Q&A: Separating Challah for the Poor
Separating Challah for the Poor
Question
Someone told me that in his parents’ home they separate challah, bake the separated piece in the oven, and give it to their poor neighbors.
This is a traditional family.
First, is there a need to step in and point this out?
Second, is this considered that the person who separated it ate properly corrected dough, while feeding challah to a poor person (if we ignore absorption in the oven from the challah into the other loaves), or did both he and the poor person eat untithed produce?
I thought that if a person gives challah to a poor person, that is a sign that he does not understand what challah is, and even though he separates it with the customary blessing and formula, the separation is invalid and everything remains untithed produce. What do you think?
Answer
I’m not sure I understood. They baked the separated challah in the oven and gave it to the poor?
If so, I think he himself did not eat untithed produce. He separated it with the intention of doing what Jewish law requires, except that he himself did not know what Jewish law actually says. The poor person, of course, ate challah.
But what you wrote is not far-fetched. An interesting question. As a practical ruling, that is how it seems to me.