In
this issue, we bring you some of the sparks of divine life that exist
in the "stuff of bread." The season of Shavuot, the time of the wheat
harvest, is certainly an appropriate time to do so. We learn about the
bread of display (lehem ha-panim), an
ancient Israelite sacrificial offering, and about the desert
manna,
miraculous any way you understand it. We then look at a later, rabbinic
commandment to separate out a small portion of dough of the bread we bake,
in commemoration of the priestly tithe, and Dr. Chava Weissler
introduces
us to a neglected literary genre related to this ancient ritual. And
the
rabbis of the Talmud tell us the advantages
in eating bread, and how it best be eaten.
Rabbi Abraham Millgram discusses the historical evolution of the
Grace
after Meals. Martin Buber brings us several
Hasidic
tales whose message is transmitted through the symbol of bread. An
Afghanistani Jewish folktale,
"The King's Loaves,"
teaches a lesson about sharing and appreciation. We discover spiritual
implications in a most mundane situation, a man ordering bread in a restaurant,
in Nobel Laureate S.Y. Agnon's short story,
"A Whole
Loaf."
And finally,
Dr. Lowin's analysis of the Hebrew
rootword
l-h-m finds a fascinating connection between bread, war
and welding.
Bon appetit.