By Rabbi Yosef Pinkus
Dear Rabbi,
Why do we have two loaves of challah bread at Shabbat meals? What if I am only having a meal by myself — do I still need two?
—Judy
To give the proper context behind this traditional custom, we need to go back to the verses in Exodus that detail the story of the manna. The Jews are traveling, and their supply of food they brought from Egypt dwindles. They are hungry, and as happens when people get hungry, they start to complain. They say, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots of meat, when we ate bread to our fill! For you have brought us out into this desert, to starve this entire congregation to death.” In response, G-d assures the people that they will be taken care of, and that they need to work on trusting G-d. “Behold! I am going to rain down for you bread from heaven, and the people shall go out and gather what is needed for the day, so that I can test them, whether or not they will follow My teaching.” The idea behind providing manna daily, instead of other possible permutations of the miracle, was to encourage trust in G-d.
Generally, the manna fell daily. But Fridays were different. “And it shall be on the sixth day that when they prepare what they will bring, it will be double of what they gather every day.”
One of these portions was for Friday’s sustenance and the other was for Shabbat. The Talmud (Shabbat 117a) writes that in commemoration of the beneficence that G-d provided via miraculous means in the desert, “one must cut two loaves of bread, since it says in the Torah that ‘lechem mishneh’ — a double portion — fell for Shabbat.” The halachic conclusion of the Talmud’s discussion is that one need not cut both loaves, but simply make the blessing over two loaves. So, for your second question, you can save the second whole loaf for a later time. The double portion here should continuously remind us not just of the miracle from so long ago, but also of the beneficence that G-d provides daily to each and every one of us. Our challah may not have literally fallen from the heavens, but the meal before us is similarly attributable to G-d having granted it to us.
When assessing the traditions of Shabbat, we find an interesting theme emerge. It is not just the bread that is doubled. Whatever occurred during the week is doubled. The daily sacrifice during the week was one animal. On Shabbat, there were two. Each day there is a special prayer said for that specific day, and on Shabbat there are two. And most famously, when the laws of Shabbat are taught to us, there are two specific phrases used: Zachor — to remember — and shamor — to guard. Typically there would only be one. The Spanish medieval halachist and commentator Rashba (Responsa 7:530) suggests, based on these, that this idea of doubling is intrinsic to the day. This doubling drives home the importance of the Sabbath to us. He further brings this as an additional source for the idea of lechem mishneh, as well as the common custom of lighting two Shabbat candles (technically, one is sufficient, but in the spirit of Shabbat as a day of doubling, two are traditionally lit).
Rabbi Yosef Pinkus is a rabbi in the Dallas Community Kollel, a division of the Dallas Area Torah Association. Submit your questions to him at asktherabbi@tjpnews.com.