Bread on the Table - Rabbi Reuven Lauffer

[Music] yesterday we spoke about this this uh disagreement that appears between various different authorities about what's required with regards to uh what's required with regards to the bread whether you need to cut it you don't need to cut it um the the other day we spoke about the original the original makus of um having two breads what's the source of having two breads um Rashi is of the opinion that we need two breads like we mentioned I think you mentioned it that the two the double portion that was brought down on AR of shabas in the desert so we're in a sense we're recreating whatever took place over there right so we get to Friday and we have two kalas sitting over there on the table in order to represent the two different portions of Mana that was given the the uh Das Kanan which is one of the commentaries of the she's got a completely different approach he says every day two portions of Mana fell down right one for the morning and one for the evening which means every single day of the week on Friday they got a double so everyone everyone's in agreement that Friday was double the question is how much right so theas canum says that they got four loaves came down on chabas and that was to take the you know that was to give on on Aros shabs I'm sorry and that was for the morning meal which leaves you with three me three right so Friday morning you eat one and then you've got three left and on L shabas you would eat one and that left you with two for shabas morning and then when you get to the third meal that would leave you with one loaf of bread now we're going to see why am I telling you all of this because we're going to see that there's a m about whether you're supposed to have two loaves of bread for the third meal or not not do you need them so if we're reenacting like the DAR Canan right if we're reenacting what took place in seni uh sorry during the Desert then Lis when we get to the third meal we don't we don't need two loaves of bread right because we're following what happened there were four loaves of bread that came down on Friday morning or four four you know um portions of Mana one got eaten on Friday and then one got eaten on sh on Friday night one got eaten on Show's morning and that leaves you with one shabas afternoon um now according to Rashi we follow that's exactly what we do we only eat one loaf at each meal that's rashi's approach right we're going to see in a minute a different approach now coming up somebody called the rashba we spoke about him the other day um that the rashba is not in agreement with Russia he says that we're not we're not eating two load we're not having two loaves of bread to reenact what took place over there in uh the the the desert but rather the idea of the idea of having two loaves of bread is that on shabas WE double what we usually have and he bring actually brings some fascinating proofs to what he's saying um he says for example uh the on the uh every day in the when there was a temple they brought a corbon Ted which was a lamb offering right on on shabas they brought two for K mus which means you've doubled things up every day we recite one sh shal right the psalm of the day however on chabas on L shabas we recite two M go which means that says the says the rash the truth it's a very beautiful idea that everything seems to be doubled up on shabas we get like double double of everything including in double BR as well and the reason why we have two loaves says AR rashba is because of that now what the practical ramification is going to be what so first of all the first practical ramification is do you need Mish for the third meal according to the rashba you do right according to Rashi you don't um so let's have a look and see what's that what's so the which is the Authority for the ashim writes that the the common minhag in ashkan which is going back into you know Western Europe is to use only one Kala for the last meal right for that third meal on shabas afternoon that's going according to who like d Kim said the D came said that we started with four 3 2 1 however the Ramos says even though that was the seemed to be the common minig in his day nevertheless he says it's better to have mishna at the third meal as well so it is better to have two loaves of bread um but you could have just have one if if you don't have an alternative for sure you can you can certainly make over make makeo over one um the r my monad and the right you should have for the third meal as well right which that seems to be the the the common by by the is to have for for as well so here repercussion number one are you supposed to have or not if you follow Rashi then you're not supposed to have supposed to have two if you follow the rivid you are supposed to sorry the rashba you are supposed to have two and it seems that the vast majority of the PO SCH of the opinion that it's better to have two ra yep writes for the that it's correct to have to have two loads of breast and like we mentioned before the Ramos says that it's a right thing to do as well repercussion number two are women obligated with mishna um now again why what's the problem what's it what's the issue over here women are exempt from all time bound positive Mitzvah so the question