dough offering

{{Short description|Biblical injunction to separate a tithe from bread}}

File:Mitzvah of Challah.theora.ogv at the "Boro Park Matzah bakery" performing the Mitzvah of separating Challah from each basket (called "צירוף סל" in Hebrew)]]

In Judaism, the dough offering (or separation of challah, {{langx|he|הפרשת חלה}}) is an positive commandment requiring the owner of bread dough to give a part of the kneaded dough to a kohen (Jewish priest). The obligation to separate the dough offering (henceforth: challah) from the dough begins the moment the dough is kneaded, but may also be separated after the loaves are baked.{{cite book |author1=Aharon HaLevi|author-link1=Aharon HaLevi |title=Sefer ha-Chinuch |location=Jerusalem|year=1958 |language=he |oclc=233044594 |title-link=Sefer ha-Chinuch}}, mitzvah # 385 This commandment is one of the twenty-four priestly gifts.[https://www.sefaria.org/Bava_Kamma.110b.12 Bava Kamma 110b] By biblical law the commandment is only obligatory in the Land of Israel, but rabbinic law applies it also to bread made outside the Land of Israel.Jerusalem Talmud (Orlah 3:7); Maimonides, Mishne Torah (Hil. Bikkurim 5:7); Jacob ben Asher, Arba'ah Turim (Yoreh Deah 322:3); Shulhan Arukh (Yoreh Deah 322:3).

The common modern practice in Orthodox Judaism is to burn (although simply throwing away the dough in a double-wrapped container is allowed) the portion to be given the Kohen, although giving the challah to a Kohen for consumption is permitted—even encouragedIgud HaKohanim, The Torah of Challah; Giving Challah To The Kohen, 2nd ed. 2016, p. 6-24,.—outside Israel (permitted with restrictions, see article below for detail).

Hebrew Bible

The offering is commanded in {{Bibleverse|Numbers|15:17-21|HE}}:

{{blockquote|Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you enter the land where I bring you, then it shall be, that when you eat of the food of the land, you shall lift up an offering to the {{sc1|Lord}}. Of the first of your dough you shall lift up a cake as an offering; as the offering of the threshing floor, so you shall lift it up. From the first of your dough you shall give to the {{sc1|Lord}} an offering throughout your generations.Numbers 15:18-21, NASB}}

In the above passage "cake" is {{Transliteration|he|hallah}} ({{langx|he|חלה}}) while "of dough" is {{Transliteration|he|ʿarisah}} ({{lang|he|עריסה}}).

The return of the Jews from the Babylonian exile marked a renewal in adherence to numerous commandments, and the dough offering, "the first fruits of our dough," is listed as one of them ({{Bibleverse|Nehemiah|10:38|HE}}).Shaye J. D. Cohen From the Maccabees to the Mishnah 1987 Page 141 "dealings with "the peoples of the land" on the Sabbath: to observe the seventh year ("the year of release"); and to support the temple and its priesthood through a wide variety of offerings (money, wood, first fruits, firstborn, dough,"

Rabbinic Judaism

The Mishnah and Jerusalem Talmud contain a tractate named Challah dealing with the dough offering.{{cite book|first=Timothy R.|last=Ashley|title=The Book of Numbers|date=1993|page=283|quote=A whole tractate in the Mishnah is called Halla, based on this word and explicating the so-called dough offering}} The halakhic codification of the mitzvah appears in Shulhan Arukh, Yoreh Deah 322 and Mishneh Torah Bikkurim 5:1.

=Components of the mitzvah=

The mitzvah of challah is one mitzvah with two parts: (1) separating the required dough (Hafrashat challah), (2) giving the dough to a Kohen (Netinat Challah).Nodah b'yehudah Mahadura tenyana ch. 201, with the first making the original dough non-Tevel, and the second giving the Separated portion (the "Kodesh") to the Kohein NachmanidesNachmanides, Hasagot to the Commandments 12 and the Tosafist Isaiah di Tranito Kiddushin ch. 2 (on daf 58b) explain that it is the actual giving of the Challah portion to the Kohen that is the primary component of the Mitzvah.

