yedid Nefesh, another component of the traditional meal liturgy.

Another parallel can be found on pg. 17 of the liturgy. Just after the Words of Institution (this is my body, this is my blood), Levertoff then has the priest announce to the congregation, “This is Meal of perfect Faith, the Joy of the Holy King,” again, taken from the liturgy referenced above.

Lastly, after the Absolution (pg. 21), and just prior to taking the elements, the priest chants Psalm 23. While obviously this is not a uniquely Jewish liturgy (as it is a popular piece in the Christian psalter), its placement here is clearly influenced by its use in the Third Meal liturgy. One, it does not appear there in the Book of Common Prayer. And two, this is the only liturgical use of this Psalm in the weekly Jewish liturgy, and to my knowledge, even throughout the entire Jewish liturgical year.

Through these references, Levertoff clearly sees a a close relation between the themes of the Sabbath meals and the Eucharist. But what?

In part 2, we’ll take a look at the signficance Levertoff saw between the Sabbath meals and the Eucharist.

*UPDATE* My esteemed colleague, Brian Reed, pointed out to me that most of these texts are used for every Sabbath meal by Hasidim (the both the Arizal and Sepharic texts). In my Ashkenaz ArtScroll siddur, they only have it for Third Meal. Oh well, only minor edits were needed. Nonetheless, we still see that Levertoff saw a thematic link between these meals as practiced by the Hasidim and the celebration of the Eucharist. More to come…