over here is how are we going to Define what the Mitzvah of what is it the r r one of the classic commentaries on the writes that the women are obligated in the mitah of because they were involved in the N the double portion that fell on a shabas right so even though under normal C cumstances you could say that women should be exempt from the Mitzvah nevertheless because they were a part of what happened over there in the desert so they should be using le mishner as well um The Run has got his own approach Ru he's got his own approach over here he's of the opinion that women women are obligated everyone holds like this women are obligated in kides so if you've got if you don't have any men at home right so a woman should make Kish for everybody else so the the run is of the opinion that all of these things that apply to the of shabas they are like Kish if there's an obligation for women to recite KES then there an obligation for women to have Mish as well they're all it all strings together right all theas are going to be part and parcel of themselves and uh M and the they all they all uh they all rule that women should be um they should have mishna in their sudas the third repercussion is that in all of the sudas in all of the sudas all three of them the third repercussion over here is is an obligation on y now again what what are we looking at Rashi says that we're reenacting what took place on ER shabas if that's the case do we need Le mishna on uh do we need on as well so the rambam and right the code of Jewish law write that the obligation for is on y as well right not just on shabas the Mish explains that there midashim would say that Not only was there a double amount of Mana that fell on a shabas but there was also a double amount which fell on a of yam as well and the nce of that double is applicable for Yam which means like this even if you follow if you follow Rashi so what we're doing is it reenacting what took place right uh over there in the desert and if you follow the rashba it's also this concept of double BR which means that the double BR is there on y as well good so now we know that everybody needs to have leishna the the last the last thing that we have to get through over here is cutting the kala right we spoke about cutting the kala um you know in order to get ourselves ready for the Mitzvah in order to speed up the process whatever it is um which kala needs to get cut so we're going to see over here that there's a uh a little a little uh you know a whole little thing over here about which one you're supposed to do of course there is Aus amongst the various authorities about what you're supposed to do the Bas yosf one of the classic authorities for you know halakic authorities the B rights the cites different practices right the EM is like this first of all you should know that when you come to make a mo you need to put one Kal on top of the other that's the correct way to do it the question over here is which one are you cutting in order to in order to make hamo so according to some opinions you should cut the bottom kala and according to others you should cut the top of course right we're Jewish no let's have a look and see that why would you cut the top so there's a concept in the of that if a mitzah comes your way you can't don't don't pass up the opportunity to do it to fill in right when you put yourin away back in the bag so the custom is to put thein sh on the left hand side of the bag and thein Shard on the right hand side of the bag why is that so that when you come to for us nor ative regular people that when you come to take them out that you shouldn't pass over the fing in order to pull out the mar that's the one that says straight away that's the one to take out so according to some opinions you need to top you need to cut the top KH because the top KH is the one that you're going to have to use in order to make hu with however just when everything is nice and clear the Bas yoseph writes that that we cut the lower kala first on Friday night and it's for cabalistic reasons the ashkanazi custom is to cut the bottom kala at night and to cut the top kala on shab's morning and all of this again is being built around cabalistic reasons that of course I can't go into with you because you still have 39 years and how many 51 weeks and 3 days that you have to live before we can dabble in C us night first cut cut the lower and on shabas morning cut the top what do we do with how do we deal with that what do we say you're not supposed to cut the bottom kala because you cut the bottom kala what are you doing you're you're going you're you're ignoring as it were the top kala in favor of the bottom one so the uh the uh the accepted solution to all of this is that you cut the bottom kala on Friday night and then when you put the other kala on top of it you make sure that the bottom is sticking out a little bit so the bottom is closer to you okay right so you've got the top on the top you've got the bottom on the bottom but the bottom they're not they're not sitting right one on top of the other one but rather the bottom one is sticking out a little bit and that is the uh that that way a you the a Mitzvah you've got the one which is closer to you which is the one that you're buy to cut the Mish BR does