Question: Why do we cover the challah when we make Kiddush? Why don’t we cover any other foods on the table?
Zelig Aronson
Answer: The practice you mention is cited by the Mechaber (Orach Chayim 271:9), who writes: “We are required to have a cloth on the table under the bread and another cloth spread over it.”
The Tur (ibid.) notes: When one sits down to eat, there should be a cloth spread over the bread, as a baraita (Pesachim 100b) teaches us: “One must not bring in the table [on which one eats] unless one has recited Kiddush; but if the table was brought in, one spreads a cloth over it, and then Kiddush is recited.”
The Tur explains that although we are required to prepare the table while it is still day, the table should be prepared and set somewhere else and only be brought in after Kiddush has been recited. That way, it will be evident that the table is being brought in in honor of Shabbos. If the table was brought in before Kiddush, however, we spread a cloth over the challah to hide it.
The Tur refers to a commentary of Tosafot on Tractate Shabbos 119b to the effect that this rule (of bringing in the set table after Kiddush) only applied in the time of the Mishnaic sages. In those days it was customary to have separate individual tables for each person and bringing in the tables was easy and did not cause an interruption. But now that our tables are large, writes the Tur, bringing them in after Kiddush would constitute an effort great enough to constitute an interruption between Kiddush and the meal.
The baraita the Tur quotes is somewhat vague as to what should be covered. But the Tur’s opening statement as well as the Rashbam’s commentary on Tractate Pesachim clearly indicate that it is only the challah that has to be covered.
Nonetheless, the Tur was evidently bothered by the vagueness of the description of what is required to be covered, for he continues: It is stated in the Jerusalem Talmud that the challah is covered so that it should not feel embarrassed, for according to the verse describing the bounty of the Land of Israel – “A land of wheat, barley, grape, fig and pomegranate; a land of oil-olives and date-honey” (Devarim 8:8) – it is the bread that should take precedence in the order of the blessings.
This passage in the Jerusalem Talmud is mentioned by the Rosh, the Tur’s father, in his commentary on Pesachim (loc. cit.), and the Tur is obviously quoting him. The Korban Netanel (Rosh ad loc.), however, remarks that he could not locate this passage – and neither were we.
The Mordechai (ad loc.) quotes “Rabbi Avraham” (probably his teacher) to the effect that one should make a blessing over the challah first if it was left uncovered in accordance with the ruling in Tractate Berachot (41a), attributed to R. Yosef (some say R. Yitzhak), that the order in which the products of the Land of Israel are mentioned in Devarim 8:8 determines the precedence of blessings.
The Tur offers an additional reason for covering the challah on the Shabbos table: We do so as a remembrance of the manna in the desert, which the Children of Israel found on the ground between two layers of protective dew. (Our bottom layer is the challah tray.)
The Aruch Hashulchan (O.C. 271:22) writes that according to the first explanation, we should be able to uncover the challah as soon as Kiddush is over. But the second explanation requires us to keep the challah covered until we say Hamotzi as a remembrance of the manna that was wrapped in layers of dew. Keeping the challah covered until that point is the common custom, writes the Aruch Hashulchan.
Tractate Pesachim (106b) notes that Rav would, on occasion, choose to make Kiddush over bread. (The Rashbam explains that when Rav was hungry he would wash his hands and make Kiddush over bread so that he would be able to eat forthwith; Rashi’s commentary, as found in the Vilna Shas, states that when he was thirsty he would recite Kiddush over wine.) Only bread can be substituted for wine in making Kiddush. Shemot 20:8 states: “Zachor et yom haShabbat lekadsho – Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it.” Tosafot (Pesachim ibid. s.v. “Zochrehu al HaYayin”) explains that we deduce the primacy of wine for Kiddush from Hoshea 14:8: “Zichro ke’yeyn Levanon – Its memory shall be like the wine of Lebanon.”
Years ago I heard the following story. The Chasam Sofer once traveled to Baden Baden in Germany for its famous mineral baths and requested of the inn management where he was staying that he have complete privacy, even when dining. By chance, as he was having his Shabbos meal, someone peeked through a glass door and saw him making Kiddush on challah. To the Chasam Sofer’s consternation, word soon spread that the Chasam Sofer makes Kiddush on challah.
The Chasam Sofer was very upset, as he did not want anyone to interpret his personal behavior as an official halachic ruling. And, in fact, he probably made Kiddush on challah since he was traveling and did not bring along wine and didn’t want to use anyone else’s wine. And we learned above (Pesachim 106b) that Rav (see Rema, Orach Chayyim 272:9 and Magen Avraham ad loc sk9; see also the Tur ad loc. and Beit Yosef in his longer commentary to the Tur) would sometimes make Kiddush on challah.
As to why we only cover the challah, and not any other food on the table, when making Kiddush: R. Papa states (Berachot 41b) that foods which form an integral part of the meal require no separate blessing, either before or after, if they are consumed during the course of the meal since the blessing recited over bread includes all other foods eaten at that meal (see Tosafot s.v. “Hilchata”). Therefore, only the challah has to be covered during Kiddush because bread and wine are the two main food items on the table in the course of a meal.