Halakhah su Levitico 24:5

One has to be careful when he is about to say birkat ha-mazon not to leave the table without any bread on it, as they said in tractate Sanhedrin:¹⁸¹B. Sanhedrin 92a. “Whoever does not leave bread on his table, about him Scripture says, ‘With no remnant for him to eat, his goodness will not take hold.”¹⁸²Job 20:21. The reason for this practice is so that the blessing about which this was said will take hold; for if nothing is left, in what can the blessing take hold, because no blessing takes hold upon nothing, but only upon something? And the table in the sanctuary, which never was without bread, attests to this. And that bread was eaten by the priests who ministered to the sanctuary, and only a little of it was enough to feed many of them, and so our rabbis said, “Every priest who approached it was made doubly happy,”¹⁸³B. Yoma 39a. R. Bahya seems to allude to double portion of manna in the manna miracle as well as to the two loaves offered to the priests in Lev. 23:17. and through this very bread on the table blessing descended and was dispersed in the food of the world, from the showbread, by way of “something from something” and not something from nothing. For even the prophets who were “capable of serving in the royal palace”¹⁸⁴Dan 1:4. were not capable of producing something from nothing, but rather only something from something. Let me call for myself reliable witnesses:¹⁸⁵An allusion to Is 8:2.Elijah and Elisha, the former through “flour in a jar,”¹⁸⁶I Kg 17:12: “kad ha-kemah,” which R. Bahya used as the title for his famous encyclopedic collection of sermons. the latter “a jug of oil” – all was “something from something,” for no one has the power to make something from nothing but the Holy One Blessed be He, Shaper of creation which He created from nothing, and with all due to respect for Him, we find that even He only did it in the six days of the creation of the world. From then on till now, everything is “something from something.” And thus it is written, “which God created and made.”¹⁸⁷Gen 2:3. The explanation: “which God created” – something from nothing; “and made” – from then on, something from something, not something from nothing. So accordingly, it is necessary that a person about to recite birkat ha-mazon, leave a piece of bread on the table, for even a little of it is enough for the blessing to take hold in, and its power will be distributed through an increase of the small amount, just like the hidden miracles that are done for us every day, without us knowing or being aware of them. Just as our rabbis said: “¹⁸⁸B. Nidah 31a.No miracle-worker is aware of his own miracle.” And you should know that the cause behind the blessing that drops down in the food of the world and in the showbread is explained in the verse: “It [the frankincense] shall be a reminder-offering with the bread.”¹⁸⁹Lev 24:7. R. Bahya seems to allude to the miracle of the manna here in the language he uses about the showbread drawing miracles and blessings down to the earth, and of the priests being “doubly happy” See note 183 above . And later he explicitly associates the covering of bread on the table with cloths above and below with the miracle of the manna. As you already knew that they used to place frankincense on top of the bread, which is what is written just before, “With each row you shall place pure frankincense,”¹⁹⁰Ibid. the showbread and the frankincense used to counteract one another, just like the etrog and the lulav,¹⁹¹B. Menahot 27a. and the blue dye and white cloth (when blue dye could still be found). For the Most High has no share in the showbread, while the ordinary mortal has no share in the frankincense, which they would burn upon the fire. Therefore Scripture said, “It shall be a reminder-offering with the bread,” because by burning the frankincense which is on top of the bread, it becomes a reminder to the power above for blessing to drop down on it and from it into the food for the world. And understand this, that it is for this reason that there were twelve hallot arranged on top of the table. And from there the blessing came, which corresponded to the twelve angels¹⁹²Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer 4. surrounding the throne of glory, which are called “four camps of the Shekhinah,” from which the world is blessed to the four winds, and they serve three to each wind, the meaning behind the four banners that were in the desert. Also corresponding to them below were the twelve lions on Solomon’s throne, and they are like these twelve hallot and the twenty-four tenth-measures,¹⁹³Lev 24:5. Each loaf – hallah – was made of two tenth-measures – ‘esronim – of choice flour, i.e., 24 = 2 x 12. and arouse your mind to this!

You should know that sometimes commands appear in the Torah; yet those commands are not commandments, but rather preliminaries to the doing of the commandment - as if He is recounting how it is appropriate for you to do the commandment. An example of this is His saying, "You shall take fine flour and bake of it" (Leviticus 24:5). As it is inappropriate to count the taking of fine flour as a commandment or the making of bread as a commandment. Rather that which is counted is His saying, "And on the table you shall set the bread of display, to be before Me always" (Exodus 25:30). Behold the commandment is that the bread always be before the Lord. And afterwards, He explained how this bread should be, and from what it should be - and He said that it should be from fine flour and that it should be twelve loaves. And in this very same way is it inappropriate to count His saying, "to bring you clear oil of beaten olives" (Exodus 27:20); but rather "for lighting, for kindling lamps regularly" - which is the maintenance of the lamps, as is explained in Tamid 83a. And in this very same way does one not count, His saying, "Take the herbs to yourself" (Exodus 30:34); but rather the offering of the incense every day - as Scripture explains about it, "he shall burn it every morning when he tends the lamps. And when Aharon lights the lamps" (Exodus 30:7-8). And that is the commandment that is counted; whereas His saying, "Take the herbs to yourself," is only a preliminary of the command, to explain how you should do this commandment and what matter this incense should be from. And likewise should one not count, "Take choice spices for yourself"; but rather certainly count the command that He commanded that we anoint the high priest, the kings and the holy vessels with the anointing oil described. And apply this to all that is similar to it, such that you will not add what is inappropriate to count. And this is our intention about this principle, and it is a clear matter. However we mentioned it and it has come to our attention because many have erred also about this, and counted some of the preliminaries of the commandments with the commandments themselves as two commandments. This is clear to the one who understands the count of sections that Rabbi Shimon ben Kiara mentioned - he and all those who followed him - to mention the sections in their counts.

Neither should you quarrel for [the right to perform] a mitzvah, such as to lead the congregation in prayer, or to be called up to the Torah, or the like. Just as we find it with the Show-bread,³⁰Lechem hapanim, literally “bread of the face” (see Lev. 24:5,8). It was so called because the sides were bent up. The loaves had the shape of a box with the ends removed. Twelve loaves were placed on the Table in the Sanctuary. They were arranged on a frame in the two stacks of six loaves each. Each Shabbos the loaves were replaced by fresh ones, and the old ones, which miraculously retained their freshness, were divided among the kohanim. that although it was a mitzvah to eat of it, yet, we are told, "The modest used to give up their share while the gluttons used to grab and devour it."³¹Yoma 39a.