The Mitzvah of Hafrashat Challah

Today, I had the opportunity to participate in a great mitzvah, one that has turned out to be more meaningful than I had expected. A friend of a cousin of a friend (did you follow that?) has been trying unsuccessfully to conceive. It has recently become common in Jewish communities for forty or more women to devote their prayers, while performing the mitzvah of hafrashat challah, the separating of or taking of the challah, to a person in need. In particular, this practice is often done to help a couple trying to conceive. A couple of weeks ago, this woman (the friend of a cousin of a friend), put the call out and the request reached me.

There is more to this mitzvah than meets the eye. Of course, there are many of us who make challah regularly – especially in Seattle where the kosher challah choices are limited. However, in order to perform the mitzvah, one must use a prescribed amount of flour – that amount makes A LOT of challah. The dough is formed and left to rise. Before shaping the dough into the braided loaves, prayers are recited; a small piece of dough is removed and then it is burned.

What is so remarkable about this experience is the connection that it creates. It is amazing enough to think that around the world, many others are following the same practice, making challah for Shabbat, reciting the same words of prayer, performing the same mitzvah, for the same or similar reasons. It is even more incredible to think, that in this case, 50 other women around the world, in the past 24 hours, have been thinking about and praying for one couple to conceive. I am so grateful to have been part of that chain.