This is why I'm opposed to segulot generally. Likewise, to any attempt to turn mitzvot into transactions, "Do mitzvah X for reward Y," or, more subtly (and probably more controversially), the idea that you can say, "May my zechut from this mitzvah go to person X" (which I don't think actually "works," but even if it did, I would be opposed). We don't get to make those decisions and should not be seeing our relationship with HaShem that way.
So the practice is like the apple-in-honey and other foods on Rosh haShanah night. The Apter Rebbe said similarly in the earliest documentation of the custom.
Thus the problem is not with shlissel challah but with the attitude that "avodas Hashem" isn't about our service for or worship of the Creator, but about getting Him to serve us.
Queue my usual speach about Will to Give vs Will to Take, which R Dessler described as the essential focal point of free will. There was a shift in the 20th century from wanting to be "egrlicher Yidn" to thinking of ourselves as "frum", which as R Wolbe writes, is the instinct for obtaining personal holiness. This reflects our generation's focus on the Will to Take and how it is poluting even our religiosity.
(Perhaps one could say it would have spread as far as it did without the segulah motive. I suspect the main motivator of the spread might simply be that women baking challah enjoy making a shape as entertainment. Or just the desire for variety in life gives us reason to want another special Shabbos.)
My students were asking me about this. Unfortunately, most of the oppositional voices I’ve encountered have been overly militant on the issue. Thank you for offering a more moderate expression of the same basic message—one that I can (hopefully) share with less risk of backlash.
It would be interesting to see some actual data as to what people really believe about this custom. In lieu of that, I see no reason to make a big deal, or a deal at all, about something so insignificant in the current "big picture".
During our brachot hamazon (blessings after a meal) we refer to the quantity of bread that is commonly available, with thanks. So even when this gift is made into a kind of symbolic reminder, we should gladly accept it and make proper use of it whenever we can! I do, and sometimes find chalot left in plastic bags on the fences of gardens in our local byways. I believe they should be accepted and used too, if it has not gone bad.
A relationship with God is not like a gumball machine: do something and get what you want. I don't know how segulot come to be, but they are, at best, a juvenile view of how Hashem relates with the world.
As I seem to recall, Yeshayahu Leibowitz obm in his writings forcefully expressed very serious, similar concerns about the popular conception that the reason we affix Mezuzot on our doorposts is in order to safeguard the security of our homes.
(The concern there is no doubt even far stronger, since, while s.c. is just a very minor latter-day custom of highly dubious origin, Mezuzah is a mitzvat `aseh de-oraita.)
The idea that Mezuzah protects us is already mentioned in the Gemara in two places, Avoda Zara 11a in the story about Onkelos, and Menachos 33b a statement from Rav Huna. Yeshayahu Leibowitz had some very...interesting opinions about Judaism, to put it mildly.
He was not disputing (or even discussing) the idea, per se, of whether or not a mezuzah can or does afford protection. His point, as I understood it, was that that is not the reason we observe the mitzvah of mezuzah.
Or on the other hand, it’s just really fun once a year to bake bread with a key in it in a key shape. I don’t see the point of taking the fun out of Judaism out of some pure ideology. We know it’s a segulah for parnasa, but we do it because it’s fun and memorable, and after all the michegash of Pesach why not do something a little whimsical with your chametz.
This is the kind of loophole that could be abused in a very serious way. There's such a thing as minhag ta'ut, and this is one of them. It's a clear violation of darkei emori
This is why I'm opposed to segulot generally. Likewise, to any attempt to turn mitzvot into transactions, "Do mitzvah X for reward Y," or, more subtly (and probably more controversially), the idea that you can say, "May my zechut from this mitzvah go to person X" (which I don't think actually "works," but even if it did, I would be opposed). We don't get to make those decisions and should not be seeing our relationship with HaShem that way.
Except that the Torah itself does this. למען ירבו ימיכם וימי בניכם
Rambam would say that's a consequence of living the best possible life (Torah) and not a reward as such.
Source please?
So the practice is like the apple-in-honey and other foods on Rosh haShanah night. The Apter Rebbe said similarly in the earliest documentation of the custom.
Thus the problem is not with shlissel challah but with the attitude that "avodas Hashem" isn't about our service for or worship of the Creator, but about getting Him to serve us.
Queue my usual speach about Will to Give vs Will to Take, which R Dessler described as the essential focal point of free will. There was a shift in the 20th century from wanting to be "egrlicher Yidn" to thinking of ourselves as "frum", which as R Wolbe writes, is the instinct for obtaining personal holiness. This reflects our generation's focus on the Will to Take and how it is poluting even our religiosity.
(Perhaps one could say it would have spread as far as it did without the segulah motive. I suspect the main motivator of the spread might simply be that women baking challah enjoy making a shape as entertainment. Or just the desire for variety in life gives us reason to want another special Shabbos.)
My students were asking me about this. Unfortunately, most of the oppositional voices I’ve encountered have been overly militant on the issue. Thank you for offering a more moderate expression of the same basic message—one that I can (hopefully) share with less risk of backlash.
It would be interesting to see some actual data as to what people really believe about this custom. In lieu of that, I see no reason to make a big deal, or a deal at all, about something so insignificant in the current "big picture".
During our brachot hamazon (blessings after a meal) we refer to the quantity of bread that is commonly available, with thanks. So even when this gift is made into a kind of symbolic reminder, we should gladly accept it and make proper use of it whenever we can! I do, and sometimes find chalot left in plastic bags on the fences of gardens in our local byways. I believe they should be accepted and used too, if it has not gone bad.
A relationship with God is not like a gumball machine: do something and get what you want. I don't know how segulot come to be, but they are, at best, a juvenile view of how Hashem relates with the world.
As I seem to recall, Yeshayahu Leibowitz obm in his writings forcefully expressed very serious, similar concerns about the popular conception that the reason we affix Mezuzot on our doorposts is in order to safeguard the security of our homes.
(The concern there is no doubt even far stronger, since, while s.c. is just a very minor latter-day custom of highly dubious origin, Mezuzah is a mitzvat `aseh de-oraita.)
The idea that Mezuzah protects us is already mentioned in the Gemara in two places, Avoda Zara 11a in the story about Onkelos, and Menachos 33b a statement from Rav Huna. Yeshayahu Leibowitz had some very...interesting opinions about Judaism, to put it mildly.
He was not disputing (or even discussing) the idea, per se, of whether or not a mezuzah can or does afford protection. His point, as I understood it, was that that is not the reason we observe the mitzvah of mezuzah.
Or on the other hand, it’s just really fun once a year to bake bread with a key in it in a key shape. I don’t see the point of taking the fun out of Judaism out of some pure ideology. We know it’s a segulah for parnasa, but we do it because it’s fun and memorable, and after all the michegash of Pesach why not do something a little whimsical with your chametz.
https://www.jewishpress.com/blogs/muqata/shlissel-key-challah-the-loaf-of-idolatry-3/2022/04/29/
Couldn't agree more. Even if the practice isn't full on avodah zarah, it's certainly under the prohibition of darkei emori
This is the kind of loophole that could be abused in a very serious way. There's such a thing as minhag ta'ut, and this is one of them. It's a clear violation of darkei emori