Illustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Halakhah הֲלָכָה
Why do some people salt their חַלָּה (hallah) on Shabbat?
The source for this custom is in our parashah, where we learn that all מִנְחָה (minhah) offerings were brought on the מִזְבֵּחַ (mizbei’ah, altar) with salt (Vayikra 2:13).
The Talmud says that our dining room tables are similar to the mizbei’ah in the בֵּית הַמִּקְדָשׁ (Beit Ha-Mikdash, Temple in Jerusalem):
בִּזְמַן שֶׁבֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ קַיָּים מִזְבֵּחַ מְכַפֵּר עַל אָדָם.
עַכְשָׁיו שֻׁלְחָנוֹ שֶׁל אָדָם מְכַפֵּר עָלָיו.
When the Temple was standing, the mizbei’ah helped a person get forgiveness from God; now that the Temple has been destroyed, a person’s table provides that forgiveness.
Because of this table-mizbei’ah connection, the Rema writes that we should dip our bread in salt, to make our meals more like the korban minhah on the mizbei’ah (Orah Hayyim 167:5). In fact, there may not be a special reason to do this only on Shabbat—the salting requirement could apply any time we are eating bread!
Some people take this comparison between the mizbei’ah and the dining room table even further. For example, the Shulhan Arukh (Orah Hayyim 180:5) writes that you should cover the knives on your table before בִּרְכַּת הַמָּזוֹן (Birkat Ha-Mazon, Grace after Meals). One explanation for this practice is that we want to make our tables more like a mizbei’ah, where metal was not allowed.
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