Siman 35 - Laws of Challa

 

Rav Ganzfried's elaborates the mitzva of separating "challa" - a special kind of tithe - from the dough or bread we make. According to the Torah, this special tithe is given to a Kohen, a member of the priestly tribe, and he or someone in his family may eat it while in a state of purity. Today, the requisite state of purity is seldom attained, and so the custom is to throw it in the fire. 

 

It is easy to understand the need to separate out special gifts for the Kohanim, especially in the time of the Temple. They devote themselves to the Temple service and to teaching Torah, and it is certainly fitting that other Jews should join together in providing their livelihood. But nowadays, when the Kohanim are not able to eat the challa anyway, what purpose is there in separating and dedicating it?

 

Actually, when we first encounter the mitzva of challa in the Torah, the verses say nothing about giving it away. We learn (Bemidbar 15:21) "From the first of your kneading-troughs, elevate a share to Hashem for all your generations." Here we learn that the first, primary part of our daily bread should be separated and elevated to God. Only much later, in chapter 18:12 does Hashem explain that He has decided to give challa, together with other offerings, to the family of Aharon. The verses are clear. We do not separate out challa for the Kohen; rather, we set it aside for Hashem, and He has instructed us to pass it along to the Kohanim. (A similar wording is used to describe the first gift or "tithe" from our crops, known as "teruma.")

 

It seems that the MAIN purpose of challa is not for the Kohen at all - it is for us! A person needs to remind himself that everything has a connection to holiness, some aspect which can transcend our mundane needs and be elevated and devoted to God. Of course this expression of holiness should be through the first and best, so we take the "first" of our kneading-trough and dedicate it. AFTER it has been dedicated in this way, it is certainly fitting to find a Godly destination for the challa, and Hashem has revealed that the Kohen is the appropriate recipient.

 

Separating some challa, this is a gesture required to make the dough permissible. In order to avoid sinking in our material desires, we need to remind ourselves that there is a spiritual element even in our mundane activities like eating. This is similar to what we explained in the laws of preliminary blessings (chapter 48), namely, that our food becomes permissible to us only after we make a benediction which acknowledges that ultimately it belongs to God.

 

REPAIRING THE LOAF AND REPAIRING THE WORLD (Se'if 8)

 

1. The challa of the world.

 

Even though every Jew is obligated in the mitzva of challa, and no bread baked by a Jew is kosher until the challa is separated, Rav Ganzfried explains that traditionally this mitzva belongs especially to the woman of the house. The Midrash gives an interesting explanation for this: "She defiled man who was the challa of the world, so she was given the mitzva of challa." (Bereishit Rabba 17:8, on verse Bereishit 2:21.) The first woman initiated the sin which defiled mankind,  so womankind has a special ability and responsibility to rectify that sin.

 

It is easy to see why man is called the challa of the world. Like challa, which must be taken from the midst of the regular dough (as the Kitzur explains in se'if 3), mankind was made from the dust of the earth - he is a material being. However, the special dedication of challa simultaneously endows the challa itself with a special holiness while making the rest of the dough permissible. This mirrors what happened when Hashem breathed a special Divine spirit into Adam - into mankind. This SEPARATED man from the rest of the material world but ironically also REDEEMED the entire world. Part of the material world - man's body - showed itself capable of harboring a Divine soul, and ALL of the material world showed itself capable of nurturing the divine, by contributing in some way to man's sustenance - providing food, warmth, shelter, or material comforts which give us the presence of mind to concentrate on God's service. Suddenly all existence acquired meaning and worth.

 

However, the sin of Adam and Chava somewhat degraded the special holiness of the human body. (See what we wrote at the end of chapter 21.)  This is the meaning of the Midrash's statement  that Chava "defiled the challa of the world." The mitzva of challa is a rectification of this sin, as it testifies that the bread, which is the basis of our material sustenance, is still susceptible to sanctification; indeed we may not eat it until we have carried out this sanctification.

 

2. Why bread?

 

The fact that this "repair" is done specifically through BREAD relates to the fact that bread is specially connected to our elevated human status. One view in the Talmud states that the "Tree of Knowledge" which Adam and Chava ate of was in fact wheat (Berakhot 40a).

 

How is bread specially connected to our humanity? At the simplest level, making bread highlights our special human status because bread is such a complex food - requiring threshing, winnowing, grinding, kneading, leavening and baking. The food that is made through this process is not some special delight made for kings, but the simple basis of the human diet - even that of the pauper.

