General Overview
Structure and Organization
Summary of Legal Topics, Technical Terms, and Concepts
Relationship to Biblical Law
Hallah is the part of the dough that is separated and given to the priests. It is referred to in Numbers 15: 18-21:
When you enter the land to which I am taking you and you eat of the bread of the land, you shall set aside some as a gift to the Lord, as the first yield of your baking. You shall set aside a loaf as a gift; you shall set it aside as a gift like the gift from the threshing floor. You shall make a gift to the Lord from the first yield of your baking, throughout the ages.
Nehemiah 10:38 and Ezekiel 44:30 describe this gift was given to the priests, and the rabbinic halakhah follows this assumption.
According to the rabbis, “the first yield of your baking” means that you should give this gift, called hallah, from the dough before it is baked, at the time when it is being kneaded in the kneading trough. However, they also held that if one did not separate hallah while the dough was being kneaded, he could still do so later after the bread was already baked.
Tractate Hallah will deal with issues such as: from what types of grain must hallah be separated? How much hallah must be given? Does one have to give hallah from even small quantities of baked bread? These and other issues will be dealt with throughout this short tractate.