Challah (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: חלה, literally "Loaf") is the ninth tractate of ''

Seder Zeraim Seder Zeraim ( he, סדר זרעים, Seder Zra'im, lit. "Order of Seeds") is the first of the six orders, or major divisions, of the Mishnah, Tosefta, and the Talmud, and, apart from the first tractate which concerns the rules for prayers and bles ...

'' ("Order of Seeds"). It discusses the laws of the

dough offering In Judaism, the dough offering (or ''mitzvat terumat challah'', "commandment of separating ''challah''" he, מצוות תרומת חלה) is a positive commandment requiring the owner of a bread dough to give a part of the kneaded dough to a koh ...

, known in Hebrew as ''challah''. Like most of the tractates in Zeraim, it appears only in the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Tor ...

, and does not appear in the

Babylonian Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cent ...

, but rather in the

Talmud Yerushalmi The Jerusalem Talmud ( he, תַּלְמוּד יְרוּשַׁלְמִי, translit=Talmud Yerushalmi, often for short), also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century ...

and

Tosefta The Tosefta ( Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: תוספתא "supplement, addition") is a compilation of the Jewish oral law from the late 2nd century, the period of the Mishnah. Overview In many ways, the Tosefta acts as a supplement to the Mishnah ( ...

only.

The location of the tractate in Seder Zera'im

According to

Maimonides Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...

' introduction to the Mishnah, the tractate of Challah is arranged after the tractate of

Ma'aser Sheni The second tithe ( Hebrew: ''ma'aser sheni'' מעשר שני) is a tithe mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and practised within Orthodox Judaism. It is distinguished from the first tithe (Hebrew: ''ma'aser rishon'' מעשר ראשון), the third ...

, "because after we take out all of these gifts – which are '

terumah A ''terumah'' ( he, תְּרוּמָה) or heave offering is a type of sacrifice in Judaism. The word is generally used for an offering to God, although it is also sometimes used as in ''ish teramot'', a "judge who loves gifts". The word ''teru ...

' and

maaser rishon The first tithe (Hebrew: ''ma'aser rishon'' מעשר ראשון) is a positive commandment in the Torah requiring the giving of one tenth of agricultural produce to charity, after the giving of the standard '' terumah,'' to the Levite (or Kohen). ...

and aasersheni – then we grind it and make it into flour and knead it, and then we become obligated in 'challah.'".Maimonides' introduction to the Mishnah, part 15:25
/ref>

There are 38 mishnayot in Hallah. They are divided into four chapters as follows: # חֲמִשָּׁה דְּבָרִים Five species (Nine mishnayot) - what dough is required for Challah # פֵּרוֹת Produce (Eight mishnayot) - How to separate the challah. # אוֹכְלִין One may snack (ten mishnayot) - Laws of embezzlement of challah # שְׁתֵּי נָשִׁים Two women - (eleven mishnayos) - the combination of doughs, and the laws of giving to a priest.

Commentaries on the tractate

Unlike other tractates in the order of Zeraim, a number of essays were written on the tractate Challah. This is due to the fact that the

mitzvah In its primary meaning, the Hebrew word (; he, מִצְוָה, ''mīṣvā'' , plural ''mīṣvōt'' ; "commandment") refers to a commandment commanded by God to be performed as a religious duty. Jewish law () in large part consists of discus ...

is also practiced outside of Israel and during

exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

. In addition to the commentaries on the Mishnah and the Yerushalmi and the

Rambam Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah s ...

's rulings, the

Ramban Ramban can refer to: * Nachmanides (1194 – ), Catalan rabbi and philosopher also known as RaMBaN * Cave of the Ramban in Jerusalem * Ramban, Jammu and Kashmir, a town in India ** Ramban district, an administrative unit in India ** Ramban (Vid ...

wrote

Halachot ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...

(like the rulings of the Rif for the rest of the tractates), followed by Rashba and

Rosh Rosh ( he, ראש, , link=no, "head" or "leader") may refer to: *Rosh (biblical figure), a minor Biblical figure, mentioned in the Book of Genesis and possibly a nation listed in Ezekiel *"The Rosh", Rabbi Asher ben Jehiel (1250–1328) a prominent ...

. A special place is given the

Maharit Algazi Yom Tov Algazi (known as the Maharit Algazi; 1727, Izmir – 1802, Jerusalem), the son of Israel Yaakov Algazi, was an Ottoman rabbi who studied under Rabbi Shalom Sharabi and authored major halakhic works. He succeeded Sharabi as head of Beit El ...

's commentary on the Hilchot Challah of the Ramban. In addition, the

Poskim In Jewish law, a ''Posek'' ( he, פוסק , pl. ''poskim'', ) is a legal scholar who determines the position of ''halakha'', the Jewish religious laws derived from the written and Oral Torah in cases of Jewish law where previous authorities a ...

such as the '' Tur'' and the ''

Shulchan Aruch The ''Shulchan Aruch'' ( he, שֻׁלְחָן עָרוּך , literally: "Set Table"), sometimes dubbed in English as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Judaism. It was authored in Safed (today in ...

'' and their commentators have written about Hilchot Challah in

Yoreh De'ah Yoreh De'ah ( he, יורה דעה) is a section of Rabbi Jacob ben Asher's compilation of halakha (Jewish law), Arba'ah Turim around 1300. This section treats all aspects of Jewish law not pertinent to the Hebrew calendar, finance, torts, marriage, ...

External links

Full text of the Mishnah for tractate Challah
on

Sefaria Sefaria is an online open source, free content, digital library of Jewish texts. It was founded in 2011 by former Google project manager Brett Lockspeiser and journalist-author Joshua Foer. Calling itself "a living library of Jewish texts", Sefa ...

(Hebrew and English)

Notes

References

Challah Land of Israel laws in Judaism Positive Mitzvoth {{judaism-book-stub

The location of the tractate in Seder Zera'im

Contents

Commentaries on the tractate

See also

External links

Notes

References