Translation:Shulchan Aruch/Orach Chaim/168

by Joseph ben Ephraim Karo

168: On which types of bread the blessing is said.

1 Pieces of bread and a whole bread were before him, all from one kind – he recites the blessing on the whole one, even if it is a coarse (meaning: bread that isn't pure) and small bread and the pieces are pure bread and large. But if the whole one is barley and the pieces are from wheat, even if it is small, he places the piece under the whole one and breaks from both of them together. Gloss: And all this is when he wants to eat from both of them. But if he only wants to eat from one, he should break on it and should not be concerned for the second one, even though it's valuable or liked by him (Terumat HaDeshen, No. 32).

2 If 2 whole ones, from one kind, one large and one small, he recites the blessing on the large one. If a person has two half-pieces of bread, and he doesn't have a whole bread, he should connect them together with wood or with anything so that it shouldn't be seen, and it has the law of a whole one. And even on Sabbath, he could connect them.

3 Two buns that are connected to each other which were baked, and a piece of the one was cut off, and the second one remained whole – it is better to separate the piece from the whole one, so that it should look whole, rather than to leave it connected to it, even though it looks larger. Gloss: And he should not break from it at the place where it was connected to its "friend", for there it looks like a broken piece. Rather, he should break from its "whole" place. [Rabbi Yaakov Levi].

4 Barley bread and spelt bread – he should recite the blessing on the one from barley since it is from the 7 species, even though the spelt is nicer. Pure bread and coarse bread – he should recite the blessing on the pure one. And if both are pure, and one is whiter than the other, he recites the blessing on the whiter one.

5 A pure loaf of heathen's bread and a coarse loaf of Jewish bread – if he is not careful not to eat heathen's bread, he recites the blessing on whichever one of them that he'll want. And if he is careful not to eat heathen's bread, he removes the pure heathen's bread from on the table until after the blessing of "...Who takes out...". And if the house-owner is not careful not to eat heathen's bread, and his intent is to only eat heathen's bread during the entire meal because it's pure, but his household members ate from the impure Jewish bread, and both types of bread are placed on the table, he needs to break on the pure heathen's bread since he's the one who breaks and his intent is to only eat from that bread. And if the house-owner is careful not to eat heathen's bread, and a Jew who isn't careful with this is reclining with him at the table, since the mitzvah is imposed on the house-owner, he should break from the nice heathen's one. And since he was permitted to break, he was permitted for the entire meal. Gloss: And this only provided that that bread is liked by him. But if it's not liked by him without the prohibition of heathen's bread he does not need to give it precedence. (Terumat HaDeshen, No. 32).

6 Bread offered as dessert – one recites on it the blessing "...Who creates kinds of sustenance". And after it – a blessing embodying three. And if he ate from it an amount that others are accustomed to fix a meal on it, even though he was not satiated from it, he recites on it "...Who takes out..." and grace after the meal. And if in the beginning, his intent was to from it a small amount, and he recited the blessing "...Who creates kinds of sustenance", and afterwards, he ate an amount that others fix a meal on it, he should recite on it the grace after the meal even though he didn't recite "...Who takes out..." in the beginning. And if he ate an amount that others do not fix a meal on it, even though he fixes a meal on it, he only recites on it "...Who creates kinds of sustenance" and one blessing embodying three, for his mind is cancelled by that of every person.

7 Bread offered as dessert – there are those who explain: Bread that is made in the form of pouches that they fill them with honey or sugar and walnuts and almonds and spices. And they are what are called rusklayis rialkhsu. And there are those who say that it's a dough that he mixed into it honey or oil or milk or types of spices and he baked it – and that is that the taste of the mixture of the juices or the spices is recognizable in the dough. [And there are those who say that this is called absolute bread – except if it contains a lot of spices or honey such as kinds of sweets that are called lekach, that the honey and the spices are almost the main part. And so is the custom.]. [Rashi and Arukh and so can be explained in the opinion of Maimonides]. And there are those who explain that it is bread – whether spiced or not spiced – that they make them dry cakes and they chew them. And they are what are called biskunis. And the halacha is like the words of all of them, that all of these things are given the laws which we said regarding bread offered as dessert.
8 Bread rolls – those that have a thick mixture, that are called ublias – is absolute bread and one recites on it the blessing "...Who takes out..." and grace after the meal.

And those that have a loose mixture and are very thin – that are called niblas – he recites on them the blessing "...Who creates kinds of sustenance" and one blessing embodying three.

And if he fixed his meal on them, he recites the blessing "...Who takes out..." and grace after the meal.

And if he eats them within the meal, not due to the meal, they require a blessing before them and not after them.

But those thin biscuits that they put concoction on them – they are subordinate with respect to the concoction and the blessing of the concoction exempts them.

