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EMOR 5782
A Challah Miracle
In this week’s Torah portion, we find a very strange law that was practice only in Holy Temple of old. The Torah (Lev. 24:5-10) commands that 12 loaves of what the Torah calls challot or challahs, be taken each week and placed on a special table, and the replace them with fresh loaves the next week and give the old ones to the Kohanim. The Talmud (Chagiga) teaches that there was a miracle accompanying these challahs: when the Kohanim would eat these week-old challahs, they were as fresh as when they were put on the special table a week before—a challah miracle!
There is a challah miracle today that is just as wondrous. Many of the laws in our Torah portion concerning the Holy Temple can no longer be practiced until the Temple is restored. But challah still graces the Shabbos table in almost every Jewish home.
Whenever a Jew takes bread in his hands and, before eating it, recites a bracha—the same hamotzi that he or she has recited ever since childhood, the very same hamotzi that his or her parents and grandparents and ancestors recited when they partook of bread—whenever a person looks at a piece of bread, the likes of which he or she has seen a thousand times before, and nevertheless responds with wonder and appreciation and awe saying the words of the hamotzi he knows by heart, and they are not stale on his lips…this too is a wonder—a challah miracle!
Let me read you a story about challah miracle—one of my favorite stories:
A long time ago, in the northern part of Israel, in the town of Tzfat, the richest man in town was sleeping, as usual, through the Shabbat morning services. Every now and then, he would almost wake up, trying to get comfortable on the hard wooden bench, and then sink back into a deep sleep. One morning, he awoke just long enough to hear the chanting of the Torah verses, Leviticus 24:5-6, in which Gd instructs the Israelites to put 12 loaves of challah on a special table in the tabernacle.
When services ended, the rich man woke up, not realizing that all he had heard was the Torah reading about how Gd wanted 12 loaves of challah. He thought that Gd had come to him in his sleep and had asked him personally to bring 12 loaves of challah to Gd. The rich man felt honored that Gd should single him out, but he also felt a little foolish. Of all the things Gd could want from a person, 12 loaves of challah didn’t seem very important. But who was he to argue with Gd? So, he went home and began preparing to bake 12 Challahs for next Shabbat.
The following Thursday, he returned to the synagogue, being careful that no one would see him. He carefully placed the loaves in the Holy Ark and said to Gd, “Thank you for telling me what You want of me. Pleasing You makes me very happy.” Then he left.
No sooner had he gone than the poorest Jew in the town, the synagogue Shamash/caretaker, entered the sanctuary. All alone, he spoke to Gd, “Oh, Lrd, I am so poor. I have not been paid for 7 weeks, yet every week I faithfully come to clean Your house. Yet my family is starving; we have nothing to eat. Unless You perform a miracle for us, we will surely perish. I will open the curtain of the Holy Ark and I know I will find something inside to help me feed my family.”
Then, as was his custom, he walked around the room tidying it up. When he ascended the Bimah and opened the ark, there before him were 12 loaves of challah! “A miracle!” exclaimed the poor man. “I had no idea You worked so quickly! Blessed are You, O Gd, who answers our prayers.” Then he ran home to share the bread with his family.
Minutes later, the rich man returned to the sanctuary, curious to know whether or not Gd ate the challah. Slowly, he ascended the Bimah, opened the ark and saw that the challot were gone. “Oh, my Gd!” he shouted. “You really ate my challot! I thought you were teasing. This is wonderful. You can be sure that I will bring you another 12 loaves for next Shabbat—and with raisins in them too!”
The following Thursday, the rich man again brought a dozen loaves to the synagogue and put them into the Holy Ark. Minutes later, the poor man entered the sanctuary. “Gd, I don’t know how to say this, but I’m out of food again. 7 loaves we ate—one for each day—4 we sold, and one we gave to charity. But now, nothing is left, and unless You do another miracle, we will surely starve.” He approached the ark and slowly opened its doors. “Baruch Hashem—another miracle!” he cried, “12 more loaves, and with raisins too! Thank You, Hashem. This is wonderful!”
This challah exchange became a weekly ritual that continued for many years. And, like most rituals that become routine, neither man gave it much thought. Then, one day, the Rabbi, detained in the sanctuary longer than usual, saw the rich man place the dozen loaves in the Holy Ark. As he was leaving, the rich man felt a bony hand grab him. The aged rabbi angrily said, “What have you done?”
He answered, “I have brought Gd His weekly Challahs. I’ve been doing it every week for 30 years, ever since I heard you explain that the showbread shall be placed before Gd at all times.
The aged rabbi was aghast and screamed, “Are you crazy. Gd does not eat!”
“You are wrong! He does eat. In all these 30 years there has bever been a crumb left in the ark.”
Soon the poor Shamash walked in. The Rabbi called the 2 men together and told them what they had been doing. The Shamash started to howl as the rich man cried. “I see,” said the rich man sadly, “Gd doesn’t really eat my challah.”
The mournful sounds carried out into the street and was heard by the saintly Ari z”l, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, master kabbalist. He spoke to each one individually, beginning with the rabbi: “Do you know why you were blessed with such long life? Since the destruction of the 2nd Holy Temple, no one has fulfilled the mitzvah of showbread with such sincere and honest devotion as this man. Because your speech inspired him, you were blessed with years…”
Then the Rabbi asked the other 2 to look at their hands. “Your hands,” he said to the rich man, “are the hands of Gd, giving food to the poor—a most holy mitzvah.”
“And your hands,” said the Rabbi to the poor man, “are also the hands of Gd, receiving gifts for the poor, and enabling the rich man to do a mitzvah. So, you see,” he said to both, “Gd can still be present in your lives. Continue baking and continue taking, for your hands are the hands of Gd.”
Truly a challah miracle. I wonder what Gd would say about this story. I think that Gd would be pleased that His law of challah had brought 2 people together—one rich and the other poor—and enabled them both to do His work and appreciate His Presence in this world.
May I suggest that you discuss this story over your Shabbos lunch. Regardless of what you think, be sure not to forget to say Hamotzi before you eat. Amen!
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