On the Chocolate Trail

Jewish breads transport us to ancient times. Major Jewish ideas about humanity and the Jewish people hinge on biblical bread stories. They define humanity and the Jewish people through bread. The first appears at the beginning of the Bible with the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. When they leave the innocence of paradise, God announces: “By the sweat of your brow shall you get bread to eat.” From then on, in the biblical view, the challenge of getting bread marks the lives of humans.

Later, the book of Exodus recounts Joseph’s success in Egypt through themes of grain, lack of grain, and storage of grain. The Jewish “starter” story traces salvation from slavery to freedom through matzah which is, perhaps, the oldest type of bread in continuous Jewish consumption. Bread was formative: for Adam and Eve transitioning from Eden into human experience as we know it; and, for the Hebrews from Egypt forming into the Jewish people. Today, we still enjoy breads at life transitions and celebrations.

Breads were also essential to daily diets and to sacred occasions. The Bible mentions the Hebrew word for bread, lechem, approximately 300 times. The word signifies food or, more broadly a meal, like when in English we say dough and mean currency for purchasing food. The Bible mentions several techniques, types, shapes, and names of breads. In those days, many meals consist of the simple triad of olives (oil), grapes (wine), and grain (bread). Grains provide significant daily nutrition, about 50 to 70% of a day’s caloric intake.

Some breads uniquely appear at holy times in the sacred sanctuaries of the ancient Tabernacle and in the later Jerusalem Temples, some leavened and some not. Breads also represent abundance and fertility. Kneading bowls for bread making symbolize God’s providence. The Bible privileges two grains in particular, wheat and barley, listing them among the iconic seven species, Shivat Ha Minim, the honored biblical menu of foods that grow in the Land of Israel.

Biblical women in particular derived social power and status from their responsibility for bread, according to scholar Carol Meyers. She writes: “Women’s shared bread preparation activities served an important social function in ancient Israel by contributing to the well-being and survival of their communities as well as their families.” Women in biblical times networked with each other, often spending two or three hours daily working communal hand mills and ovens just to provide enough flour and bread for a grain-dependent family of six. That’s a lot of labor.

Biblical breads–with their variety, their uses, and their antiquity–begin our Jewish bread trail.