Blessing Over Bread

The Value of Bread-

There’s a verse, “He was known to them in the breaking of bread” (Lk. 24:35). As it stands alone the line is beautiful; it appears at the end of an amazing story about how Yeshua remained hidden while he spoke with two men on the road after his resurrection. They conversed and he expounded regarding the character of Mashiach and the necessity of his death. As they approached their destination the men invited this unknown chacham (sage) to their meal. He remained concealed to them until he took bread and broke it. At that very moment their eyes were opened and they realized who this tzaddik was and then he was gone, he disappeared.

This bread breaking is an interesting thing. In Jewish legal thought a dining experience is not considered a meal without bread. Any child of Avraham…who was known for his hospitality…should be prepared to share their meal; for this reason traditional texts use the term breaking bread to describe the mealtime activity. Sharing, breaking, dividing and connecting, this is the purpose of a meal…of bread.

Inasmuch as the Hebrew language has assigned numerical value to each of its letters, gematria is the practice of deriving connections in a text through those numerical relationships. A brief example of this kind of interpretation is given by the hand of the Apostle to the nations. He explains as follows:

"Again I will insist to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Torah." (Gal. 5:3)

Although it does not come across in any other language but Hebrew, Paul is using a bit of well known gematria in the statement above. On the eighth day a Jewish boy takes circumcision and enters the brit (ברית) of Avraham. The numerical value of ברית is 612. There are 613 commandments in the Torah, for this reason it is said that this mitzvah of circumcision is a permanent reminder of all the others.

In his Haggadah (108) Rabbi Marc-Alain Ouaknin includes some exceptional commentary regarding the shared meal which he derives in a similar way. He explains that if one takes the term breaking bread literally, we can divide the numerical value of the word לחם (bread) in to two and arrive at the number 39. Our "divided bread” is connected numerically to the Hebrew word for "dew." Isaiah explains:

"Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For a dew of lights is your dew, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits." (26:19)

יחיו מתיך נבלתי יקומון הקיצו ורננו שכני עפר כי טל אורת טלך וארץ רפאים תפיל׃

Our commentary explains that to offer a portion of bread is to offer a few drops of dew…dew which brings forth more than plants from the earth…a dew of resurrection from the dead.

Shabbat Challah-

The meal of Shabbat begins with our making kiddush (sanctification) over a cup of wine, this however, poses a problem. For many reasons, some of which were explained above, bread holds a special place in Jewish law and the blessing of bread has preeminence over all other foods including wine. Because our Shabbat meal should begin with the blessing over the cup we must “hide” the challah while kiddush is made. Practically this is done by covering the challah above and below. Below the challahs are hidden by a table cloth or cutting board, and above the two loaves are masked with a challah cover, towel, or anything including a simple napkin.

Again, with this custom we must return to the unavoidable mystical depth of our tradition. On Shabbat we take two loaves because the children of Israel did not collect manna on Shabbat, but instead received twice the manna just before the holiday. Commenting on Exodus 16:13, Rashi explains that the manna which was collected after it appeared on the ground each morning was covered in multiple layers of dew, above and below. Our challah covers serve to reflect this arrangement and strengthen the connection previously suggested between the communal bread of Shabbat and the dew and resurrection of Isaiah.

Saying HaMotzi-

Although there are Jews in the East whose Shabbat challah appears as a circular cake, the common tradition is a braided loaf. The blessing made over bread is called HaMotzi, the word means “who brings out” and is a quote from the blessing itself. We bless our G-d “who brings out” bread from the earth. On the most basic level we are showing gratitude to HaShem for his provision of wheat which grows from the ground. For chasidei Yeshua however the phrase contains a deeper meaning; in a profound sense we are blessing our G-d who brought Yeshua up from the grave.

Mashiach said, “I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever…” (Yo. 6: 48-51)

Blessing Over Challah How2

After rising from the table to wash our hands, the head of the table lifts the two challahs, wrapping them together in their hands with the top cover and says:

Baruch atah HaShem, Elokeinu, melech ha-olam ha-motzi lechem min ha-aretz.

Blessed are you, HaShem, our G-d, king of the universe who brings forth bread from the earth.