The Key to Jewish Copyrights – Shmini
In this week’s parsha we read about the death of Nadav and Avihu, the sons of Aharon -
וַיִּקְחוּ בְנֵי אַהֲרֹן נָדָב וַאֲבִיהוּא אִישׁ מַחְתָּתוֹ וַיִּתְּנוּ בָהֵן אֵשׁ וַיָּשִׂימוּ עָלֶיהָ קְטֹרֶת וַיַּקְרִבוּ לִפְנֵי ה' אֵשׁ זָרָה אֲשֶׁר לֹא צִוָּה אֹתָם. (ויקרא י, א)
Chazal offer no less than 15 possible interpretations of exactly what Nadav and Avihu’s sin was (if there even was one) and I will not repeat them here. Instead I would like to explore the philosophical concept of אֵשׁ זָרָה , offering a “foreign fire” (for want of a better translation) that HKB”H did not command us to offer, as part of our service of Him.
This is a very “apt” week to discuss this subject as it is the Shabbat after Pesach. On this specific Shabbat, certain communities, predominantly Chassidic, have a special custom of using a Key (Schlissel in Yiddish) challah for Hamotzi at the three seudot. The custom varies somewhat, some braid the challah into the shape of a key, some cut a piece of dough in the shape of a key and stick it on top of a regular shaped challah and some insert an actual metal key into the challah before baking.
The origins of this custom are Kabbalistic, emanating from the Chassidic world and its raison d'etre is connected to the “Tirayin Petichin” - metaphoric gates in Heaven, that according to the Zohar Hakadosh (followed by the Shla Hakadosh), are opened at the start of Pesach and remain so until Pesach Sheini. HKB”H (through these gates, as it were) rains down abundance upon us. The Imrei Pinchas (HaRav Pinchas Shapiro of Koritz zt”l, b.1726) cites this as the reason for the custom of the “key” challah, to reflect the fact that these Tirayin Petichin are still open and this presents a unique opportunity to focus our tefillot and be zocheh to a positive response.
This theme is echoed by the Apter Rebbe (HaRav Avraham Yehoshua Heshel zt”l, b. 1748) also known by the name of his famous sefer “Oheiv Yisrael” and the Belzer Rebbe (Harav Shalom Rokeach zt”l, b. 1781) in his sefer “Choshvei Machshavot”.
This custom has meticulously been observed by Admorim and Poskim from Belz, Satmar, Tzans, and numerous other Chassidic chatzerot for centuries.
Recently however, this custom has come under close scrutiny and criticism by those (for example Shelomo Alfassa from the Center for Jewish History NYC), claiming that it originated in pagan and Christian rituals, and is therefore unacceptable practice according toוְלֹא תֵלְכוּ בְּחֻקֹּת הַגּוֹי אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי מְשַׁלֵּחַ מִפְּנֵיכֶם כִּי אֶת כָּל אֵלֶּה עָשׂוּ וָאָקֻץ בָּם (ויקרא כ, כג). You can find his article online.
Since this is a subject close to my heart, I have researched it in depth for many years and have come to the conclusion that the claim that this custom falls under the category of וְלֹא תֵלְכוּ בְּחֻקֹּת הַגּוֹי is completely baseless and reliant on erroneous historical and halachic data.
What appears below is purely my own personal opinion, based on on my own research and reliable Torah sources. It also has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that I own a commercial bakery which happens to bake Schlissel challahs on the Shabbat after Pesach. I have no vested financial interest in this – I could just as easily sell the same monetary equivalent of regular challahs on that Friday, and the reason I bake Schlissel challahs is because I firmly believe that this is a beautiful, meaningful custom, with more than ample justification from abundant Torah sources.
I would like to return to the subject with which I opened – what constitutes “אֵשׁ זָרָה”in regards to our service of HKB”H?
The first question I would like to address is – “how do we classify an acceptable custom as opposed to an unacceptable one?” An acceptable or even commendable custom is one that –
Two brief examples of the above.
There is a halacha to eat Lechem Mishneh in the meals on Shabbat and Chag. The custom to baste the challah with egg wash and sprinkle sesame seeds on top is an acceptable custom because it does not detract/add/contradict any aspect of the halacha. It improves the quality of the challah and glorifies the mitzvah (זה קלי ואנוהו) and it is a symbolic reference to the Mann (זרע גד).
There is a halacha to take 3 steps backwards after Shmoneh Esrei, before Oseh Shalom. A custom to look behind you before stepping back may have originated with an unfortunate accident when someone stepped back and knocked the person behind him over, causing him to fall and break his arm. This is not necessarily a glorification of the halacha, but rather addressing a circumstance and it has a basis in ונשמרתם מאוד לנפשותיכם.
