Hafrashas Challah party or gathering - halachic problems?

Jay3fer

Thu, Sep 03 2015, 5:10 am

Is there a correct way for a group of ladies to get together and take challah together?

I was planning a challah workshop before Rosh Hashanah but someone mentioned that most she's heard of are actually not done correctly.

She said you can't make a bracha unless you not only have the minimum shiur but also that all the challah is going to be baked in one place. In other words, you cannot have a group of women over, make dough, take challah with a bracha, and then send everybody home with the dough.

This is the way it's done in many places, but she says it's not correct.

The Star-K website seems to agree:
"To recite a bracha there must be a shiur obligated in challah used for one family. For example, If one baked using 10 lbs of flour and 5 lbs are for one family and the other 5 lbs are for distribution one would recite a bracha as the 5 lbs for the one family is enough to obligate one in hafrashas challah."

Our family absolutely can't eat that much challah! We're in Israel and have a tiny oven and freezer, so there's no hope that we could possibly consume it all. How do people make hafrashas challah events and parties properly if they're not going to be able to eat so much challah?

Also, while I'm asking about challah, how much do you take for the piece you separate? :-)

Any guidance appreciated! :-)

cbsp

Thu, Sep 03 2015, 8:56 pm

I was told to separate less than a k'zayis. When we are once again giving Challah to a kohein then we'd separate a larger portion, but since it's being burned and discarded then there's no reason to waste a bigger piece.

The same Rov also said the dough has to be going to the same purpose in order to be mafrish. In other words, I can bake the whole batch as challah and freeze it but I can't take some of the dough for cinnamon buns and monkey bread and still expect to be mafrish unless I'm left with >5lbs going towards a single purpose.

Hope this helps...