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Most Cherished of Women’s Mitzvot
Parashat Shelach Lecha leads us to the beloved, feminine mitzvah of challah, about which I
have already written extensively. You can read about the many beautiful,
spiritual lessons gleaned from this mitzvah in my prior blogs The
Secret of Challah & the Feminine Tikun (Rectification); The
Power of Challah. Having baked challah every week on Friday, since
getting married almost 40 years ago, I revel in this mitzvah. I especially
treasure the opportune moment, following the taking of challah, to pray for the
deepest desires of my heart. It is then customary to pray for a soulmate, since
the dough symbolizes the first human being, who was Hashem’s challah, created
from dust like flour and water. There are several established prayers to recite
after performing this cherished mitzvah, which I include below both in Hebrew
and English. We may also pray in our own words for anything we or our loved
ones need. In Jewish communities the world over, 40 women get together to take
challah the same day and pray for one person to be healed or to find her
soulmate. Although any adult Jew can bake bread and separate challah, this
mitzvah is one of the three special mitzvot designated for the Jewish woman, to
empower her to rectify the sin of the first woman, Chava.
Challah – One of Women’s Three
Opportunities for Rectification
The blessings of the tent of Sarah, our mother,
reflect each of these three mitzvot, which are entrusted to women, and
represent the three aspects of the rectification of Chava:
1. The Divine Cloud hanging over Sarah’s tent
reflects keeping the laws of family purity, which connects the physical and
spiritual. Humanity is the blood of the world, as it states, “Whoever spills
the blood of man...” (Bereishit 9:7). Blood, purified through
family purity, does, in fact, bind body and soul together on a physical level.
2. The perpetual light (from the eve of Shabbat to
the eve of Shabbat) exuding from Sarah’s tent, reflects the lighting of Shabbat
candles. This mitzvah rectifies and perfects the soul. Humanity is the candle
of the world as it states, “The candle of G-d, the soul of man” (Mishlei
20:27).
3. The special blessing in the dough of Sarah’s
tent reflects the mitzvah of taking challah. It revitalizes and rectifies the
body. Humanity is the bread of the world, as it states, “Hashem formed man
of the dust of the ground” (Bereishit 2:7). This explains why
the moment of separating challah is so holy. In this article, I’ve decided to
focus on the halachic implications of separating challah. For this purpose, my
husband, Rabbi Dr. Mechael Chaim Siegelbaum, the halacha teacher of B’erot,
generously shared his notes on the topic.
The Mitzvah of Challah Constantly
Reminds Us and Connects Us to the Land of Israel
According to the Torah, the mitzvah of taking
challah applies only within the Land of Israel, when every tribe has its own
land to grow produce and share with the Kohen. Although no other terumot
and ma’asarot (tithes), are required to perform outside of the Land of
Israel, we perform the mitzvah of challah even outside of the Land of Israel,
“so that we do not forget it.” Thus, the mitzvah of challah connects us to the
Land of Israel:
ספר במדבר פרק טו פסוק יז וַיְדַבֵּר הָשֵׁם אֶל משֶׁה לֵּאמֹר: יח) דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי
יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם בֹאֲכֶם אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי מֵבִיא אֶתְכֶם
שָׁמָּה: יט) וְהָיָה בַּאֲכָלְכֶם מִלֶּחֶם הָאָרֶץ תָּרִימוּ תְרוּמָה לַהָשֵׁם:
כ) רֵאשִׁית עֲרִסֹתֵכֶם חַלָּה תָּרִימוּ תְרוּמָה כִּתְרוּמַת גֹּרֶן כֵּן
תָּרִימוּ אֹתָהּ: כא) מֵרֵאשִׁית עֲרִסֹתֵיכֶם תִּתְּנוּ לַהָשֵׁם תְּרוּמָה
לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם:
“Hashem
spoke to Moshe, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, When
you arrive in the Land to which I am
bringing you, and you eat of the bread of the Land, you shall offer up a gift (terumah)
to Hashem. [From] the first of your kneading bowl, you shall offer up a challah as
a gift (terumah); like the gift of the threshing-floor, so you shall
offer it up. From the first of your kneading bowl, you shall give [a gift] to
Hashem an offering, throughout your generations” (Bamidbar 15:17-21).