9 Absolute bread – even less than like an olive – one recites on it the blessing "...Who takes out...".

But after it he does not recite any blessing, as long as he didn't eat the amount of an olive.
10 Khabitsa, which is crumbs of bread that are stuck together with broth: If it was cooked – if they contain the amount of an olive, even though it doesn't have the look of bread, one recites on it the blessing "...Who takes out..." and grace after the meal. And if they do not contain the amount of an olive, even though it appears that it has the look of bread, he only recites the blessing "...Who creates kinds of sustenance" and one blessing embodying three. And if it is not cooked, just that it's connected with honey or broth – if the pieces contain the amount of an olive, he recites on it the blessing "...Who takes out...", even if it doesn't have the look of bread. And if they don't contain the amount of an olive – if they have the look of bread, meaning that it's recognizable and known that it's bread, he recites on it the blessing "...Who takes out..." and grace after the meal. And if they don't have the look of bread, he recites the blessing "...Who creates kinds of sustenance" and one blessing embodying three. And if it is not cooked and not connected, but thinly crumbled, even though it does not contain the amount of an olive, and not the look of bread, he recites on it the blessing "...Who takes out..." and grace after the meal. [And see below, Chapter 184, how much is the amount of eating to bless on it the grace after the meal].
11 There is an opinion that says that crumbs that are placed into water, and the water is whitened due to the crumbs, the torita [meaning: as if he said "to'arita"; that is to say: the look of the bread] of bread has gone away, and one only recites on it the blessing "...Who creates kinds of sustenance" and one blessing embodying three.

12 There is an opinion that says that bread that is soaked in [red] (Mordecai) wine – one only recites the blessing "...Who creates kinds of sustenance" and one blessing embodying three. And it appears that his words are only said regarding crumbs or regarding pieces that each one does not have the amount of an olive.

13 Even something thats mixture (meaning: the kneading of the flour with dough) is thick, if one cooked it or fried it, one does not recite on it the blessing "...Who takes out...", even if it has the look of bread, and even if it was obligated in challah, for the blessing "...Who takes out..." only goes after the time of baking. And there are those who disagree and say that anything that the beginning of the dough is thick, and even if he loosened it afterwards with water and made it spongy [meaning: a dough which he kneaded it and made it in the form of a sponge] and cooked it in water or fried it in oil, one recites on them the blessing "...Who takes out...". And the custom is to be lenient. And a Heaven-fearing one should fulfill both opinions and should only eat by reciting the blessing on a different bread first. Gloss: All of this only refers to a case where it has, after baking, the look of bread [language of Tur and the decisors]. But if it doesn't have the look of bread, such as noodles that are called in German wrimslich, according to all, the blessing "...Who takes out..." is not recited on them, and not 3 blessings, for it is not called bread. But pashtida and kreplech are called the look of bread (Mordecai, Chapter "Each Time") and one should only eat them if he recited the blessing on other bread first. And all of this only refers to a dough that does not contain oil and honey and the like, just that it's fried in them. But if it was kneaded with them, its law was already explained by bread offered as dessert.

14 That which was scalded [meaning: like a kind of bread – it is scalded with boiling water] that afterwards one baked it in an oven is absolute bread and one recites on it the blessing "...Who takes out...". Gloss: And likewise, something thats mixture is loose, that one baked it in an oven without liquid – its law is like bread and one recites on it the blessing "...Who takes out..." and three blessings. And likewise, if one baked it in a stewpot without liquid [Tosaphoth and Rabbi Asher and Rabbi Nissim, Chapter "The Entire Time"; and Maimonides, Chapter 6 of The Laws of Challah; and She'iltot; and Tur]. And the bit of liquid with which the stewpot is smeared so that it shouldn't burn the dough is not called liquid [Haggahot Maimuniyyot, Chapter 3 of The laws of Blessings]. But something thats mixture is loose, and one fried it in liquid – according to everyone it is not bread [Tosaphoth and Rabbi Asher and Rabbi Nissim and Rabbi Yonah, Chapter "How Does One Recite Blessings"].

15 Truknin – meaning that a hole is made in a stove in which flour is placed and water is mixed in it and it gets baked there – one recites on it the blessing "...Who creates kinds of sustenance" and one blessing embodying three. And if he fixed his meal on it, he recites on it the blessing "...Who takes out..." and grace after the meal. But "trita" – meaning that flour and water are taken and are mixed together and are poured onto the stove and it spreads and gets baked – does not have the law of bread at all and one only recites on it the blessing "...Who creates kinds of sustenance" and one blessing embodying three, and even if he fixed his meal on it.

16 Indian bread, which is bread that is baked with a skewer and is smeared with oil or with egg-water, and likewise, bread that is made for kutakh, that is not baked in an oven, but in the sun, one recites on it the blessing "...Who creates kinds of sustenance".
17 A pie which is baked in an oven with meat or with fish or with cheese – one recites on it the blessing "...Who takes out..." and grace after the meal. Gloss: And only provided that one baked it in an oven without liquid. But if he baked it in a frying pan with liquid, he should not recite a blessing on it, and one should not eat it, except during the meal, as was explained [his own opinion, and likewise wrote Shibbolei Leket].