=Types of dough=

Only the five species of grain require the separation of the dough offering: wheat, barley, spelt, wild barley (or oats), and rye.Mishnah Challah 1:1-2 Challah and tithes may not be taken from dough made from "new" grain (chadash) on behalf of dough made from "old" grain (yashan).Baruch M. Bokser Samuel's commentary on the Mishnah: its nature, forms, and content, Volume 1 1975 "One was prohibited to set aside Dough-offering and tithes from dough made from "new" grain in behalf of dough made from "old" grain. 354 The factor determining whether grain belonged to one year's crop or to the next was whether the ..."

Certain preparations of dough were exempt from the duty of separating the dough-offering, such as Sūfgenīn dough that was made with a thin-batter, variously mixed with spices or milk-products, and deep-fried in oil to be made into fritters.{{cite book |last=Maimonides |author-link=Maimonides |title=Mishnah, with Maimonides' Commentary |publisher=Mossad Harav Kook |translator=Yosef Qafih |volume=1 |date=1963|location=Jerusalem |page=135|language=he |oclc=741081810 }}, Hallah 1:4, s.v. וסופגנין ודובשנין ואסקיטין: "Sūfgenīn, etc. Different types of bread which from the start of its kneading they mix therein oil or honey or spice and are cooked by different methods prescribed in cooking, and are so-called according to their ingredients and also according to the manner in which they are cooked."){{Citation |contribution=R. Solomon Sirilio's Commentary on the Jerusalem Talmud (Tractate Hallah)|title=Talmud Yerushalmi|edition=Friedman|author-last=Sirilio |author-first=Solomon |author-link=Solomon Sirilio |editor-last=David Yonah |editor-first=Rozenboim |publisher=Mekhon "Oz ve-hadar" |place=Jerusalem |page=13a (Hallah 1:4) |volume=8 |year=2010 |oclc=762536701 |quote= "Sūfgenīn, such as dough whose batter is thin, and afterwards they fry it in oil, or cook it in water; such [pastry] is not called bread, and is exempt from the dough-offering, nor does one bless over it 'He who brings forth bread from the earth,' but rather '[Blessed are you] who creates different kinds of foods,' [etc.]"}} Included in this exemption is dough that has been kneaded with milk and honey to be deep-fried over a stove into honey-cakes (Hebrew: dūḇshanīn). Although exempt from the dough-offering, they still require the separation of regular tithes.Mishnah Hallah [https://archive.org/details/DanbyMishnah/page/n112/mode/1up 1:4] (p. 83) The Jerusalem TalmudHallah 1:4 - end makes the exemption of separating the dough-offering contingent upon breadstuffs that have been cooked in a frying pan or pot over a stove, rather than baked in an oven. If these were baked as bread in an oven, they would still require the separation of the dough-offering.{{cite book |last=Maimonides |author-link=Maimonides |title=Sefer Mishneh Torah - HaYad Ha-Chazakah (Maimonides' Code of Jewish Law) |publisher=Pe'er HaTorah |volume=4 |page=70a (Bikkurim 6:12) |date=1974|location=Jerusalem |language=he |quote="A batch of dough that has been kneaded with wine or oil or honey, or with scalding water, or had he put therein a spice, or boiled water and threw flour therein and kneaded it, if he baked it in an oven - whether on its floor or in a frying pan or pot, whether the dough had been made to cling to [the side of] a pot or frying pan and afterwards made them boiling hot from a fire lit below, until the bread was baked thereby (even if he had made it boiling hot first, and only afterwards made the bread-dough cling [to the oven]), all of these require the separation of the dough-offering. But if he prepared a batch of dough only to be dried in the hot sun, or to cook it in a pot, behold, it is exempt from the dough-offering."}} (END QUOTE); cf. {{cite book |author1=Aharon HaLevi|author-link1=Aharon HaLevi |title=Sefer ha-Chinuch |publisher=Eshkol |location=Jerusalem|year=1958 |language=he |oclc=233044594 |title-link=Sefer ha-Chinuch}}, mitzvah # 385; cf. Babylonian Talmud (Pesahim 37a) A quantity of dough equalling 1.6 kilogram or more which was prepared to make hardened biscuits (Hebrew: qanūḇqa’ot) requires the separation of the dough offering.Mishnah Hallah 1:5; cf. {{Citation |contribution=Perush Shishah Sidrei Mishnah - A Commentary on the Six Orders of the Mishnah |title=The Six Orders of the Mishnah: with the Commentaries of the Rishonim |last=Nathan ben Abraham|author-link=Nathan ben Abraham I |publisher=El ha-Meqorot|editor-last=Sachs|editor-first=Mordecai Yehudah Leib|place=Jerusalem|year=1955 |language=he |oclc=233403923 }}, s.v. Mishnah (Hallah 1:5), who explains qanūḇqa’ot as ka'akin and which were traditionally baked in an oven.

