Schlissel Challah and the Ongoing Battle to Cleanse Pop-Judaism

(Delicious, hot cross buns, the cultural ancestors of the schlissel challah.)

Two years ago, I posted this to my community email list:

Don’t bake schlissel challah this week. If you really want to do something, do a mitzvah, or at least something that does not smack of idolatry and superstition.

http://www.mesora.org/Shlissel.html

Shabbat shalom

My wife asks that I make it clear that it is still OK to bake challah this week. The point is to make sure not to put any foreign metal object into it.

At the time, a neighbor responded with this link and article.

http://www.torah.org/learning/yomtov/pesach/5761/vol7no04.html

This article might sound nice, but it still gives no reason for why one should put a key in his challah. Rather, it is an honest but failed attempt to give a Jewish reason for a practice that is obviously pagan in origin. We will be much further along our way to the Redemption when this practice and advocacy for its preservation disappear.