Judaism knows of the three traditional sabbath meals as times when the various manifestations of the Shekinah are present. Within the mystical circles each of these meals is described by the following names (with each proceeding from Friday night to the final third meal of Saturday evening): Chakal Tapuchin (Field of Apples), Atika Kadisha (Holy Ancient One), and Z’eir Anpin (Little Face). See the Zohar II, 88a-b (vol. 3, p. 268-272 in the Soncino edition) for an elaboration on the various manifestations and their presence at the three sabbath meals.
The Rev. Paul P. Levertoff’s liturgy is titled “Meal of the Holy King”. We find in the Zohar II, 88b the following: “R. Simeon used always to say when the time of the Sabbath meal arrived: ‘Prepare ye the meal of the supernal Faith! Make ready the meal of the King!’” (trans. Levertoff, Soncino ed.). Evoking the symbolism found with the kabbalistic doctrine of the Shekinah and noting the similarities found within the New Testament, Rev. Levertoff has progressed one step further in establishing what his daughter Olga wrote saying ‘a Hebrew Christian branch of the Catholic Church’.
Rev. Levertoff’s usage of terminology from the mystical circles within Judaism afford us a glimpse into his own understanding of the New Testament’s doctrine of the Shekinah. According to the Gospel of St. Matthew we read in 18.20 ”For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them”; compare this with the text from Pirke Avot 3.3 which says, “but if two sit together and interchange words of Torah, the Divine Presence [lit. Shekinah] abides among them” (trans. Gorfinkle; Bloch Publishing, 1913. p. 52-53).
Also, the Presence of the Shekinah is said to reside among all of Israel while she is in exile. Compare with this the words from our Lord in the concluding lines of St. Matthew’s gospel in 28.20 which says “and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” On this last verse Levertoff states, “Christ is the Shekinah, i.e., the visible Presence of God. His Presence is the Presence of God.”
Rev. Levertoff notes in issues of The Church and Jews that we owe to the Jews among several other things the Holy Communion. He says “The Holy Communion was instituted at the Paschal Supper, and parts of that ritual of that meal have been continued in the Service.” Levertoff goes on to quote the commentary ”The First Epistle to the Corinthians” (Cambridge: 1899) by John James Lias which says in the comments to 1 Cor. 5.8, “In truth it (the Last Supper) was a real Passover, though not the Passover of the old, but of the new Law” (p. 60). Lias goes on to say that this is “a standing witness to the fact that Christ has become our continual food. In conclusion, Levertoff quotes two verses that display the practice of the Eucharist within the early Christian community: 1 Corinthians 5.7 and Acts 2.42.
*A special thanks to my colleague Jorge Quinonez for making the file of Rev. Levertoff’s “Meal of the Holy King” available.