New York – The Torah tells us that when the Jews traveled in the desert for 40 years, many special miracles took place. One such miracle was that every morning, G-d provided them with food from heaven – the Manna.
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The Manna, which tasted sweet and delicious, was collected by each family every morning according to their needs. On Friday, a double portion fell so that the Jews would have enough food for Shabbat, since collecting Manna on Shabbat was forbidden.
To commemorate the miracle of the Manna and the special miracle of the double portion that fell for Shabbat, we make a blessing on two Challot – a double portion – each Shabbat.
The Challot are covered on top and on bottom to remind us of the dew that fell under and over the Manna to protect it and keep it fresh.
Another reason why the Challot are covered is to protect the Challah from shame.
During the week, we always make the blessing on the bread first. However, when it comes to Shabbat, we begin the meal by sanctifying the day of Shabbat over a cup of wine, also known as Kiddush.
Our Rabbis told us that in order not to insult the bread we should cover the bread while blessing the wine.
The story is told of Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, the 19th century founder of the Ethicist (Mussar) movement, who once found himself stranded in Kovno for Shabbat and needed somewhere to stay.
Of course, there were many offers from the townspeople to host the great Rabbi, but the Rabbi accepted an offer from the local baker. As the baker and his wife had no children to feed, the Rabbi felt he would not be taking away anyone’s portion of food.
The baker was an observant Jew, but hardly a great Torah scholar or even a man of great intelligence.
As he ushered his esteemed guest into his house, he shouted at his wife, “Why are the challahs not covered? How many times must I remind you to cover the challahs?”
The poor woman, recognizing her distinguished guest, hurried to cover the challahs with tears in her eyes.
When the baker asked Rabbi Yisroel to do the honors by reciting the Kiddush, the Rabbi first asked him, “Can you tell me why we cover the challahs?”
“Of course revered Rabbi” responded the baker, “every child knows the answer. When there are many different foods on the table, the first blessing is always made over the bread after which no other blessing need be made. On Friday night however the first blessing has to be made over the wine. In order not to shame the challah, who expects the blessing to be made over her, we must cover her over until after the sanctification of the wine.”
Rav Yisrael looked at the baker incredulously. “Why do your ears not hear what your mouth is saying?” he asked. “Do you think that our Jewish tradition does not understand that a piece of dough has no feelings and would never become embarrassed? Understand that our laws are trying to sensitize us to the feelings of human beings, our friends, our neighbors and especially our wives.”
Rabbi Shea Hecht is the chairman of the board of the National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education and a leading Chabad rabbi.
Truly wonderful!
SEE RASHI NEXT WEEK’S PARSHA ON “LO SALEH BMALOS AL MIZBICHI”
Good point. Except that the obvious conclusion here is that a heightened sensitivity to the self-esteem of a loaf of bread does not translate into decent behavior towards one’s fellow human beings. Indeed, if we’ve seen anything in the Orthodox world over the last decade or so, it’s been that our preoccupation with the minutia of beyn adam l’Makom rituals has completely overwhelmed our sense of obligation on beyn adam l’chaveyro issues. I’m sure that Rubashkin, the Spinka rebbe, those yeshiva boys who were arrested in Japan and a few others we’ve all heard about were extremely careful on all the details of the rituals. Kudos to the author, however, for at least trying to put the focus where it should be.
I hope my husband reads this!
beautiful story. Regardless of what we see other Jews doing wrong, every person has the responsiblilty to work on their own midos, and be a role model for all others to follow. It is much too easy to criticize another person for their bad behavior. By doing this, a person can feel better about their own faults, and never have to change
yes great.makes me look in the mirror.