Re: CHAT: cross-culturation

Steg Belsky wrote:
>
> On Tue, 4 Dec 2001 05:32:26 -0500 Robert Hailman <robert@...>
> writes:
> > As I understand it, having learned this from religious school as a
> > small
> > child who didn't pay much attention, the only differences between
> > challah and "generic wheat bread" are that challah is made with
> > more
> > eggs, and it's made in accordance to rituals I don't remember. The
> > first
> > may be an Ashkenazic tradition, (which would explain why the bread
> > is
> > known outside of the Jewish world, ie. by Ukranians as has been
> > mentioned) while the second is what seperates challah, by
> > definition, from any other bread.
> > Maybe one of the other Jews, or people well-versed in Judaism, on
> > the
> > list can add more, or correct me if I'm wrong.
> > --
> > Robert
> -
>
> What you're talking about is the place where "hhalah" bread got its name.
>  According to traditional Jewish Law, if one makes a 'large' quantity of
> dough (not being a breadmaker, i don't remember exactly what the amount
> is) you have to remove a handful of the dough and burn it in the oven
> until it is inedible.  That's because back in the day there was a tithe
> called _hhalah_ where a voluntary (if i remember correctly) amount of
> large quantities of dough was given to a member of the hereditary
> priestly caste (the _kohanim_).  Since today even the kohanim aren't
> ritually 'pure' and the tithes they used to get had to be eaten in a
> state of ritual purity, today the dough that would have been given is
> just burnt, because the person is still obligated to get rid of it even
> if they can't give it to a _kohein_ (singular of _kohanim_).  So somehow
> (maybe because only the bread that was made for sabbaths was made in
> significant quantities to need the _hhalah_-removal ritual?) the name of
> the ritual got transfered to the bread.
Wow! I didn't know all that. This is why, when various things related to
Judaism are discussed on the list, I leave the answers up to you and the
others.

I was referring, then, to the burning of the dough. It's interesting
that the name of the bread comes from the ritual, but I suppose that
does support my theory that it's the burning of the bread that makes the
hhalah different from any other bread.

--
Robert