An unacceptable custom would be to only eat one challah in the Shabbat meal (detracts), or to take 5 steps sideways after Shmoneh Esrei (adds/contradicts). My maternal grandfather z”l (after whom I am named) emigrated from Russian to South Africa in the early 1900’s and for the first time encountered bananas. He did not know what the halacha was regarding eating bananas on Pesach because he never grew up with them, so did not eat them on Pesach, out of ספק. My mother, out of respect for him continued not to eat bananas on Pesach after he died. According to the above definition this does not constitute an acceptable custom as it is lacking a Torah basis. Luckily I do not overly like bananas (year round) so not eating them on Pesach is no hardship for me (out of respect for my grandfather z”l), but I do not force the rest of my family to follow suit as it is halachically clear that bananas are not chametz.
Our sages have always urged us to follow מנהגי אבותנו – those that are acceptable according to the above doctrine.
The second question to explore is – “what happens if the goyim copied a custom of ours and made it part of their religion, does that make it no longer acceptable for us?”
An example of this is the pattern of a cross. In a Mishna in Menachot (6, 3) it describes how to do משיחה of the oil on a minchat יםרקיק in the Mikdash. As you know, a רקיק is a thin matza (very much like a soft Sefardi matza today) and the halacha is that before you eat it, it must have oil spread over it. There is a special pattern in which the oil is spread. The Mishna describes it as the pattern of the Greek letter “chi”, which is a cross, like the capital letter X. This is the picture that appears in the mefarshim (there is some discrepancy between the various editions of the texts, but for the purposes of this discussion I am going with the assumption that it looks like an X). Not only were רקיקים spread with oil in this way. Also the משיחה of oil on a newly inaugurated kohen followed the same pattern.
As we well know the Christians took this cross pattern and turned it into a central theme of their religion of avodah zarah. Does this now mean that in the 3rd Beit Hamikdash that משיחה will no longer be done according to that pattern, because it has been “soiled” by being used for purposes of avodah zarah?
And the answer is - it will still be in the same X pattern as before, despite the Christian use of this symbol. The Rambam is posek le'halacha accordingly in his perush on this Mishna and as we know, this psak was made after centuries of the existence of Christiantity and despite its use of the cross symbol.
Plagiarized adoption of a Torah symbol by the goyim and ovdei avodah zarah does not nullify the original Jewish validity of the symbol, but it does qualify its use. For example, we can still do משיחהof the רקיקים, kohanim and kings in the cross pattern because that is halacha le’Moshe mi’Sinai, but we may not decorate our homes with that symbol, pray or bow down in front of that symbol, because these were specific uses the goyim made of it for their avodah zarah.
I would like to propose an assertion that all customs of the goyim and ovdei avodah zarah originally were derived/copied from Torah concepts (that predated them), which they then changed/perverted for their own nefarious purposes.
The cross is one example.
Shelomo Alfassa in his critique on the Schlissel challah cites numerous sources of Christian practices of imprinting a cross on breads eaten during their Easter festival. To do so, use was made of keys, which in the ancient Christian world were shaped in the form of a cross. They would take that cross shaped key and imprint the cross shape in the bread, or even bake the bread with this cross shaped key embedded in the dough. What he fails to mention is that the Christians “stole” this concept from us! The so called “last supper” of אותו האיש is well documented as being a Pesach seder in which matzot (רקיקים) were eaten and their custom of depicting a cross on the bread in their Easter festivities (which coincide with Pesach btw) was copied from our משיחה of the רקיקים with oil in the time of the Mikdash. And as I have illustrated above, this in itself does not nullify the Torah concept of the pattern of משיחה which is halacha le’Moshe mi’Sinai, as paskened by the Rambam.
Moreover, the custom of the Schlissel challah has nothing whatsoever to do with the shape of a cross at all! The custom of the Schlissel challah surrounds the concept of a key (the key to a gate)! The keys used by the Christians in their bread were shaped like a cross - because they were interested in combining the concept of the cross with their bread – not the concept of a key! The fact that it was a key was incidental in this case, the key just happened to be the most accessible artifact in that shape on hand for this purpose. It is equivalent to saying that since the Christians once used keys shaped like a cross, it is therefore passul today to use a key to open your door just because “the Christians once used cross shaped keys to open their doors”. The logic is ludicrous and any attempt to link the Christian practice of using keys to bake their bread and the custom of the Schlissel challah (which bears no resemblance in any way to a cross) is historically and factually incorrect.
