Schlissel Challa
Question
what is the Schlissel challah ?
Answer
There is a
widespread custom to prepare a “schlissel challa” --“key challah” -- on the
Shabbat following Pesach. The earliest source for this custom seems to be from
the work “Ohev Yisrael” by Rav Avraham Yehoshua Heshel (1748-1825), known as
the “Apter Rav.” (1)
He calls the custom of
preparing a schlissel challah after Pesach "an ancient custom" and offers
several interpretations for it. The most popular interpretation is that the
Jewish people ate manna until the second day of Passover, after entering the
Land of Israel. From then on, the people were responsible for their own
parnassa
,
and to support themselves. As such, a key is baked with the challa, which
represents the manna, as our wish that God open the “gates of
parnassa
.”
Closely related to this idea is the custom of Syrian and Turkish Jews to put
wheat kernels in the corners of the house after Pesach as a
segula
for prosperity.(2)
Another explanation for the schlissel challa is that the gates of heaven are opened on Pesach and once again closed after Pesach. The key represents our desire to unlock these gates and keep them open all year long. There is also the explanation that the custom is based on the verse “Open up, my darling…”(3) which the Midrash explains to mean “Open your hearts in repentance as little as the eye of a needle, and I will open them fully.” The key represents our desire for God to open our hearts. Furthermore, as we have seen, both the key and the manna represent livelihood. The manna began to fall from heaven in the month of Iyar, and the Shabbat after Pesach is when we bless the upcoming month of Iyar. Hence, the schlissel challa after Pesach combines the idea of manna, unlocking the gates of parnassa, and the month of Iyar in one!
Finally, the matza that we eat on Pesach is said to instill within us “Yirat Shamayim,” fear of Heaven. Yirat Shamayim is compared to a key, as the Talmud says, “Rabba bar Rav Huna said: Any person that has Torah but doesn’t have Yirat Shamayim is comparable to a treasurer who has the keys to the inner treasury, but not the outer one. What good is a key to the inner area if one can’t get into the outer area?” Based on this, we bake a schlissel challa after Pesach to show that we want to have both Torah and Yirat Shamayim. There are other reasons for the custom, as well.
There are a number of ways in which the schlissel challa custom is practiced. Some bake the challah with a key inside of it or with a key on top of it. Some form the challa into the shape of a key, some emboss the image of a key, using a real key, into challa dough before it is baked, and some simply make a topping on the challa in the shape of a key, such as with sesame seeds, and the like. There are other variations of the custom, as well.
Source
[1] Ohev Yisrael, Likutim p. 109. It is also cited, with different interpretations in Taamei Haminhagim 596, 597; Imrei Pinchas, Shabbat U’moadim 298; Ginzei Yisrael (Chortkov), Pesach 662:177; Ahavat Yisrael (Viznitz), Shemini 87; Ateret Yeshua p. 53; Rav Tuv, Inyanei Shabbat Shechal Achar Pesach.
[2] Mo’ed Lekol Chai, Beit Habechira.
[3] Shir Hashirim 5:2.