Challahs for Shavuot and the 44 Drops of Mercy

Challahs for Shavuot and the 44 Drops of Mercy

The Ari HaKadosh (may his merit protect us) teaches that on Shavuot, we should make an effort to bake two special challahs in honor of the two loaves that were brought to the Temple on this holiday. The Arizal teaches that together with these loaves, 44 drops of Mercy descended into the world. Moshe Rabbeinu received two Torahs at Sinai: the Oral Torah and the Written Torah. Both were transmitted through the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet—44 in all—and together with the Torah, 44 drops of Mercy descended into the world. The gematria of the word challah is 43; when 1 is added as a kollel, it equals 44 (by adding the kollel, we symbolically unite with the Al-mighty through our mitzvah). Therefore, when preparing challahs, we have the kavanot that through these challahs for Shavuot, we will draw these 44 drops of Rahamim into our home, attracting abundance from the Al-mighty. Additionally, 44 is the gematria of the words אב אם (father and mother), where «אב» represents Chochmah (wisdom), and «אם» represents Binah (understanding). The Torah is called both Wisdom and Understanding—these two challahs symbolize the two Tablets, which correspond to Wisdom and Understanding. For this holiday, challahs are prepared in the shapes of the Tablets, a Ladder, Ears of Grain, and a Harp (in honor of David HaMelech).

Challahs for Shavuot

Torah from Aleph to Tav A ladder with 7 rungs  The 50th rung David's Harp Ears of Wheat Shoshannim for Shavuot  30 Rare Segulot of Hafrashat Challah 30 Rare Segulot of Hafrashat Challah How the Al-mighty Separated Challah How G-d Separated Challah, or the Spiritual Alchemy of Hafrashat Challah Kavanot for Hafrashat Challah Kavanot Hafrashat Challah     (Challahs from a personal archive; text based on a lesson by Rabbi Alexander Tzvi Sypkov)