=Quantities=

The minimal quantity of dough whose preparation mandates the performance of the Mitzvah is quantified by Chazal as a portion of flour equivalent to 43 and 1/5 eggs,Obadiah of Bertinoro's Commentary on Mishnah Hallah 2:6; Numbers Rabbah; pseudo-Jonathan ben Uzziel's Aramaic translation on Exodus 16:36 who puts 1/10 of an ephah at 1/10 of three seahs; Sheiltot of Achai Gaon ch. 73 also known as one omer. In modern terms;

The quantity that requires reciting a blessing is about 1.64 kg.Maimonides brings down its approximate weight in Egyptian dirhams, writing in Mishnah Eduyot 1:2: "...And I found the rate of the dough-portion in that measurement to be approximately five-hundred and twenty dirhams of wheat flour, while all these dirhams are the Egyptian [dirham]." This view is repeated by Maran's Shulhan Arukh (Hil. Hallah, Yoreh Deah 324:3) in the name of the Tur. In Maimonides' commentary of the Mishnah (Eduyot 1:2, note 18), Rabbi Yosef Qafih explains that the weight of each Egyptian dirham was approximately 3.333 grams, in which case the total weight of flour requiring the separation of the dough-portion is approximately 1.733 kg. Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef (Sefer Halikhot ʿOlam, vol. 1, pp. 288-291) ruled that the Egyptian dirham weighed approximately 3.0 grams, meaning the minimum requirement for the dough-offering is 1.560 kg. Others (e.g. Rabbi Avraham Chaim Naeh) say the Egyptian dirham weighed approximately 3.205 grams, meaning the minimum requirement for the dough-offering is 1.666 kg. Rabbi Shelomo Qorah (Chief Rabbi of Bnei Barak) brings down the traditional weight used in Yemen for each dirham, saying that it weighed 3.36 grams, meaning the minimum requirement for the dough-offering is 1.77072 kg. (Some only recite a blessing if the quantity is above 2.25 kg.)
A quantity of flour weighing between approximately 2 lb 11oz (1.23 kg) and 3 lb 11oz (1.666 kg) qualifies for giving Challah but no blessing is recited.Based on the measurement of Rabbi Chaim Naeh as quoted by Y. Felix in his work הצומח והחי במשנה

The Torah does not specify what quantity of dough must be given to the kohen. This is discussed in the Talmud; the rabbinical stipulation is that 1/24 is to be given in the case of private individuals, and 1/48 in the case of a commercial bakery.

If no separation is done while cooking, it can be done after baking without a blessing.

= Consumption or burning =

The consumption of Challah by a Kohen in the Land of Israel is forbidden by Torah law due to the absence of the ashes of the Red Heifer necessary for ritual purity.