offer a second a second option uh which is after you've made the bro you take out the bottom and you put it on top of the top I think this this this solution is a lot simpler in all events ashkenazim should follow their family custom right which means that if your family custom is to cut the top one then cut the top one right if you don't have a family custom then you should follow what the Mion B is saying over here the m b is cut top one bottom one then you cover them when you when you say the BR you can cover cover them up again you should lift them up so all all 10 of your fingers should be touching the when you lift them up and you make the some people have the custom to lift up the Kal when they say who brings out bread from the ground that they lifted up then some people hold them up already from the beginning of the BR should your hands be touching the H or the the is no matter I don't think it I mean I I think optimally perhaps it's best that you're touching the Kal but uh you know if you if you if you lift them up using the cloth itself then I think it's going to be okay um what what about Sim everything everything we've done right now is according to ashkanazi what about sadim so there's a there's a debate of course about the correct way to do it the Kim which is one of the classic uh one of the classic sources for our rules in accordance with the AR that you should cut the top Kal in all events you should cut the top Kal ra writes that the should follow the ruling of the and to cut the bottom right however he says that those people that are cutting the top one according to the cabalistic combinations and according to the the uh you know to the uh custom of the Aro so fine you know that's what they're doing then that you can't you can't tell them that it's wrong um once you once you've cut the once you've made the BR and then you cut the kala and the first thing you're supposed to do is you're supposed to cut a piece for yourself whoever is making HTI should cut a piece for himself dip it into the salt now again there is an opinion it's a calistic dimension of Dipping kala three times into the salt you may have seen that you may not have you may not have paid any attention to it you may not have realized it was taking place some people have that custom some people don't I thought that was uh because dipping is not as effective as freaking it on I thought they were just trying to M maximize probability there was actually salt on it no there's no there's absolutely no all of this is symbolic which means that you know if you dip it in and nothing really stays on which is very unlikely anyway because it's going to stick on little bit of sales yeah um the uh so some people have the custom to dip three times into salt and some people have the custom just a bit once into salt what whatever you do it's going absolutely fine shaking salt on top as well um but you take the first piece should be eaten by the person who made hamo after that you should then cut up the rest of the kala not to cut up the whole kala and then take a piece and eat it because you've made the Bro already you're trying to minimize the gap between the broa and the fact that you're eating the bread right so the best thing to do even if you've got a a lot of people over there waiting is to cut your piece of your piece of Kal you cut first and then the rest you can cut up afterwards there is a custom which is prevalent amongst theim that you give out very large pieces of Kala and that's supposed to keep you going through the whole meal now it's been a long time since I was a a Boer trying to scr meals on shabas um and the LA the last time I saw it was you like 30 30 plus years ago but there is there is such a custom you know you might get a big wedge of Kala and you should know that you're getting that enormous piece of Kala normally you're getting that enormous piece of kalala because that's supposed to last you through to the end of the of the meal don't wolf it all down and then expect to get some more so some people they'll just they they'll make cut then have one bite a small bite that's fine that's absolutely fine and then start cutting up and sending it around yeah yeah that's okay you have to finish you don't have to eat a cabet of uh of uh kala in order to be able to carry on you do need to eat the Cates of Kala during the meal right to make sure that you've fulfilled your obligation for eating bread and for being able to recite what about thehog of throwing the or is that just some crazy people that I've been to well throwing it to people I thought that was pral I I really I I really don't know I mean in in the truth is that you're not really supposed to throw bread around no the Gara says that it it's got it it it normally has negative repercussions to it um I've seen people do it though have you had that all the time I think I thought it was just practical he can't the father can't get the attention of the kids so he just tosses it to them I don't know we we've never had a problem with that kids are normally very excited when the K comes by and uh just put them in into a plate or or or tray and just send it around or the tray is not close enough true I like boards that turn into a oh they're neat yeah theard yeah they're neat um of course