Chayei Sarah
We know from last week’s parsha Vayeira that Sarah was a bread baker. When the three angels visited Avraham, he entered the tent and told Sarah to make bread for the guests. Avraham himself prepared the rest of the meal, but the bread – that was Sarah’s domain.
Sarah is always associated with “the tent,” from which we learn the concept that the wellspring of a woman’s spiritual energy emanates from the “tent,” from the home, and conversely, that the glory of the home, is derived primarily from the woman.
Aside from this reference to Sarah baking bread in the tent, the Torah tells us very little else about what actually happened in Sarah’s tent, until this week’s parsha. When Yitzchak marries Rivkah, he brings her to the tent of Sarah his mother and Yitzchak is “consoled” after the death of his mother.
The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah) tells us that there were three miracles that were associated with Sarah’s tent. The first was that when she lit candles on Shabbat eve, those candles miraculously remained lit the entire week. Secondly, that there was a blessing in the dough, that the dough she made for baking challahs for Shabbat, miraculously multiplied and sufficed to make bread for the entire week. Thirdly, a cloud, the Shechina, permanently rested on her tent.
The Ramban says that HaKadosh Baruch Hu’s later command to build a Mishkan was to recreate for Am Yisrael the environment that existed in the tents of the Patriarchs and the Matriarchs – the Menorah, the Lechem Hapanim and the Shechina.
In this week’s shiur I would like to discuss hafrashat challah and explore some interesting aspects of this mitzvah.
Last week we celebrated the World Shabbat Project and women from all over the globe performed this mitzvah. The interesting thing is that women in America, Australia, Canada, the UK, South Africa, Israel and many other countries, performed hafrashat challah even though, according to the Torah, this mitzvah is only applicable in Eretz Yisrael. If this is the case, why do women in New York do hafrashat challah at all? There are other Eretz Yisrael connected mitzvot, for example Ma’aser and Truma which are not done in the Diaspora, so why is hafrashat challah different?
The answer is that it is a mitzvah de’Rabbanan, to continue to do hafrashat challah today, even in the Diaspora. Why did the Chachamim feel it was necessary to make an exception with hafrashat challah and not with the other Eretz Yisrael specific mitzvot?
Another question is why Avraham deferred the task of making bread to Sarah? If he was so meticulous and diligent in performing the mitzvah of welcoming guests and prepared the calf tongues in mustard sauce himself, why did he not also prepare the bread?
To answer these questions, we need to understand where the mitzvah of hafrashat challah originates from and its purpose.
The Or HaChayim says that the first time hafrashat challah was ever done was when Adam HaRishon was created. HaKadosh Baruch Hu did “hafrashat challah” from the earth, taking dust (which was mixed with water in a kind of “dough”) from all corners of the earth, to create Adam HaRishon and this is why Adam is called “Challah of the World” because he is the hafrashat challah from the earth. HaKadosh Baruch Hu separated humans from the materialism of the earth and made them holy. This is the first time hafrashat challah was done in history.
The first time a human ever did hafrashat challah, was Sarah Imeinu and we learn this from the Midrash above – that there was a blessing in Sarah’s dough. It does not say that there was a blessing in her “bread,” but in her “dough” and the Mefarshim say that this blessing of hafrashat challah that Sarah voluntarily performed, which was continued by Rivka, Rachel, Leah. Bilha and Zilpa, was the forerunner for the commandment given later by HaKadosh Baruch Hu to Am Yisrael (Bamidbar 15:20).
Sarah instituted this blessing to atone for the sin of Chava which involved making bread from wheat, the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge (Meir Panim) and giving it to Adam to eat. By doing hafrashat challah, Sarah repaired the damage of that sin every time she made bread.
This explains why Avraham did not prepare the bread and left it up to Sarah – even though Avraham took care of the rest of the meal – because the bread was not his atonement (for Adam), but Sarah’s (for Chava). This is also why the first preference for performing hafrashat challah on bread today is given to the woman. If the husband wants to do hafrashat challah at home, he needs to ask his wife for permission to do so, because it is “her” mitzvah.
The fundamental reason we do the mitzvah of hafrashat challah (besides because HaKadosh Baruch Hu told us to) is because it expresses gratitude to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, the Origin and Source of our sustenance. It echoes HaKadosh Baruch Hu’s first hafrashat challah, that reflects the reason the world was created in the first place – to elevate the material world in spirituality, taking earth and making it into man, taking dough and making it holy.
Why did the Rabbis decree that we should continue performing hafrashat challah today, even though strictly according to the Torah (De’oraita) we are not obliged to perform this mitzvah today? And even in the Diaspora?
It expresses gratitude and this is something that is perpetual and devoid of time or circumstance. Chazal wanted us to remain proficient in performing this mitzvah, so that when it again becomes applicable De’oraita, we will be well practiced in it. The Zohar (Shelach 144a) says that cafrashat Challah is a special “protection” for Am Yisrael. According to the Zohar, there are three angels Michael, Gavriel and Nuriel who protect Am Yisrael specifically in merit of this mitzvah. The first letters of the names of these angels makes the word Magen (protection). The gematria of the word Magen is equal to Challah + 50 (hafrashat challah in the time of the Beit HaMikdash was 1/50 of the dough).
The glory and blessing of the home emanate from the woman and in no small part, in merit of this special mitzvah.
Parshat HaShavua Trivia Question: How did Avraham’s eulogize Sarah (Bereishit 23:2)?
Answer to Last Shiur’s Trivia Question: What was the name of Lot’s daughter? Plotit (Yalkut Shimon, Bereishit 18:21).
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