Until the majority of world Jewry reside in Israel,
separating challah is a Rabbinic rather than a Biblical mitzvah, both in Israel
and the diaspora. However, I find it extremely exciting that this may change
shortly. At the beginning of this year (5780), the number of Jews worldwide was
14.8 million. Of these, 8.1 million lived outside Israel and 6.7 million Jews
lived within Israel. With less than a million more immigrants, the Jews in the
Land of Israel will tip the scale to become the majority.
Baking Enough Bread to Take Challah
Hashem desired to grant us a constant mitzvah in
our bread, through which the blessing could rest and give us merit for our
souls. In this way, the dough would become food for both body and soul (Sefer
HaChinuch 385). This explains why Rabbi Moshe Isserless encourages us to
bake enough bread to take challah:
שו"ע אורח חיים סימן רמב הגה נוהגין ללוש כדי שיעור חלה בבית
לעשות מהם לחמים לבצוע עליהם בשבת ויו"ט (סמך ממרדכי ריש מסכת ר"ה) והוא
מכבוד שבת ויו"ט ואין לשנות:
RAMA: We customarily knead a quantity of dough that
is sufficient to become obligated in the mitzvah of challah, in the home. With
this, we bake breads for the Shabbat and holiday meals. This is one of the
[many ways] in which we honor Shabbat and holidays, and [this custom] should
not be changed (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim Ch.242).
There are different opinions about the amount of
flour required for being able to take challah with or without a bracha. In the
table below we bring you the two most accepted views:
Amount of Flour Required
|
Without bracha
(all opinions)
|
With Bracha
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed
|
With Bracha
The Chazon Ish
|
Kg
|
1.2
|
1.5
|
2.25
|
Lbs.
|
2.6
|
3.3
|
5
|
Which Kind of Dough Requires Challah
to be Taken?
1. Any dough baked from the five grains: חִטָּה, שְׂעוֹרָה, שִׁיפוֹן, שִׁבֹּלֶת
שׁוּעָל, כֻּסֶּמֶת wheat, barley, rye oats,
spelt.
2. Any dough for making bread, pizza, cakes,
cookies etc.
3. Also bagels although they are boiled before
being baked.
4. Two or more doughs, owned by one person, each of
which weighs less than the amount requiring the separation of challah, may
collectively add up to the amount requiring challah. This only applies if one
does not care that the doughs are mixed with each other and the following
conditions are met: 1. The doughs are in one vessel, and preferably touching,
or placed together on a cloth 2. If either dough rises above the top of the
vessel, the doughs are covered to combine them.
5. One preparing an amount of dough requiring the
separation of challah, and bakes all the dough together in several loaves,
intending to eat some of the loaves now and to store some loaves away for next
Shabbat. Even if the dough is divided so that some will be baked now and some
will be baked next Shabbat, challah must be taken with a blessing.
Which Kind of Dough Requires
Separating Challah Without a Blessing?
6. A thick dough which is boiled or fried is exempt
from challah. Nevertheless, among Ashkenazim, the G-d fearing will separate
challah without a blessing.
7. Donuts, deep fried in oil, are exempt from
challah. Nevertheless, challah should be taken without a blessing.
8. There is a dispute of whether noodle kugel is
exempt from challah. Therefore, in Israel [where the mitzvah to take challah is
mentioned directly in the Torah] it is recommended to separate challah without
a blessing.
Which Kind of Dough is Exempt from
Taking Challah?
9. If an amount of dough requiring the separation
of challah is prepared with the intention of dividing the dough into different
kinds: part for bread and part for cake, or two different kinds of cake, and no
part by itself is enough to require challah, then the dough is exempt from
challah.
10. Pancakes fried with a moderate amount of oil
are exempt from challah.
11. If the dough was divided up to give to
different people to bake separately, so that no portion has an amount requiring
challah, then challah is not taken.
The Procedure for Taking Challah:
12. Before separating the
challah, recite the following blessing:
בָּרוּךְ
אַתָּה הָשֵׁם אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו
וְצִוָּנוּ לְהַפְרִישׁ חַלָּה מִן הָעִסָּה:
Baruch
atah Hashem Eloheinu Melech ha’olam asher kideshanu be’mitzvotav vetzivanu
lehafrish challah min ha’isah.
Blessed are You, Hashem,
our G-d, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and
commanded us to separate challah.
13. Separate off a piece of dough a bit smaller than a Ping-Pong ball,
(approximately one ounce), and recite: הֲרֵי זוֹ חַלָּה/harei zo challah – “This piece is challah.”
14. Double wrap the piece in foil and burn it in
the oven before throwing it out. If burning the challah cannot easily be done,
it may be wrapped in two layers of a material such as aluminum foil or plastic
bags and discarded.
