alongside the Rebbe's courses, believing it to be a great merit (zechus) to eat something from the leftovers of a tzadik's meal. Many Hasidim claim that miracles can take place in merit of partaking of the shirayim, such as miraculous healing or blessings of wealth or piety. Hasidic songs, or niggunim, are sung with great gusto. The songs may at times be either joyous or solemnly meditative. The rebbe may teach words of Torah, often mystical passages from the Midrash, Zohar, and the Kabbalah during the tische. He may also tell Hasidic stories, parables, and history. He may also give religious commentary on current events and politics. Women do not sit with the men (because some communities of Orthodox Jews, especially Hasidim, are very strict about the gender separation) but they are often present to observe the tische from the ezras noshim ("women's section") in the main synagogue or hall where it is taking place. The women present do not sing aloud and they generally do not receive the shirayim, although sometimes they do. A tische can vary in size from a handful to thousands of people. Large tischen are usually held in special rooms in the main building of a Hasidic movement. Sometimes they are held in the main synagogue. Around the holidays, when thousands of Hasidim who live in other cities or countries come to pray and visit with their Rebbe joining the Hasidim who live near the Rebbe and things can get very crowded, they are sometimes held in a large temporary structure. Small tischen are often conducted in private homes, particularly when a Hasidic Rebbe is visiting another community. As public events, non-Hasidic Jews and Hasidim of one rebbe may also visit the tische of another Rebbe. Non-Jews sometimes visit a tische as well, particularly dignitaries and politicians, during a weekday tish such as on Chol HaMoed. Occasions A tische takes place at the meals in honor of the Shabbat, Jewish holidays, yahrzeit ("annual memorial") for previous rebbes of that dynasty, as a seudas hoda'ah (meal of thanksgiving) to God for past salvations (such as escape from prisons or from the Holocaust), or some other seudas mitzvah. Some Hasidic movements hold a tische every Shabbat; others do so only on Jewish holidays. The time at which a tische can be held also differs. For example, Belzer Hasidim conduct their tische both late Friday night and on