While Shelomo Alfassa is appalled by the concept of baking a key shaped challah, he has no qualms or objections to eating a braided Shabbat challah, eaten by the entire Ashkenazi world and gedolei hador since the early 1500’s. What he (and most people) do not know (I do, as I have researched this subject in depth for many years) is that the “traditional” braided shaped challah we eat every Shabbat and Chag, the iconic symbol of kedushat ha’Shabbat (perhaps after the Kiddush cup)! - originates from a pagan custom!
There is no (obvious/explicit) masoret whatsoever of braiding Shabbat challahs anywhere in the Tanach/Mishna/Gemara/Rishonim. The first time in history Am Yisrael started braiding challahs was in the Rhineland region of Southern Germany (the cradle of Yiddish culture) in the early 1500’s and they copied it from a braided Christian Sunday bread. The German/Austrian/Swiss custom of eating a braided loaf on Sundays originated from a pagan, Teutonic cult called the Berchta cult. Berchta was a pagan goddess of fertility and it was customary to bring offerings of bread to her as part of the ritual of avodah zarah, which were braided to symbolize the goddess’ braided hair. This original pagan custom was transformed and perpetuated in a Christian custom of this region, which became associated with the funeral ritual in which widows would cut a lock of their braided hair and bury it together with their spouse as a sign of loyalty and devotion. This subsequently evolved into baking a braided bread instead of burying the actual hair and this custom persists to this day in Switzerland and Austria (you may read more about this in my book the Jewish Bread Bible which is soon to be published).
Again, we seemingly have a custom that originated in a pagan/Christian ritual, but unlike the custom of the Schlissel challah which is still marginal, the regular braided Shabbat challah is widespread and ubiquitous. How can it possibly be so?
So the answer is the same as for the Schlissel challah above. The Berchta cult did not invent the concept of the symbolism of the braided hair (none of the goyim ever did – as I have asserted above). They copied it from us and then changed and perverted it. The original “fertility goddess” was Chava. The Gemara (Brachot 61a) describes how HKB”H acted as the Shoshvin when he introduced Chava to Adam Harishon and as a gift to make her beautiful, HKB”H braided her hair!
The fact that we braid our challah on Shabbat is symbolic of Chava and the sin of the עץ הדעת and the subsequent tikkun of Hafrashat challah, which (primarily) the women are required to perform.
This is the ikar ha'inyan. Subsequent to that, additional meaning and symbolism has been added to the concept, like basting with egg, sprinkling with sesame seeds, how many braids to use (reminiscent of the 12 Lechem Hapanim), the shape, round or elongated, or other patterns for the chagim, etc. There is no psul in baking challah in different shapes that has different symbolism, hahefech. The round Uggot matzot that Avraham and Bnei Yisrael baked when they left Mitzrayim, is not round by accident – it has symbolism. The Lechem Hapanim which was shaped in the shape of a smiling mouth was not shaped thus by accident, it has deep spiritual symbolism.
All these customs are not only acceptable, but commendable as they are a hiddur and all part of זה קלי ואנוהו.
The same applies to the Schlissel challah.
The very thought that by baking a Schlissel shaped challah the Shabbat after Pesach or in fact even a regular braided shaped challah every Shabbat, that we are imitating and perpetuating a goyish practice of idolatory is historically and factually incorrect and misleading, but more than that, it casts apsersions on innumerable Gedolei Yisrael who instituted and wholeheartedly endorsed these customs, which is tantamount to motzi sheim rah. Does anyone in their wildest dreams think for a moment that these iconic Torah giants of generations past were not aware that the Christians baked Easter breads with cross shaped keys or that the braided challah in Germany was a Christian custom? They lived among them and saw them with their own eyes! Does anyone in their wildest dreams imagine that these gedolim who endorsed these customs did so to serve avodah zarah? Such thinking is not only ludicrous but malicious.
We are “ants” compared to all these gedolim who had sound Torah basis and remazim for these customs and symbolisms, some of which they made public in their sefarim and some which they did not. And there are remazim in the psukkim for these customs that even I, a humble baker, not well versed in the תורת הנסתר, can find.
We all know the well-known gzeira shava linking the “uggot” baked by Sarah Imeinu and the “uggot matzot” baked by Bnei Yisrael after leaving Egypt, from which Chazal learn that when the angels visited Avraham, it was Pesach and that matzot are round. But there is an additional, not so well known, gzeira shava to reinforce this –
וַיִּשָּׂא עֵינָיו וַיַּרְא וְהִנֵּה שְׁלֹשָׁה אֲנָשִׁים נִצָּבִים עָלָיו וַיַּרְא וַיָּרָץ לִקְרָאתָם מִפֶּתַח הָאֹהֶל וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ אָרְצָה (בראשית יח, ב).
