Unlocking Blessings: Embracing the Power of Challah

The Opportunity: Impacting the World

Imagine having a unique chance to step into the world's control room. Yes, you can actually influence global events, not just as a visitor, but as the operator in charge. This could be your moment to finally turn those dreams of making the world a better place into reality. Along with making a meaningful change, you could secure precious blessings for you and your family. Are you intrigued?

If your answer is "yes," come along. Here, you'll find the key to the control room, with an exclusive invitation from Hashem. You have the chance to rectify past mistakes, alter the present reality, and channel blessings for the future.

The requirements for this influential role are simple: flour and water.

The Transformation: Dough Over Despair

Those intense moments of anticipation. A new soul ready to enter the world. The closer it gets to the pivotal moment, the more intense the labor pains. Pressing, difficult, yet full of expectancy.

The entire world is in a similar state now: the "birth pangs of the Messiah" are intensifying. External threats loom, internal divisions grow, financial challenges squeeze us, and maintaining peace and raising children become increasingly complex. Soon, very soon, the world will be filled with light, and Hashem will return to His sanctuary. Meanwhile, the pains that mark the end of exile and herald the miraculous moment of redemption are pressing. The pain is profound, and there seems nowhere to escape.

However, for us, the women of the community, there is an opportunity to be at the helm of this control room. Remember, we possess the power to shield the world and spare our people from the painful birth pangs of the Messiah. Hashem grants us the extraordinary capability to replace these pains with something else: strands of dough. Yes, the dough you knead, roll, and bake can help alleviate the suffering associated with the end of exile.

"And I say, 'My challah depends on this...'" – it all hinges on the gift of separating *challah*, the unique commandment we've received, and our prayers as we fulfill it. With our hands, we can indeed change the world's condition!

We use flour and water, yeast and sugar, mix and knead to form dough. We set aside a small portion of the dough and bless it. Each step of this commandment carries special significance, and each has its unique blessing.

Defining: What is "Challah"?

What exactly is "challah"?

Long before the days of Angel or Berman’s, diligent women made daily bread for their families in small quantities just enough for the day. On Fridays, dough amounts doubled to cover the Shabbat meals and the "double bread" custom, reaching the volume required for *challah* separation. Thus, the practice of having "challah" on Fridays – implied as *separating challah* – originated, and the term "challah" came to refer to the Sabbath bread.

However, originally, the term "challah" denotes the small piece taken from the dough.

In Temple times, the Priests serving in the Sanctuary devoted themselves to their sacred duties without time to seek livelihoods. Hence, they were given "twenty-four priestly gifts." A special priestly gift, given with love by the women, was the gift of *challah*. The Torah states: "Upon entering the land I am bringing you to... from the first of your kneading bowl, you shall set aside a portion as challah..." (Numbers 15:19).

That's the origin of "challah."

Aside from being a uniquely feminine gift, it's also the first commandment given to the Israelites upon entering the land of Israel, making it especially treasured.

The Declaration: Hashem is Almighty

Before we delve into the *mitzvah* of *challah* and its transformative effect on the world, it’s crucial to remember that it's one of the reasons for the world’s creation. The Torah begins with "In the beginning," and *challah*, as noted earlier, is called "the beginning" (“from the first of your kneading bowl”), as stated in the passage above. The Sages taught: "The world was created for three purposes: for *challah*, for tithes, and for firstfruits" (Bereshit Rabbah 1).

When you and I separate *challah*, we renew the merit for which our world was created. Additionally, this action reminds us of the true Creator of the world, thereby inviting His grace.

Consider how wheat reaches us: the farmer tills the field, sows, tends, harvests – then, finally holding the wheat, the result of his toil, he gives a portion and a tithe. What does this signify? It’s an assertion: it wasn’t by my effort or strength, not my intellect or investments, rather this wheat is Hashem’s blessing!

In nearly every aspect, we must give the first to Hashem: redemption of the firstborn son, firstborn animals, first offspring of a donkey, firstfruits, and *challah*. This action, dedicating the first of our labor's yield to Hashem, reminds us that everything we have comes from Him.

*Separating challah*, offering the first of the dough, kindles this awareness in our hearts of Hashem’s benevolence, allowing us to amend the sin of idolatry.

In the portion of Shelach Lecha, right after the topic of separating *challah*, there is a warning not to engage in idolatry. The proximity of these topics teaches us that *challah* separation nullifies idolatry, as the saying goes: "Whoever observes the separation of *challah* as if negates idolatry, and whoever neglects *challah* as if engages in idolatry."

"Idolatry?" you might ask. "How does that relate to me?"

None of us worship idols, Heaven forbid. But idolatry isn’t just bowing to a statue. Subtle forms of idolatry exist: feelings of pride, the sense of ownership, forgetting who the world belongs to and who governs it. When a person fails to see Hashem in his life, and acts like the master, it is akin to idol worship, Heaven forbid.