15. If you forgot to separate challah from the
dough, you must separate it after it is baked.
16. If you forgot to separate challah before
Shabbat, when in Israel, you are forbidden to separate it on Shabbat.
Prayers Following Separating Challah
הֲרֵנִי בָּאָה לְקַיֵּם
מַצּוֹת הַפְרָשַׁת חָלָה לַתַּקֵּן שָׁרְשָׁהּ בְּמָקוֹם עֶלְיוֹן לַעֲשׂוֹת
נַחַת רוּחַ לְיוֹצְרֵנוּ וְלַעֲשׂוֹת רְצוֹן בּוֹרְאֵנוּ.
וִיהִי נֹעַם הָשֵׁם
אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ עָלֵינוּ וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדֵינוּ כּוֹנְנָה עָלֵינוּ וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדֵינוּ
כּוֹנְנֵהוּ.
יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶיךָ,
הָשֵׁם אֱלֹקֵינוּ וֵאלֹקֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ, שֶׁיִּבְנֶה בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ
בִּמְהֵרָה בְּיָמֵינוּ, וְתֵן חָלַקְנוּ בְּתוֹרָתְךָ, וְשָׁם נֶעֱבָדְךָ
בְּיִרְאָה כִּימֵי עוֹלָם וּכְשָׁנִים קַדְמֹנִיּוֹת. וְעָרְבָה לַהָשֵׁם מִנְחַת
יְהוּדָה וִירוּשָׁלִָם, כִּימֵי עוֹלָם וּכְשָׁנִים קַדְמֹנִיּוֹת.
Behold I come to fulfill the mitzvot
of separating challah to rectify its root in the upper place, to give respite
to my Creator and fulfill His will. And may the pleasantness of Hashem our G-d
be upon us, and the work of our hands establish for us, and the work of our
hands establish it. May it be Your will, Hashem our G-d and the G-d of our
ancestors, that the Temple be speedily rebuilt in our days, and grant us a
portion in Your Torah. There we will serve you with awe, as in the days of old,
and as in ancient years. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be
pleasant unto G-d, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years.
יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶיךָ,
הָשֵׁם אֱלֹהֵינוּ וֵאלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ, שֶׁמִּצְוַת הַפְרָשַׁת חַלָּה תֵּחָשֵׁב
לִי כְּאִלּוּ קִיַּמְתִּיהָ בְּכָל פְּרָטֶיהָ וְדִקְדּוּקֶיהָ, וְתֵחָשֵׁב
הֲרָמַת הַחַלָּה שֶׁאֲנִי מְרִימָה כְּמוֹ הַקָּרְבָּן שֶׁהֻקְרַב עַל גַּבֵּי
הַמִּזְבֵּחַ וְתִתְקַבֵּל בְּרָצוֹן. וּכְמוֹ בִּזְמַן שֶׁבֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ
הָיָה קַיָּם, הָיְתָה הַחַלָּה נְתוּנָה לְכֹהֵן וְהָיְתָה זוֹ לְכַפָּרַת
עֲווֹנוֹת, כָּךְ תִּהְיֶה הַפְרָשָׁה זוֹ לְכַפָּרַת עֲווֹנוֹתַי, וְאָז אֶהְיֶה
כְּאִלּוּ נוֹלַדְתִּי מֵחָדָשׁ נְקִיָּה מֵחֵטְא וְעָווֹן וְאוּכַל לְקַיֵּם
מִצְוַת שַׁבַּת קֹדֶשׁ וְהַיָּמִים הַטּוֹבִים עִם בַּעְלִי (וִילָדֵינוּ),
לִהְיוֹת נִזּוֹנִים מִקְּדֻשַּׁת הַיָּמִים הָאֵלֶּה. וּבִזְכוּת מִצְוַת חַלָּה
יִהְיוּ יְלָדֵינוּ נִזּוֹנִים תָּמִיד מִיָּדָיו שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא
בְּרֹב רַחֲמָיו וַחֲסָדָיו וּבְרֹב אַהֲבָה. וּתְקַבֵּל מִצְוַת חַלָּה כְּאִלּוּ
נָתַתִּי מַעֲשֵׂר. וּכְשֵׁם שֶׁהִנְנִי מְקַיֶּמֶת מִצְוַת חַלָּה בְּכָל לִבִּי,
כָּךְ יִתְעוֹרְרוּ רַחֲמָיו שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְשָׁמְרֵנִי מִצַּעַר
וּמִמַּכְאוֹבִים כָּל הַיָּמִים. אָמֵן כֵּן יְהִי רָצוֹן.