וּלְקַחְתֶּם אֲגֻדַּת אֵזוֹב וּטְבַלְתֶּם בַּדָּם אֲשֶׁר בַּסַּף וְהִגַּעְתֶּם אֶל הַמַּשְׁקוֹף וְאֶל שְׁתֵּי הַמְּזוּזֹת מִן הַדָּם אֲשֶׁר בַּסָּף וְאַתֶּם לֹא תֵצְאוּ אִישׁ מִפֶּתַח בֵּיתוֹ עַד בֹּקֶר (שמות יב, כב).
We also read in the end of last week’s parsha about the מילואיםימי of Aharon Hacohen -
וּמִפֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד לֹא תֵצְאוּ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים עַד יוֹם מְלֹאת יְמֵי מִלֻּאֵיכֶם כִּי שִׁבְעַת יָמִים יְמַלֵּא אֶת יֶדְכֶם. כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה בַּיּוֹם הַזֶּה צִוָּה ה' לַעֲשֹׂת לְכַפֵּר עֲלֵיכֶם. וּפֶתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד תֵּשְׁבוּ יוֹמָם וָלַיְלָה שִׁבְעַת יָמִים וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם אֶת מִשְׁמֶרֶת ה' וְלֹא תָמוּתוּ כִּי כֵן צֻוֵּיתִי. (ויקרא ח, לג-לה).
which bears an uncanny resemblance to the description of the seven days of Pesach and the שמירה of the matzot so that they do not become chametz.
אל תקרא מִפֶּתַח אלא מַפְתֵּחַ.
This is a hint from the psukkim that could possibly serve as a source for the Kabbalistic symbolism of the key and the Tirayin Petichin following the seven days of Pesach.
Finally, the inyan of the combination of keys and bread is addressed directly in a Mishna in Taharot (4,1) –
הַזּוֹרֵק טֻמְאָה מִמָּקוֹם לְמָקוֹם, כִּכָּר לְבֵין הַמַּפְתְּחוֹת, מַפְתֵּחַ לְבֵין הַכִּכָּרוֹת, טָהוֹר. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר, כִּכָּר לְבֵין הַמַּפְתְּחוֹת, טָמֵא. מַפְתֵּחַ לְבֵין הַכִּכָּרוֹת, טָהוֹר.
The discussion here centers around loaves of bread (which are tahor) coming into contact with (metal) keys (which are not tahor). The question is which is the ikar and which is the tafel and which is permanent and which is transient? The assumption is that the bread comes into direct contact with the key (which just happens to be used as the artifact in question, but is interchangeable with other objects possessing tum’ah). The halacha (psak by the Rambam) is according to the first opinion (Tanna Kama) and not according to second opinion (R. Yehuda) that even if the loaf is outnumbered by the (tamei) keys, it still remains tahor.
This is significant and relevant for anyone who has the custom to bake an actual key in the Schlissel halacha, they have something to base it on. על אחת כמה וכמה if the key does not come into direct contact with the bread – as in most cases today where people wrap the key in foil for sanitary reasons. Even according to the second opinion, of R. Yehuda, that would be tahor.
To bake a challah in the shape of a key (that bears no resemblance whatsoever to the Christian custom - the shape of a cross) – there is no halachic question about that at all imho.
I would like to emphasize very clearly that I am neither a Rav nor a Posek in this matter. If you have any doubt whatsoever, you should consult with your own Rav and Posek, preferably one who is בקי in this sugya (there are not many) and preferably show him this material beforehand so that he can rule based on true facts and not erroneous and inaccurate supposition.
I believe that the custom of the Schlissel challah is a beautiful and meaningful one, that strengthens our direct connection with HKB”H and in no way or form serves as any kind of intermediary or “segulah” or אֵשׁ זָרָה. It is merely a symbol used to glorify the mitzvah of Lechem Mishne, in the same way we sprinkle sesame seeds on the challah to remind us of the Mann. It reminds us of the special, direct connect connection we have with HKB”H between Pesach and Pesach Sheini when the Tirayin Petichin, the Heavenly gates are open to us more than at other times of the year, as Hashem rains His Heavenly abundance on us. It is a reminder to be extra careful in our observance of Shabbat, as stated by the Oheiv Yisrael.