Thus, when we separate *challah*, we declare time and again: Hashem is Almighty, and all is from Him. Success, ability, livelihood, existence itself, all are from Hashem. As the Psalm states: "Is His mercy gone forever? Completed His promise over generations," the initials spell "challah redeemer." When one sees oneself as "nothing," remembering that one's life and all possessions are gifts from Hashem, that person attains "His eternal mercy," enjoying Hashem’s endless benevolence.

This is our privilege: through the separation of *challah*, we can merit and grant our people Hashem’s grace.

The Repair: Restoring Holiness to Humanity

We mentioned that *challah* separation can influence the world's state. Here’s how and why.

Did you know that humans in the world are akin to *challah* in the dough? Primarily due to creation: humans were created from the mixture of earth and water, similar to how dough forms from mixing flour and water. Also, by essence: as the *challah* is the small sanctified piece separated from the dough, humans are the sanctified part separated from the mundane world. R’ Yosi comments: "Like a woman sifting her dough in water and elevating the *challah*, so initially ‘a mist rose from the earth,’ and afterward ‘Hashem God formed...’"

When Hashem created the world, it was all mundane. On the sixth day, Hashem sanctified just a small part and raised it above the mundane: the human, the crown of creation. Humans are the holy part of creation, their role is to sanctify the world.

On the day humans were created, known as "the *challah* of the world," Eve caused man to eat from the Tree of Knowledge – from wheat. Though the wheat we know today is low and small, it once was a large tree, and it’s destined to return so in the Messianic era: "In the future, during the Messianic times, wheat will rise as a palm at the mountain's summit, and each wheat kernel will be the size of an ox's kidney."

Because Eve persuaded the man to eat of the wheat – wheat, from the word sin – she spoiled the world’s *challah*. What’s the idea? Imagine you separated *challah*, and someone takes it and mixes it back into the dough... this essentially is what Eve did: she did not appreciate the sanctity of Adam, the first person, blending him with the mundane world. Sin stems from confusion and lack of understanding of one's place and sanctity in the world.

Thus, women received the responsible task: to rectify the world's *challah*. To separate *challah* from the dough and preserve its sanctity. This amends the primordial sin. Through this cherished commandment, separating *challah*, Jewish women worldwide enrich the world with holiness.

The Privilege: Bringing Blessings Home

Let’s step into our immediate circle.

We spoke about our ability to radiate holiness and redemption to the Jewish people and the world, but see how you can bring blessings to those closest to you: you, your husband, your children. We as women and mothers have been granted by Hashem the incredible power to influence the lives of our families.

In sources, *challah* separation is viewed as a "blessing." As it’s written in the Book of Ezekiel: "From the first of your kneading bowl, give to the priest, to bring a blessing to your house" (Ezekiel 44:30). Rabbi Elazar bar Rabbi Yehuda comments: "Due to the sin of not separating *challah*, no blessing is in the grain storage... Yet giving *challah*, blessings are received." Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad, the "Ben Ish Chai" of righteous memory, states: "Separate *challah* from your dough and bring blessings to your homes."

*Challah* separation is a blessing – and a blessing is everything.

What do we want from life? Everything that makes it lovely: a fair match, children, good livelihood, health, a beautiful home, a suitable job. All that we think makes life happy.

But does having this impressive list guarantee happiness? Is everyone married and blessed with children, owning a home, and not mired in debt a happy person? Not exactly. Some have children and considerable parenting pain. Some have wealth and worries. Some own a house but don’t enjoy it.

What differentiates them from those content in life? The blessing. Everything in life needs blessing for enjoyment. This is like the blessing our grandmothers prayed for: "May you have blessings with your money..."

We all need salvation in our respective areas, and each seeks blessings for salvation. And here’s a golden blessing in our hands that contains the promise of all salvations: the blessing. Do you grasp the magnitude? We are the ones who can bring blessing into our homes and lives, affecting salvation upon our families!

This blessing relies on our willpower. While technically, the obligation to separate *challah* is once a year, *challah* is akin to hope, craving, desire – its extent depends on our own will, and desire knows no bounds... The more we perform this *mitzvah*, especially before Shabbat, the more times of hope and craving we create, and we can draw countless salvations.

The letters of the word "will" create the words "pipeline" and "is created." Desire forms the pipeline to the Divine Throne. During dough kneading, your hands become like conduits up to the Divine Throne, flowing blessing, salvation, and success to you and your family.

Next time you enter your kitchen and begin kneading dough, know that at those very moments you step into the world's control room, activating it, channeling blessing to you, your family, all of Israel, and the entire world. What an incredible privilege!

Home Groups and Challah Separations Department – To book a home group or *challah* separation: Phone 073-2221290, Email aviva@htv.co.il