Eating Challah On Shabbat

After Kiddush, We Wash and say “Motzi” and try to understand the symbols and rituals around breaking bread the Jewish way.

It’s Friday night. The candles are flickering, Shalom Aleichem and Eishet Chayil have been sung, and kiddush was chanted for all those gathered around the beautiful Sabbath table. Below is a megillah (the long of it) describing the fine details around the Shabbat Challah Experience!!

1. At each Shabbat meal we recite the blessing on two whole loaves. They only need to be covered before the first 2 meals when we say the Kiddush prayer over the wine. Before beginning, two whole loaves of challah (an unbroken piece of matzah works in a pinch). should be covered above and below. The 2 whole loaves are reminiscent of the double portion of manna that the Jewish people in the desert received every Friday (OC 274:1, MB 1)
   

2. The double covering is to remind us of the two layers of dew above and below the manna in the desert – God's “gift wrapping” (OC 271:9, MB 41). The cutting board, plate, tablecloth or napkin suffice for a covering “below”; a cloth cover is typically used above. This is in part to enable Kiddush on the wine to be recited before the blessing on the bread since ordinarily, the blessing on bread takes precedence.
   

3. The loaves commonly used for Shabbat worldwide are braided. Jews may have begun baking braided challahs in the 15th century in southern Germany and Austria. Most Jews at that time ate dark rye bread during the week. To distinguish Shabbat bread, cooks started baking with fine white wheat flour and braided shapes that were popular at the time. Additions like eggs and raisins enhanced these special loaves even more.

4. Ritually washing our hands comes next. Now it is time to begin the meal. But first, we are invited by the host to step into the kitchen to **wash our hands in preparation for the eating of the challah. No, this is not a call for cleanliness, but an important step that will lead us to ha-motzi, the blessing over the bread. Just as the Kohanim in the Temple so long ago prepared themselves by washing, so do we wash before our meal. It is a unique pleasure to perform a simple act that represents something so meaningful.
   

5. A small scratch should be made with the knife on the challah you will cut, marking off where you plan to cut, thus minimizing the delay between the cutting and eating (MB 274:5). On Shabbat, however, we cannot cut the bread before the blessing because there is a mitzvah to make a blessing on two complete loaves of bread (to commemorate the two portions of manna which each Jew received every Friday in the desert). So instead we make a mark on the challah with the knife. This way we are at least "starting" to slice the bread before the blessing.
   

6. Before reciting the blessing, both challahs should be lifted and held, one above the other, with all 10 fingers. The challahs should preferably not be inside of anything – such as a plastic bag but should be directly in your hands. Some have the custom to reach under the challah cover and recite the blessing while keeping the challahs covered (OC 167:4; The Radiance of Shabbos 14:5:1; MB 271:41, Shemirat Shabbat K'Hilchatah II 55:(38)).
   

7. On Friday night we recite the blessing on the bottom challah, while in the day meals we recite it on the top. On holidays we recite the blessing on the top challah even at night. When reciting the blessing on the lower challah, it should be edged forward, closer than the top one, so that you don’t “pass over” the top one to break the bottom. (Some have the custom to cut both challahs at all meals.) (OC 274:1, MB 4-5).
   

8. If you are reciting the blessing for others, you must say the blessing loud enough that they can hear every word. Everyone should be seated when the blessing is recited and recite "amen" at its conclusion (OC 167:11).
   

9. If you are blessing for others, introduce the blessing with the words “birshut rabboti” (“with the permission of my masters”) in order to get their attention (MB 274:2). Any English equivalent is fine.
   

10. Some have the custom to lift the challahs slightly when they say God's name (ado-nai) and/or when they say the word lechem, emphasizing the bounty God has granted us.
    

11. Cut the challah where you earlier made the scratch. Take the first piece for yourself since you should not be involved in distributing food to others with your own blessing unfulfilled (MB 167:79). After your own piece, it is typical to give challah first to your wife, and then to guests and family members in order of age or importance.
    

