| The Tree of Life Shtender: The Challah Board And Knife
“When God cursed the earth and made it sprout forth weeds and thorns, tears flowed from Adam's eyes; but when God said that by his sweat he could have bread to eat, he was comforted.â€
– Eruvin 118A
“Bread is a reflection of the Torah.â€
– Bereishith Raba 15
The Challah Board is decorated with carvings of wheat plants flanking the cutting surface. A knife, the handle of which is also carved in the wheat motif, is stored within the board, and within the handle of the knife is a removable salt shaker to provide salt for dipping the challah.
Shabbat and festival meals begin with Kiddush, followed by the ritual washing of the hands, after which the blessing is recited over two loaves of bread: “Blessed are You, HaShem, our God, King of the Universe, who brings bread out of the earth.â€
This blessing is perhaps perplexing. By comparison, the blessings for fruits “…Who creates the fruit of the tree,†– or for vegetables – “…Who creates the fruit of the ground,†are more immediately comprehensible. When we hold an apple or carrot in our hands before biting into them, they are exactly as they were when they came off the branch or were uprooted from the soil. The origin of such food seems indeed to be a miracle springing directly from God. Our gratitude for this kind of food seems as natural as the food itself.
What a difference, though, between full sheaves of wheat blowing in the wind, and the rich brown loaves we now hold in our hands. Virtually everything about bread seems to point, not to Divine creation, but to human accomplishment. The human effort required to put this bread on our table is tremendous and multifaceted: plowing, sowing, tending, reaping, gathering the sheaves, thrashing, winnowing, cleansing, grinding, sifting, kneading, and baking! Indeed, these very actions represent over one quarter of the primary kinds of activity which the Torah defines as creative human actions – specifically the 39 melachot (tasks) forbidden on the Sabbath.
It is a simple matter to be filled with wonder and thank God when we look at an absolutely exquisite, perfect fruit; it is perhaps more difficult to sense the Divine contribution in a 10-year Shtender project. Yet it is just this sense that our sages seem to be attempting to instill in us when we hold the bread in our hands and bless God as if we had plucked this loaf directly out of the soil of the field.
Without the raw material itself provided by the Creator, and the inspiration with which He blesses us, grains of wheat would never become fragrant and sustaining loaves of bread, nor would fine wood and silver be transformed into the Tree of Life Shtender.
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