the only the only drawback with them is that if you need to cut up the second kala your kala board is is now is there issue with those sorts because technically to be covered underneath it's not it's not whole because it's got kind of I don't think so holes that is there H issue about cutting up the second Cola on Friday night uh hey you came in just a little bit late but according according to Rashi there is according to Rashi you're supposed to only eat one Kal and the second kala is used for the next meal and then on it goes according according to the rashba there's no problem whatsoever you can eat as many kalas as you want and if you want to finish up both kalas that's fine and if you need to bring out even more kala that's fine as well you can if you got loads of people you can just buy more colors and just keep cutting for sure for sure 100% what what you do need to try and do if possible is that the Hami those two kalas being used for Hami they at least everyone should get a little bit of that then afterwards you want to bring out let's say you've got lots of guests you want to bring out another two or three Halas and and you know to cut them up and put them into onto the table so that people can take it they want there's no problem whatsoever with that it's 100% okay um the salt now obviously on the shabus people are very you know they have the salt available whenever you make hotzi should you have your salt yeah good question you're really supposed to dip your bread into salt every single time that you make hotti regardless of what day of the week it is oh if you having a sandwich then you can you theoretically assume that the contents already contain some okay so what what's what's the chat for sure the contents are going to have some salt in it um otherwise I have no idea what you're eating it for but uh it's not it's not considered to be good enough because you really need to it there's an inion of diping there's an in here I explain to you where where where does it come from on the altar in the Temple almost everything was salted when it got offered up the only things that weren't actually were liquid offerings but even there was even an offering that was brought which was a wood offering when they just brought wood and the wood was saled as well now when we eat no wonder you love salt huh no wonder we yeah but in a minute we'll see we'll see a beautiful idea about salt but when you eat you're supposed to be you know we don't we don't have a we don't have an Al so we don't have a temple today right but your table becomes like a m it becomes like your altar and therefore when we come to eat we try to we make this sort of like symbolic action of Dipping our bread into the salt it's as if we're it's as if our our meal has now become a corbon right if we if we approach our eating properly then we're dedicating this food and we're dedicating the energy that it gives us to serving God in a better fashion right uh it's a very it's it's a very beautiful idea it really is now that's applicable throughout the week it doesn't make any difference what day of the week it is and that means that you should be dipping things into salt what you may look if you see people around there's no salt available they may dip it into something else instead yeah so you like this ubiquitous when you go go to Israeli like there always like salad sitting on the table there may be no salt over there you could dip your bread into one of the salads it's a symbolic thing to show that it's taking the place of the Soul oh okay the humus is a perfectly acceptable alternative also if you don't have salt again not not to it's the sh over here is not to dip it in and to take you know like the come out with this enormous dollop of Kus on top of your bread when you're when you're coming to fulfill the Mitzvah of eating the bread to begin with it's just to make a symbolic thing of dipping it in if there's something there that's more salty than something else then maybe that would be a better thing to use like so you know if you've got pickle cucumbers and especially if they're pickled in brine so you know you just dip it in you you don't have to take a cucumber with you right just to dip it in some kind of a symbolic action okay uh when I was growing up conservative we had a tradition of sprinkling salt on it with the salt shaker um I never even saw anyone uh dipping it until I got to kabada yes yeah same here is there a problem with just I I don't I don't think so it's it's it's more Gentile it's certainly more sophisticated to sprinkle your salt you get more coverage as well it tastes nicer because you get Sal around people in one place maybe and yeah I don't know I've been I've been I've been in lots of homes where they do it like that what's that I've been in lots of homes where they do it like that it's I don't think there's any problem I mean we always used to use the I mean this is now I know I now know this is a mea but we used to use a salt grinder and we just used to fresh fresh salt on on on shabus which I believe is a potential might be might be a little bit of a problem because grinding of the salt is an issue right um let me just tell you a little a little something about salt which is which is really again a very beautiful idea what