 

The uniqueness of bread is further highlighted by examining the process of leavening. At the very beginning of the chapter the Kitzur explains that only five types of wheat-like grain create "bread" which is obligated in challa. These are: two kinds of wheat, spelt, oats, and rye. The mishna (Challa 1:1) explains that these are the five kinds of grain which can become leavened. It is for this reason that only these kinds of grain can be made into UN-leavened bread, or matza. 

 

At the simplest level leavening highlights our humanity because leavening bread requires the special human quality of SELF-RESTRAINT. After exhausting labor to produce the dough, we have to do the hardest thing of all: just restrain ourselves and wait.

 

A deeper understanding comes from our explanation of the special role of chametz at Pesach. In chapter 111 we explain that leavening is a symbol of our material nature, and that bread in its IDEAL state symbolizes our ability to overcome and harness our material nature, our "evil impulse." Initially we must free ourselves from our subjugation to the material, but ultimately we want to use it for good. Free will was given to Adam and Chava in order to elevate the world, but they let their lower impulses overcome them and used it to impair the world (as we explained in chapter 34). It is fitting that the rectification of this sin come through bread, which symbolizes our ability to be masters of our impulses.

 

3. Why the woman?

 

The fact that that Adam sinned through the intercession of Chava is related to the special roles of men and women.  Man was initially created alone, but the Torah testifies that this is not the ideal state, (Bereishit 2:18). Another human being was created, thus bringing into being the special human quality of HELPING, of loving-kindness; indeed Hashem decides to end Adam's solitude by creating a HELP MATE fit for him (end of same verse). Since the concept of helping came to the world through Chava, womankind exemplifies the quality of helping and loving-kindness.

 

Adam placed special reliance on Chava to help and support him. In particular, he relied on his wife in matters relating to eating, as we see that Adam consented to eat the forbidden fruit only when it was offered to him by Chava. This pattern of household responsibility has continued through the millennia, and to this day it is the norm that the woman is responsible for preparing food. So it is only natural that the main responsibility for the spiritual preparation of food should also be in the hands of the housewife.

 

Since Chava ruined the "challa" of the world - leading Adam into sin because of his reliance on her as a special helper - the mitzva of challa was given to women, who retain their special helper status and now lead their households to special levels of sanctification through the mitzva of challa.

 

CHALLA AND THE LAND OF ISRAEL (Se'if 9)

 

The Kitzur points out that there is a difference between challa from the Land of Israel and challa from abroad. The practical difference is that in Israel the challa MUST be dedicated before the bread is eaten, whereas outside Israel it may be possible in some circumstances to eat the bread and leave the challa at the end. The source of this distinction is that separating challa is a Torah obligation only in the land of Israel. Outside of Israel, it is only Rabbinic.

 

Of course, almost all agricultural commandments apply only in the land of Israel. That is easy to understand since only in Israel do the crops actually grow in the sanctified land. However, in regard to challa, the dough acquires its obligation by being kneaded, an act which does not connect it specifically with the land. Thus the geographic limitation on this obligation emphasizes the fact that our ability to sanctify the profane through our actions is fully realized only in the Holy Land. The land of Israel is not so much "sanctified" as it is "sanctifiable."

 

This point is illustrated and uniquely connected with the mitzva of challa through the phenomenon of the manna.  This miraculous food provided our subsistence during our entire forty-year sojourn in the Sinai desert. Our sages learn that the manna had a remarkable property - it was completely assimilated in digestion, leaving no waste products at all! (Yoma 75b.) 

 

In siman 2 we explained that while a central theme of the commandments is our ability to sanctify the material world through our interaction with it, not all matter has the same potential for this sanctification. The symbol of the unholy is our bodily wastes, which show that our body was unable to assimilate some of the material in the food and use it in our service of holiness. A corollary is that the process of digesting testifies to our ability to realize the hidden potential for holiness in food.

 

Outside of Israel, the ability to refine the world in this way is limited. Had we subsisted on ordinary food in the desert, we would have been in danger of assimilating not only its hidden holiness but also, alas, some of its negative material quality. Therefore, Hashem preferred to provide the sustenance of the Jewish people in a miraculous way through the manna which was all holiness. 

 

However, we learn in the book of Yehoshua (5:12) that once we began eating the NATURAL bread of the Land of Israel, the MIRACULOUS bread of "manna" stopped falling. In Israel, the "material" is on a higher spiritual level and our ability and obligation to extract its holiness is greater. This finds expression in the special spiritual elevation carried out through the mitzva of challa, whose primary obligation is in the land of Israel.