With this in mind, the Tosefta,Tosefta, Challah 4:4 followed by the Rishonim, encouraged the act of separating "Challah" in order that the Mitzvah not be forgotten entirely, along with the full recitation of a blessing before the dough is separated. The blessing recited is "asher kiddeshanu bemitzvotav ve'tzivanu le'hafrish challah."Shulhan Arukh (Yoreh Deah 328:1)

The common practice of Diaspora Jewry is to burn the Challah; home bakers fulfill this by tossing the Challah to the back of the oven.Ramah to Yoreh Deah 322:5 However, it is Halachically permitted in the Diaspora to give the separated Challah to a Kohen for consumption,as the Mitzvah of giving Trumath Challah outside Israel is only Rabbinic and not D'oraita and even encouraged by some Rabbinic authorities,Tosefta, Challah 4:4. Ramban with the provision that the Kohen has immersed in a Mikvah.(rior to consumption) – And no Tumah is being excreted from his Body – Shulchan Aruch HaRav 457:20 The Kohen is also required to recite the required Beracha thanking God for sanctifying the Kohanim with the sanctity of Aharon.Ramah to Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 322:5 (quoted from the Rambam) : " ברוך את ה' אלהינו מלך העולם אשר קדשנו בקדושתו של אהרן וצוונו לאכול תרומה" In Yemen, whenever baking a quantity of dough which required the separation of the dough-offering, one small loaf of flatbread was removed from the batch and designated as Challah and burnt, while another small loaf of flatbread from the same batch, being non-consecrated bread, was given to a small child of the priestly stock and eaten by him, so that the practice of giving the Challah would not be forgotten amongst Israel.See for a comparison {{cite book |last=Ishtori Haparchi |author-link=Ishtori Haparchi |title=Sefer Kaftor Ve'ferah |publisher=Bet ha-midrash la-halakhah ba-hityashvut. |editor=Avraham Yosef Havatzelet |volume=2 (chapter 11)|edition=3rd |date=2007 |location=Jerusalem |page=32 |language=he|oclc=32307172}}; cf. Halakhot Gedolot, vol. 3 of the Makitzei Nirdamim edition, ed. Ezriel Hildesheimer, "Hilkot Ḥallah", Jerusalem 1987, p. 400

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The commentators to the Shulchan Aruch record that it is the custom of some Diaspora Jews to give Challah (in this case fully baked Passover matzah) from the dough used for baking "Matzot Mitzvah" (the Shmurah Matzah eaten during Passover) to a Kohen minor to eat.Be'er Hetev to Yoreh Deah 322:7; Sha"ch to above chapter

=Other laws=

The requirement to separate Challah from the dough was imposed on the owner of the dough, not on the person who kneaded it; hence if the owner was not Jewish, even if the kneader was, Hafrashat Challah was not mandatory. The requirement does not apply to bread prepared as animal feed.Jewish Encyclopedia

The requirement applies in Israel even during the Shmittah (Sabbatical) year.Talmud Bavli, Bechorot 12b Even the pauper who is entitled to collect Peah and would be exempt from giving Ma'aser (Tithe) is obligated to give Challah from his dough portion. The dough from Maaser Sheni is likewise not exempt from Challah giving.Sifri to Bamidbar 15:21

=Interpretations=

Challah, as one of the twenty-four kohanic gifts, was a means of sustenance for the kohanim, who, because of their expected full-time involvement with Temple duties and Torah instruction, were not intended to have land or income derived from it, unlike the other tribes of Israel (although this was often not the case during the Second Temple era).

The mitzvah of separating challah is traditionally regarded as one of the three Mitzvot performed especially by women.Mishnah, Shabbat 2:6

Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno reasons that God wished to negate the negative effect of the sin of The Twelve Spies by establishing this Mitzvah in order that bracha ("divine blessing") should rest in the homes and on the dough products of the Jews.Sforno to Numbers 15:20

In Shlomo HaKohain of Greece's kabbalistic commentary on the Zohar, the performing of this commandment by women, who traditionally did the cooking, uplifts the dough from a state of tevel (spiritual non-readiness) and brings it to a state of khullin (mundane and permitted to its owner), thereby correcting the action of Eve who gave of the forbidden fruit to her husband.Shlomo HaKohain of Greece שעת רצון על הזוהר Sha'at ratzon al ha Zohar vol. 1 p. 36b

The Jerusalem Talmud implies that the commandment was given before the sin of the Twelve Spies, even though it is recorded (immediately) afterwards.Jerusalem Talmud (Taanit 23b)