Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi All, I was looking on a site called aish.com and found the following ideas in = an article entitled, "Dr. Laura, God Loves..." The article as a whole was so so but I found this excerpt on the mitzvah = of taking challah really interesting. Shavua Tov, Cheryl TAKING HALLAH I have been religiously observant for 18 years. Three months ago, a = woman started giving a course in our neighborhood on the mitzvah of = taking hallah. In the Torah, God commands that once we enter the Land of = Israel, when we bake bread, we should separate off a small piece of the = dough and put it aside. This is one of the three mitzvot that are = considered specifically given to women. Not being the earthy type, I have never felt inclined to bake bread from = scratch. With my bread maker, yes. With my husband (a pianist who loves = to exercise his fingers by kneading) making the dough, and me just = saying the blessing and breaking off a piece of dough, yes. But to take = a ten-week course in the single mitzvah of separating hallah, no thanks. = When a friend asked me why I wasn't taking the hallah course, I replied = glibly that I'm all air signs, and I'm not the earthy, bread-baking = type.=20 My friend looked at me aghast. "Don't you know that all the blessings of = physical abundance come down into the world through the performance of = the mitzvah of taking hallah? The mitzvah also effects healing in 14 = different ways." I enrolled in the course, wondering how there could be so much to say = about a single mitzvah.=20 "The mitzvah of hallah is cosmic in its effect," the teacher proclaimed. = Every week my jaw dropped lower as she expatiated on the mystic = ramifications of this one mitzvah.=20 Then she announced that the following week a rabbi would be coming in to = teach us about the mitzvah's specific requirements in Jewish law. This = would take two hours. Two hours? I couldn't imagine how he could fill up two hours. And, of = course, I already knew how to do the mitzvah. I went to the class anyway. I discovered that I had been doing the = mitzvah wrong.=20 The following week, our teacher announced, she would be demonstrating = how to make hallah. I came prepared for a Pillsbury lesson that I didn't = need because my husband has the world's best recipe for whole wheat = hallah.=20 The demonstration was a life-changing event. =20 Now I make hallah once a month, and it's the spiritual highpoint = of my month. =20 =20 Now I make hallah once a month, and it's the spiritual highpoint of my = month. I start by turning off the phone and announcing that no one is = permitted into the kitchen until I've finished; this mitzvah requires = total concentration.=20 Then I give charity, so that all my prayers will be favorably accepted. = Then I say a chapter of Psalms, to open up the gates of heaven.=20 While sifting the flour, I sing, because joy is the foundation of all = spiritual success. Then I add each ingredient consciously: sugar for the = sweetness I hope to see in my family's life; yeast so that each member = of my family will grow and expand; water represents Torah; when = measuring salt, which represents rebuke, I fill two tablespoons, then = shake some back into the salt container because we should always give = less rebuke than we think we should; and as I slowly pour in the oil, I = "anoint" each member of my family by name, praying for his or her = specific needs. Kneading is the time to pray. My teenage daughter and I take turns, each = of us thinking of people to pray for by name: single friends that they = should get married; childless friends that they should have babies; sick = people and terror victims that they should have a speedy and complete = recovery; people struggling financially that they should have = livelihood. My daughter reminds me to add the names of Israel's missing = soldiers and of Jonathan Pollard. On and on we knead and pray, with such = spiritual focus and intensity, that the kitchen becomes charged. Now the dough is ready to take the hallah, but the spiritual = preparations to perform the mitzvah properly continue. Reading from a = laminated sheet prepared and distributed by two Israeli sisters, I pray = fervently that my performance of the mitzvah of hallah will repair the = primeval sin of Eve. That just as she brought death into the world, I = will bring life into the world, nullifying death, erasing the tears from = every face. Now I am ready to perform the mitzvah. I break off a small piece of = dough, recite the blessing over the mitzvah, and with both hands lift = the piece of dough above my head and proclaim: "Behold, this is hallah!" My hands are quivering with the spiritual intensity of the moment. With = my hands still raised, I utter two more prayers -- one that my taking = hallah should be considered as if I had brought an offering in the Holy = Temple, that it should atone for all my sins and be as if I am born = anew, and the other for the complete and final redemption of the whole = world.=20 It has taken me over an hour to perform this one mitzvah. I feel = exalted, tremulous, ecstatic as I used to feel after hours of = meditation. =20 The lack was not in the mitzvah. The lack was not in Judaism. The = lack was in me. =20 =20 For 17 years, I sporadically (and incorrectly) performed the mitzvah of = hallah, while having no idea of the profundity and spiritual potential = of the mitzvah. I slid into second base, recited the blessing, broke off = a piece of dough -- and felt nothing. It did not connect me to God, = except on the most rudimentary level.=20 The lack was not in the mitzvah. The lack was not in Judaism. The lack = was in me.=20 The mitzvot are an unparalleled spiritual feast. Most Jews have barely = tasted their sumptuousness. Connoisseurs know the difference between = eating and dining. The latter takes time -- and concentration on the = taste of every bite. A connoisseur dining in a five-star restaurant will = not complain at how long the food takes to prepare. Nor will he assess = the quality of the restaurant by how full he feels when he leaves.=20 Judaism is not a fast-food religion. Connecting to God through the = mitzvot takes time, constant learning and a commitment to moving ever = deeper. -- Binary/unsupported file stripped by Ecartis -- -- Type: image/gif -- File: cleardot.gif