Re: Matza & Challah

[Guest guest]

THANK YOU!!! That is the best answer I've gotten so far, and it actually makes

sense. And yes, I agree, just making delicious gluten free bread should

definitely count as creative activity! Funny, I did look at Aish for an answer,

but obviously not carefully enough. Now I can share this with my Rabbi.

(It's always fun to be able to teach your Rabbi something!)

Laurie

Sherene Silverberg wrote:

>this is from Aish http://www.aish.com/hhRosh/hhRoshDefault/

>Why_Round_Challah$.asp

> " The Shabbat challah is braided. " Six days shall you work (engage in

>creative activity), and on the seventh shall you desist " (Exodus

>34:21). Part of the preparation for the Shabbat is engaging in

>melacha, creative activity. Braiding is creative activity. The braid

>is a shape that does not appear in nature. (Ficus trees are hand-

>braided.) It is a shape that is made by humans and it is

>representative of the human ability to manipulate the raw material of

>the world. Braiding the challah strands helps us harness our creative

>capacities for the purpose of observing the Shabbat "

>

>this makes me think that we could make the argument that just the

>fact that we make bread out of grains that really don't want to make

>bread we're demonstrating our creativity.

>

>A rabbi told me many years ago that challah just needs to be a

>different and better bread from the bread you eat all week long.

>Just as we clean our homes and wear good clothes for Shabbat, we also

>use " wealthy " ingredients to make our challah. He said that in poorer

>times people ate hard bread all week long but on Shabbos they made an

>egg rich, soft bread to symbolize their respect for Hashem and his

>Sabbath. He was the one who told me it isn't necessary to braid the

>challah.

>

>Shez

>

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