The most important food item in our Shabbat meal is the challah, the special bread we eat. After we wash our hands we make a blessing over the challah, which opens up our seudah, or feast.
The challah is kept hidden under a challah cover, so as not to “embarrass" it when giving respect to the wine (i.e. making a blessing over it).
But there is something extremely interesting about the challah – there are two. Why do we use two breads instead of one?
According to the Gomorra (Shabbat 117b), we place two loaves on the table to remind us of the two portions of Mann that fell for the Israelites each Friday night for 40 years in the desert (Exodus 16:22). The double portion fell so we wouldn’t have to work to collect it on Shabbat.
Similarly, according to the Rashba, Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet (1235-1310), we double the bread on Shabbat just as we double many other things on Shabbat. For example, in Temple times, on weekdays we would offer one lamb for the Korban Tamid, or daily offering, while on Shabbat we would offer an additional offering, the Korban Musaf. (Today we pray Shacharit and Musaf, morning and supplementary prayers on Shabbat morning.)
Every day we recite the Psalm of the day. On Shabbat, we recite two Psalms of the day. The Torah teaches us there are two ways to observe the Sabbath - shamor, or keep and zachor, remember.
An interesting twist: It was the practice of the 16th-century Rabbi Isaac Luria to place 12 challot on the Shabbat table, corresponding to the 12 challot of showbread the Priest ate on Shabbat. Today, some families continue with this practice.
Comments