[Avodah] See-Through Challah Cover

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Aug 19, 2011 at 03:50:09PM -0500, Lisa Liel wrote:
>> It's important to excercise the middah, regardless of the "recipient".

> Fine.  Where do we get the idea that challah feels embarrassment?  Maybe  
> the challah is an anav and wants to defer to the wine.

Tur OC 271, citing the Ymi. The MB cites it as well. I haven't
found the actual Y-mi, though.

There is a R' Yisrael Salanter story about this in Tenuas haMussar
vol I. Rather than translate it myself, here is RSRiskin's version.
You'll see I was just repeating RYS's point
<http://www.ohrtorahstone.org.il/parsha/5763/mishpatim63.htm>:

    Rabbi Yisroel was once stranded in Kovno for Shabbat. Everyone
    wanted to host him, but he chose to spend the Shabbat at the home
    of a baker who had no children to feed, so he would not take away
    anyone's portion of food.

    The baker was an observant Jew but hardly a man of intelligence. As
    he ushered his esteemed guest into his house, he shouted at his wife,
    "Why are the challahs not covered? How many times must I remind you
    to cover the challahs?" The poor woman, recognizing her distinguished
    guest, hurried to cover the challahs with tears in her eyes. When
    the baker asked Rabbi Yisroel to do the honors by reciting the
    Kiddush, the Rabbi first asked him, "Can you tell me why we cover
    the challahs?"

    "Of course," replied the baker. "Every child knows the answer. When
    there are many different foods on the table, the first blessing is
    always made over the bread, after which no other blessing need be
    made. On Friday night, however, the first blessing has to be made
    over the wine. In order not to shame the challah, who expects the
    blessing to be made over her, we must cover her over until after
    the sanctification of the wine."

    Rabbi Yisroel looked at the baker incredulously. "Why do your ears
    not hear what your mouth is saying?" he asked. "Do you think that
    our Jewish tradition does not understand that a piece of dough has
    no feelings and would never become embarrassed? Understand that our
    laws are trying to sensitize us to the feelings of human beings,
    our friends, our neighbors, and especially our wives!"

And another relevent story, told by R' Frand, that I found while looking
for that one:

    The custom is to cover the challos when making kiddush. As the
    blessing over bread normally precedes that of wine it is a somewhat
    an metaphorical embarrassment to the bread thus it is covered during
    the kiddush.

    The student, who was embarrassed at the state of affairs, called out
    to his wife in a somewhat demeaning manner. "Please let us prepare
    the table in its entirety." Turning to his mentor, he exclaimed,
    "I'm sure that leaving the bread uncovered was an oversight! Everyone
    knows," he exclaimed shifting his self-inflicted embarrassment upon
    his wife, "that we must cover the challah before the kiddush.

    Reb Mendelovitz was annoyed at the man's self-righteous behavior
    and turned to him. "Over the years, I have heard many problems
    that people faced. Students, couples, and adults from all walks of
    life have entered my office to discuss their personal situations
    with me. Not once did a challah ever enter my office, suffering an
    inferiority complex because it was left uncovered during kiddush!
    Do you know why?

    "Because we are not concerned with the challah! We are concerned
    with making ourselves cognizant of feelings. We worry about challahs
    because the goal is to worry about people. How than can you embarrass
    your wife over not covering the challah when the act of covering is
    supposed to train you in sensitivity?"

Gut Voch!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where
micha at aishdas.org        you are,  or what you are doing,  that makes you
http://www.aishdas.org   happy or unhappy. It's what you think about.
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