Challah's origins study sheet

(2) In the wilderness, the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. (3) The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, when we ate our fill of bread! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to starve this whole congregation to death.”

(4) And the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread for you from the sky, and the people shall go out and gather each day that day’s portion—that I may thus test them, to see whether they will follow My instructions or not. (5) But on the sixth day, when they apportion what they have brought in, it shall prove to be double the amount they gather each day.”

(13) In the evening quail appeared and covered the camp; in the morning there was a fall of dew about the camp. (14) When the fall of dew lifted, there, over the surface of the wilderness, lay a fine and flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground.

(15) When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?”—for they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “That is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat. (16) This is what the LORD has commanded: Gather as much of it as each of you requires to eat, an omer to a person for as many of you as there are; each of you shall fetch for those in his tent.”

(17) The Israelites did so, some gathering much, some little. (18) But when they measured it by the omer, he who had gathered much had no excess, and he who had gathered little had no deficiency: they had gathered as much as they needed to eat. (19) And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over until morning.” (20) But they paid no attention to Moses; some of them left of it until morning, and it became infested with maggots and stank. And Moses was angry with them. (21) So they gathered it every morning, each as much as he needed to eat; for when the sun grew hot, it would melt.

(22) On the sixth day they gathered double the amount of food, two omers for each; and when all the chieftains of the community came and told Moses, (23) he said to them, “This is what the LORD meant: Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy sabbath of the LORD. Bake what you would bake and boil what you would boil; and all that is left put aside to be kept until morning.” (24) So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered; and it did not turn foul, and there were no maggots in it. (25) Then Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a sabbath of the LORD; you will not find it today on the plain. (26) Six days you shall gather it; on the seventh day, the sabbath, there will be none.” (27) Yet some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found nothing.

And you shall take fine flour and you shall bake it (into) twelve challoth; two-tenths (of an ephah) shall the one challah be. And you shall place them in two rows, six in a row, on the pure [gold] table before the L-rd. And you shall place upon the two [i.e., upon each of the two rows pure frankincense [(On each of the two rows there were two cups of frankincense, a fistful in each)]. And it shall be a memorial for the bread [(For nothing of the bread was offered on high, but the incense was burned when they removed the bread each Sabbath. By the incense, then, the bread is "remembered" (in the same way that the fistful is a "memorial" for the meal-offering)], a fire-offering to the L-rd. On the day of Sabbath, on the day of Sabbath, he shall arrange it before the L-rd always; from the children of Israel, an everlasting covenant. And it [this meal-offering (everything coming from grain being in the category of "meal-offering")] shall be for Aaron and for his sons. And they shall eat it [the bread] in a holy place, for holy of holies is it to him, of the fire-offerings of the L-rd, an everlasting statute.

Blessed are you, HaShem our God, Ruler of the Universe, who makes us holy through commandments, and commands us to separate Challah.

MISHNAH What benediction do we say over fruit ? Over the fruit of trees, one says, "[Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe] Who Createst the fruit of the tree," except over wine ; for over wine ons says, "...Who createst the fruit of the vine." Over the fruits of the earth one says : "... Who createst the fruit of the ground," except over bread; for over bread one says, "...Who bringest forth bread from the earth." .... GEMARA Whence is this derived ? For our Rabbis have taught: "The fruit thereof shall be holy, for giving praise [hillulim] unto the Adonai" (Lev. 19:24) — this teaches that they require a benediction before and after partaking of them. A person is forbidden

to taste anything before he recites a blessing, as without reciting praise over food, it belongs to God. Only after one blesses food does one transform the food into a gift from God.