what is his preoccupation with salt you know Jew Jews like salt right um I I once heard a great joke actually a Scotsman he says my gosh he says I'm thirsty I must have a whiskey and the Englishman says I'm I'm thirsty I must have a beer and the Jew says I'm thirsty I must have diabetes um you know good old good old Jewish angst um the the uh what What's the preoccupation with salt right so salt on the Altar and salt in the in the temple uh huge amounts of salt were being used um what's the idea salt is a f really it's a fascinating commodity it really is I remember as a kid watching my mother never understanding this watching my mother make cakes and putting in that you know like that that's pinch of salt in the recipe a pinch of salt never understand it because everybody knows that salt is not sweet how how on Earth can you put salt in the cake salt oh so my my mother oh so my mother told me that the shut of salt is when you put in the right amount it completely negates itself you don't taste a salt anymore and it enhances all the flavors that are in there and that's why when you take salt and you put it into a cake mixture right what's it doing at the end it's got you won't taste the salt at all I mean if you put in too much you will but if you put in the right amount you won't taste the salt at all but like you said it enhances the flavors of everything that's in there and adds a adds a dimension that wouldn't be there without it the idea of salt this preoccupation that we have with salt and the salt in the temple and the salt with the sacrifices and the salt in our bread is to remind us that we need to negate our own own egos in order to enhance H's Majesty God's Majesty here in the world that's what it's supposed to be coming to teach us and it's interesting right this this you know has this for psychological insight if you put too much salt into something it becomes inedible which means that if you if you negate too much of your ego then you're also doing something wrong too too big an ego is no good and and too small in ego is also no good because a person needs to have a sense of selfworth a person needs to have a sense of that you know that he has this relationship with God and that God is interested in this relationship with him and there he can start building up and turning into something even more significant and that really is the idea of you know the salt is really something which is pretty fundamental and it's something which is very beautiful and that's why I thought once like this you know sa for VRA the book of The Book of Leviticus right which is a book which is dedicated to whatw laws ofas laws of Casas but mostly the laws of the leim and thean the laws of the BD here it's interesting the laws of The Book of Leviticus starts with the God spoke to Moses saying you know for for a long time it was very interesting maybe maybe Wonder surely you would imagine that if it's talking about the laws of the him it should begin with God speaking to Aon not not to Moses but I think the over here is really that this whole idea of the negation of the ego mosha Renu was you know he he he he did this in the most expert way possible the negation of his own ego in order to to you know in order to to allow Majesty to be revealed in the world is something that really really that really was mosha raenu field you know he's called an ish he he was the most modest of people at the the most humble of people at the end of his life God calls him mosha Abdi you're my servant right this is like the ultimate Accolade to be the servant of God and I think that's the chat why in Leviticus does it begin with mosha reenu because you know a Coen it it is conceivable that a Coen perhaps could get a little bit bigheaded right I mean you know he's doing tremendous things not not you Sam obviously your your your modesty is uh legendary he could learn a thing or two from you you should the the uh the uh but you know it is conceivable that a kind could he could become a little bit bigheaded no you know he's he's doing tremendous things he's allowing the temple to function the way that it's supposed to Temple he is supposed the way it's supposed to function even today right we wait for the kohanim to come here in Israel to come and bless us every single morning when you go to SCH I don't know about you people you got a Shaw well for you it's not applicable because you're a Coen but if I got a Shaw and there's no coin one morning for whatever the reason it's a disappointment there's like something missing you know something's missing from the avoider of the morning and uh so I think I think maybe the over there is to teach the kohanim this idea of humbleness the idea of the salt is there to remind them don't get just don't get too big for your britches and that's why we eat salt every time every time we come to eat a meal and we we're and we're eating bread we use salt in to dip up bread into the salt because we we need just to reinforce that the whole time we need to remember that one the right amount of salt is going to enhance all the flavors the wrong amount of salt is either not going to be felt at all or it's going to be felt too much and that's not good either one of those is not good okay good we're going to stop over [Music] here [Music]