The Blessing of Bread  

T

he smell ushers in Shabbos Kodesh each week. The taste is Shabbos delight. Kneading, braiding, topping, the hands of Jewish women usher in the sanctity of Shabbos through baking challah. In addition to our own tables, we welcome the mitzvah of taking challah with parties, events, join-for-zechus endeavors, and more. This mitzvah has been passed through our mothers and grandmothers in a chain going back to Sarah Imeinu.

In this week’s parshah, the world mourns along with Avraham after the loss of Sarah Imeinu. While he struggles to bury her with dignity, Avraham is also left to assume the responsibility of marrying off their son, Yitzchak. When Rivkah is brought into his mother’s tent, Yitzchak is comforted, as the pasuk states (Bereishis 24:67): “Vaye’ehaveha, vayinacheim Yitzchak acharei imo — And he loved her, and Yitzchak was comforted over [the loss of] his mother.”

Rashi explains why Yitzchak was comforted when Rivkah entered the tent. He quotes the midrash: “As long Sarah was alive, the candles were lit from Erev Shabbos to Erev Shabbos, there was brachah in her dough, and a cloud hovered over her tent. When Sarah died, these miracles dissipated, and when Rivka entered the tent, they returned (Bereishis Rabbah 60:16).

Of the three miracles (the brachah in the candles, dough, and cloud), the brachah b’isah, blessing in the dough, is clearly the most material and practical. In his commentary on the parshah, Rav Pincus explains that the brachah in the dough of our Imahos is an inherent satisfaction in the material status of her home. In the perfect homes of our Imahos, nothing was extraneous; everything they had was utilized to its ultimate enjoyment and purpose. Can we even imagine a home where there is no waste and everything that is there is consumed to perfection? No clothing worn sometimes or never, no food rotting in the back of the fridge that we forgot about.