May it be Your will, Hashem our G-d,
that the mitzvah of separating challah be considered as if I had performed it
with all its details and particulars. May my
elevation of the challah be comparable to the sacrifice that was offered on the
altar, which was acceptable and pleasing. Just as giving the challah to the
Kohen in former times served to atone for sins, so may it atone for mine, and
then I will be as if born anew, pure from sin and iniquity. May it enable me to observe the holy Shabbat and these
holidays with my husband and children and become imbued with its holiness. May
the spiritual influence of the mitzvah of challah enable our children to be
constantly sustained by the hands of the Holy One, blessed is He, with His
abundant mercy, kindness, and great love. Consider the mitzvah of challah as if
I have given the tithe. And just as I am fulfilling this mitzvah with all my
heart, so may Your compassion be aroused to keep me from sorrow and pain,
always. Amen!
יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶיךָ
הָשֵׁם אֱלֹקֵינוּ וֵאלֹקֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ שֶׁבִּזְכוּת מִצְוָה זוֹ וּבִזְכוּת
הַפְרָשַׁת הַתְּרוּמָה יְתֻקַּן עֲווֹן חַוָּה אֵם כָּל חַי שֶׁסַּבַּבָּה
מִיתָתוֹ לְאָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן שֶׁהוּא עִסָּתוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם וּבִזְכוּת מִצְוָה זוֹ
תְּבַטֵּל הַמָּוֶת מִן הָעוֹלָם וְתִמְחֶה דִּמְעָה מֵעַל פָּנִים וְתִשְׁלַח
בְּרָכָה בְּבֵיתֵנוּ אָמָּן כֵּן יִהְיֶה רָצוֹן. וְכֵן יְהִי רָצוֹן
מִלְּפָנֶיךָ שֶׁתְּבָרֵךְ עִסּוֹתֵינוּ כְּמוֹ שֶׁשָּׁלַחְתָּ בָּהּ בְּרָכָה
בְּעִסּוֹת אִמּוֹתֵינוּ שָׂרָה, רִבְקָה, רָחֵל וְלֵאָה וִיקֻיַּם בְּנוֹ
הַפָּסוּק "רָאשִׁית עֲרִסוֹתֵיכֶם תִּתְּנוּ לַכֹּהֵן לְהָנִיחַ בְּרָכָה
אֶל בֵּיתֶךָ" אָמֵן כֵּן יְהִי רָצוֹן.
May it be May it be Your will, our
G-d, that the merit of this mitzvah and the merit of separating teruma will
rectify the sin of Chava – Mother of all Life – who brought mortality to the
first Adam, who is considered the challah of the world. May the merit of this
mitzvah nullify death from the world, wipe away the tears of our faces, and
send blessings to our homes, amen may it be Your will! May it also be your will
to bless our dough, just as you blessed the dough of our mothers Sarah, Rivkah,
Rachel and Leah. May it be established through the Scriptural verse “You shall
also give to the Kohen the first of your dough that he may cause a blessing to
rest on your home” (Yechezkiel 44:30). Amen may it be Your will!
Abridged Version of Prayer Following
Separating Challah
תְּפִלָּה אַחֲרֵי הַפְרָשַׁת חַלָּה -
מְקֻצָּר
יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶיךָ, הָשֵׁם
אֱלֹקֵינוּ וֵאלֹקֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ, שֶׁהַמִּצְוָה שֶׁל הַפְרָשַׁת חַלָּה תֵּחָשֵׁב
כָּאֵלּוּ קִיַּמְתִּיהָ בְּכָל פְּרָטֶיהָ וְדִקְדּוּקֶיהָ, וּתְחַשֵּׁב הֲרָמַת
הַחַלָּה שֶׁאֲנִי מְרִימָה, כְּמוֹ הַקָּרְבָּן שֶׁהֻקְרַב עַל הַמִּזְבֵּחַ
שֶׁנִּתְקַבֵּל בְּרָצוֹן!
May it be Your will, Hashem our G-d and the G-d of
our fathers, that the mitzvah of separating challah be
considered as if I had performed it with all its details and ramifications. May
my elevation of the challah be comparable to the sacrifice that was offered on
the altar, which was acceptable and pleasing.
Beautiful, thank you!
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