By Challah baking expert Rochie Pinson
Pesach is over, the Pesach stuff is packed up (or if you traveled, then unpacked… )
We are firmly back in real time, and the house smells of Challah again.
And this week it’s not just any challah, it’s Shlissel Challah!
Jewish women of yore would bake a key-shaped challah (or a key baked into the challah – take your pick!) on the Shabbos following Pesach.
Every year, as the “challah lady,” I start getting questions about this minhag as soon as Pesach is over! “Is this a real thing?” “Is this ok to do?” “Where did this minhag come from?”
So, I figured I’ll clear up some of the questions by writing this up for you! (PS: all this information and more are also in my book/cookbook “Rising: The Book of Challah.”)
First of all, you may be surprised to hear that indeed this is a very authentic minhag yisrael.
Students of the Maggid already spoke of shlissel challah as an “ancient tradition”, and offered numerous interpretations for this fascinating minhag.
After 40 years in the midbar, the Jewish people continued to eat the “mon” until the first Pesach in Eretz Yisrael. They brought the Omer offering on the second day of pesach and from that day on, they no longer ate Mon, but food that had grown in Eretz Yisrael. Since this time of year is when they began to concern themselves over their sustenance rather than having it fall from the sky each morning, they key on the challah reminds us to still look upward and remember the Source of all sustenance, and daven that the gates of Parnasa should be opened up to us.
The Meiri says that while on Rosh Hashanah it is decided whether one will live or not, live in peace or suffer (ch”v), etc, on Pesach we are judged in regards to the grains.
That means that these are the days in which it is decided how abundant our parnasah (ie; livelihood… dough;) will be this coming year.
There are many traditions that have developed to correspond with this idea.
In Syria and Turkey the women would sprinkle grains around the corners of their home at the closing of Passover, the Jews of Morocco celebrate “Mimouna” on Motzei Pesach, and in Eastern Europe, the women would bake keys into their challah.
Whatever your particular minhag, or however you choose to “key” your challah- there is nothing like challah to reconnect us to the awareness that as hard as we work to bring in the ‘dough’… “lo al halechem l’vado yichyeh ha’adam” “man does not live on bread alone” – Ki al kol Motzei pi Hashem, yichyeh ha’adam.”
The ultimate sustenance is always a blessing from the Eibershter, and we ask Him that the gates of “oitzarcha hatov- Your treasure house of goodness,” should be opened wide to all of us in the most beautiful way possible.
—
VIDEO:
Why are we copying minhogim of Peylishe Chasidim?
Let us be proud in our own mesorah and not feel compelled to copy others.
Is it a minhag to davka not do something which isn’t an official minhag Chabad? There are specific instances when it clearly says not to do something often seen by others (e.g. sprinkle the wine during dam tzfardeia etc. instead of pouring from the cup which is our minhag). But generally, we don’t need to bash a minhag just because it hasn’t been “canonized” in Chabad. The minhag of areinfirenish isn’t rooted in Chabad and yet Chabad is very makpid in doing this. Regarding segulos. In Chabad we are careful around segulos because there is a risk in people believing… Read more »
Bs’d As this is not a Lubavitcher minhag, why is it being promoted here? A gutten Shabbos
Rochie Pinson Rocks!!
Rav Avraham Yehoshua Heshel of Apt zt”l, known as the Apter Rebbe or Apter Rav (1748-1825) is the author of the Ohaiv Yisroel. In his Likkutim al HaTorah ( Pesach) he explains that during the entire Yom Tov of Pesach, the Tefilos of Klal Yisroel achieved entry into the gates of Heaven. But slowly, they closed. It is now time to re-open them. But how? How do we re-open the gates of Shmayaim so that our prayers can once again receive entry? What is the key? He answers that the key is through the merit of Shabbos observance. This, according… Read more »
Lerning Chitas and daily Rambam is the key for Parnasa and all good things. as Lubavitchers we dont look for Segulos …
There is no minhag to make a challah in the shape of a key.
The minhag is to make a regular challah and place a key inside the challah
A challah should stay the shape of a challah
Is Shlishel challa a chabad minhag that is done today ?
It is if enough people who identify as chabad do it
Rabbi Mendel Lipsker a rov in LA has a voicenote that he said can be fowarded that “its not a chabad segula, if you want to do it do it but it doesnt have to be public and dont make yourself crazy over it”
and that would be applicable to any segula
This is not our מנהג
It was a Chabad minhag to put a key in the challah not to make a challah in the shape of a key
Look up tammi minhagim it’s in there
Just because people didn’t hear about it for the last 50 years does not mean it was not a Chabad minhag.
Taamei Haminhogim is a work of Peylishe minhogim, not a work of Minhogei Chabad.
Talking about keys, the key question here is, did the Rebbe or Rebbetzin ever mention it, even once, let alone practice it?
We now have completed the yearly custom of arguing if this is a Chabad minhag or not.
It isn’t but we shouldn’t belittle a minhag of other hidden (some who might have brought it with them from other groups too). So enjoy if it is your custom!
in ספר המנהגים it says it’s not our minhag !!!
Meaning we don’t do it !!
Sefer Haminhagim doesn’t mention ANYTHING about Shlisel Challah.
why do people care if people make a challah in a shape. “we” only do everything we do if it’s an official minhag established by a rebbe? This is harmless and creative. B U T – to believe shaping a challah, or putting a key in a challah will actually cause money to grow on your tree, or expending more energy in the challah than traditional work and employment and money creation, is not a chabad or jewish belief or human logic.
Learning Rambam and Chitas is a segulah for Parnassa and many many brochos