Parsha Shelach: Challah--The Greatest Mitzvah Since Sliced Bread

For many cultures over time, bread has been a simple, cheap, and versatile food: pita, baguettes, naan, tortillas, sourdough, ciabatta. Bread also plays a role in Jewish culture and religion, most notably in the form of challah (חלה). Challah is a braided egg bread that is eaten on Shabbat and Jewish holidays. Challah plays such an important role that it is actually a mitzvah in this week's Torah portion:

ראשית ערסתכם חלה, תרימו כתרומת גרן כן תרימו אתה.

-Of the first fo your dough, you shall separate a part as a gift, as that which is set apart from the threshing-floor, so you shall set it apart. -Leviticus 15:20

Yes, challah in today's vernacular refers to a loaf of bread. However, when you look at the entire passage about the challah (Leviticus 15:18-21) in the Torah, it refers to that set-aside portion of bread that is tithed at the Temple. We no longer have a Temple, so what significance does this challah have for us today?

One argument is that during the biblical era, the priests (Kohanim) did not receive a salary, and the rest of the Jewish people provided the Kohanim with food. We could certainly apply this sense of communal responsibility to the twenty-first century. However, I think there is more going on here.

Something I noticed about the text is that the mitzvah of challah is next to the admonishment for committing idolatry. Juxtaposition is, after all, a standard hermeneutical tool in Jewish interpretation. Rashi used it to explain the mitzvah of the nazarite. The Mishnaic rabbis used it to derive the 39 acts of work one does not perform on Shabbat. What is the connection between challah and idolatry?

The etymology of the word חלה is debated. One theory is that the word חלה is related to the word חל, which means "ordinary" or "mundane" (as opposed to "holy"). In his book "Meaning in Mitzvot," R. Asher Meir explains that when we first encounter the mitzvah of challah in the Torah, there is no mention of it being given away to the Kohanim. That comes later [in Leviticus 18:12]. R. Meir points out that "the first, primary part of our daily bread should be separated and elevated to G-d." R. Meir continues to say that the mitzvah is intended for us because we need to remind ourselves that "everything has a connection to holiness, some aspect which can transcend our mundane needs and be devoted to G-d." What does this have to do with idolatry?

Idolatry is more than mere prostration in front of a statue. As I have explained before, idolatry is when we take G-d out of the equation and worship something else, whether it is money, work, our desires, or our ego. By worshipping something else, it takes us away from our spiritual purpose: to elevate the mundane into something holy.

This can give use elucidation as to why is bread the highest blessing (bracha) on the Jewish food blessing hierarchy. Here are alternative explanations as to why G-d decided to make bread a mitzvah:

• We see a very similar lesson with the tithing of the first fruits (Deuteronomy 26) as we do with challah: the motif of gratitude. Jews are literally a people of blessing. One of the Hebrew words for "Jew" (יהודי) has the same root as the Hebrew verb "to thank" (להודות). Multiple steps within the supply chain symbolize the multiple opportunities we thank those who made the bread production possible. 
• Bread is also not an expensive product, which symbolizes the fact that G-d and spirituality are accessible to everyone, regardless of socio-economic status.
• Most importantly, it puts time into perspective. Looking in the past, Midrash (Breishit Rabbah 1) says that G-d created the world in merit of three things, and one of things was challah. As already established, challah can bring us to the present. Challah can also be linked to the future because some rabbis argue that the bracha over bread refers to the fact that G-d will bring forth those grains in the future. Plus, Jewish tradition connects Shabbat with the Messianic era. 

Based on these interpretations, we see that G-d gives us the power to be more than mere animals: He gave us the ability to elevate the mundane to the holy. G-d also gave us a way to experience a food that could connect us to the past, present, and future at same time. Let us use that power to experience challah the way the good Lord intended!