12. There is a custom to have salt on the table for every bread meal. This is because the table of a Jewish home is compared to the altar of the Temple, and just as sacrifices were always salted, so too our bread. There is a Kabbalistic custom to dip each slice in salt three times before giving it out (Rema 167:5, MB 33).
    

13. When giving out the pieces, do not put a slice of challah directly into the hands of a recipient since this is reminiscent of the meal given to a mourner (OC 167:18).
    

14. When giving out the pieces, do not toss the bread around the table. It is considered disrespectful to throw bread even if no damage will occur to it as a result (OC 171:1; see also MB 167:88). However, many Sfardic communities have the custom to tear morsels from the loaves by hand and to lightly toss the pieces around the table.
    

15. When a guest receives a piece of challah, he should not be "polite" and pass it along (unless the homeowner specifically indicated he do so). The reason is because one should not pass up a mitzvah that comes before him.
    

16. Every person at the table should be given (not necessarily at the time of the blessing) a piece of bread larger than an egg. This is because up to an egg’s volume of bread is considered a snack, and does not lend importance to the Shabbat meal (MB 291:2).
    

17. One should first eat the challah he was given at the time of the blessing and only then take another challah since the first piece had the blessing recited on it. One should also leave a bit of this piece till the conclusion of the meal so that the taste of the mitzvah remains in his mouth (Rema 167:19; MB 97)!
    

18. Shabbat Guests: Inviting guests to share Shabbat dinner and other meals enhance the occasion and also fulfills the key Jewish mitzvah of hachnasas orchim, or inviting guests. Hosting guests is also imitating the giving character of our creator to develop our own spiritual muscles. When we fill our home with guests, we’re emulating our ancestors Abraham and Sarah who were noted for their hospitality. In fact, the Torah explains they lived in a tent with openings on all four sides so that they could better see travelers from a distance and invite them into their homes. When guests visited them, Abraham and Sarah shared food and drinks with them – and also taught them about God. While we don’t live on the same exalted spiritual level of Abraham and Sarah today, we still try and live up to their example by inviting guests into our home. Whether we host a full house or just one or two special friends, sharing our Shabbat meals with guests is a way to enhance the moment and make our Shabbat meals extra special.
    

19. Birkat Hamazon: No Shabbat meal is complete without this traditional blessing after the conclusion of the meal. The Torah instructs us to thank God after we eat: “And you shall eat and you shall be satisfied and you shall bless the Lord, your God, for the goodly land that He gave you” (Deuteronomy 8:10). The Birkat Hamazon prayer – four beautiful blessings which praise God and thank Him for the meal we just ate – fulfills this verse. Through the 4 paragraphs of the Grace after Meals, we thank G-d for nurturing us physically (paragraph #1), giving us the ideal land, Israel (paragraph #2), with the ideal city with its holiness and temple (paragraph #3), in a mutual relationship of trust (paragraph #4). The Hebrew poet, known as Ahad HaAm, once said, “More than Jews have kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jews”. The beauty, meaning, and traditions of Shabbat have sustained us for millennia. A key part of that is Shabbat dinner and lunch eaten with braided challahs (challot) and their many rituals, which continue to shape us today.
    

**How To Do The Hand-Washing Ritual:

• Use either a special washing cup (a large, two-handled cup) or a regular glass without handles ― providing the top rim has no indentations or spout and holds at least 5 ounces.

• Remove any rings from your fingers. Hold the cup in your right hand while filling it with water from the tap.

• Pass the cup to your left hand and then pour about half the water ― pouring twice in quick succession ― over the right hand. Soak the hand on both sides from the wrist down, getting every area of the hand wet.

• Now pass the cup to your right hand and repeat on the left side. (Refill the cup if necessary.)

• After the hands have been washed, they should be held upward, so that the water drips toward the wrist and not the fingers. The blessing is then recited.

• The hands are dried, and one returns to the table, careful not to speak until ha-motzi is recited and the bread is passed and eaten.