Shalom!
Questions in regards to shabbat bread.
1)I baked a bread for shabbat, but challa is not separated (just 8 cups of flour used). Can I serve a bread for bracha when challa is not separated?
2)Can i use for bracha not whole bread (for example- 2 slices of bread?)
3)If I served 2 breads for Friday night,can I use leftovers for the kiddush on the next day? Or this is a must to serve Friday night 2 whole breads and the next day 2 whole breads?
Tnx, Shabbat Shalom
Answer:
1) I don’t know what size cups you used. If the amount was more than 2 2/3 pounds of flour, then challah must be separated from the dough. If challah was not separated, outside of Israel the challah can be eaten on Shabbos where there is a need for it, but some must be left as a separation for after Shabbos.
2) For the berachah on Shabbos one should use specifically whole breads (Orach Chaim 274:1).
An interesting opinion, however, is the ruling of the Netziv in Shut Meishiv Davar (no. 21). The Netziv was asked to justify the custom of his grandfather, Rav ‘Itzaleh of Volozin, who used to give two pieces of challah to latecomers at the meal, rather than give them whole loaves. How was the mitzvah fulfilled with slices or pieces of bread?
The Netziv explains that the mitzvah can, in fact, be fulfilled with slices of bread, provided that they were not sliced or cut in front of the person making the berachah. ‘Wholeness,’ according to the Netziv, is a relative virtue: If I receive a sliced of bread, the slice is considered ‘whole’ until it is cut further.
Other poskim (see Shut Harerei Kedem Vol. 2, no. 89) have not accepted the chiddush of the Netziv, and it should not generally be relied on. Yet, the Minchas Yitzchak (Vol. 3, no. 13) writes that somebody making Kiddush on cake can rely on this ruling, in reciting the berachah over two slices of cake.
Certainly, where there is no whole loaf available, one may and must fulfill the mitzvah with two slices of challah (Aruch Ha-Shulchan 274:5)
3) Two whole loaves should be used for every meal.
