Hymn for the Third Meal

Isaac Tyrnau was an Austrian rabbi born in Vienna in the late fourteenth century. Little is known about him, but he is remembered as the author of Minhagim (Customs), a book whose intention was to establish a standard for customs and codes of conduct for all Jewish communities

Shim’on Levi Gintsburg (also known as Simon Guenzberg) was the translator of Isaac Tyrnau’s Minhagim into Yiddish for the first printed edition of a book of customs, published in Venice in 1566. In 1592, he published a maḥzor (prayer book) in Tannhausen.

Isaac Luria was one of the most significant figures in Jewish mysticism, famed for pioneering a new conception of theoretical kabbalah. Luria was born in Jerusalem and, following the death of his father, was raised by his maternal family in Egypt. There Luria studied rabbinic literature and halakhah, while working as a merchant. He embarked on esoteric studies and lived in seclusion on an island in the Nile (allegedly for seven years). In 1569/70, he settled in Safed, where he studied kabbalah with Moses Cordovero. Luria soon began to develop his own innovative kabbalistic system. However, aside from delivering a few homilies in synagogues, he did not often teach in public. Luria himself wrote very little; his teachings were recorded by the disciples that gathered around him. Famed for his saintly conduct, Luria was highly conservative in his interpretation of Jewish law. He was also a poet; his hymns for Sabbath meals, replete with kabbalistic symbolism, appear in prayer books.