About BREAD

Hebrew Name

לֶחֶם

English Name

BREAD

Phonetic Spelling

LEH-CHEM

What does BREAD mean?

Lechem, the Hebrew word for “bread,” is often used to refer to food and sustenance more broadly, as in the verse from Psalms, “Who gives bread to all flesh, for His steadfast love is eternal (136:25).

וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהֹוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה הִנְנִ֨י מַמְטִ֥יר לָכֶ֛ם לֶ֖חֶם מִן־הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם וְיָצָ֨א הָעָ֤ם וְלָֽקְטוּ֙ דְּבַר־י֣וֹם בְּיוֹמ֔וֹ לְמַ֧עַן אֲנַסֶּ֛נּוּ הֲיֵלֵ֥ךְ בְּתוֹרָתִ֖י אִם־לֹֽא׃
And Hashem said to Moshe, “I will rain down bread for you from the sky, and the people shall go out and gather each day that day's portion—that I may thus test them, to see whether they will follow My instructions or not.
vai-YO-mer a-do-NAI el mo-SHE: hin-NEE mam-TEEYR la-KHEM le-KHEM min ha-sha-MA-yim, v'-ya-TZA ha-AM v'-la-K'-tu d'-VAR yom b'-yo-MO, l'-ma-AN a-na-SE-nu, ha-YAY-lekh b'-to-ra-TEE im-LO
Exodus 16:4

נֹתֵ֣ן לֶ֭חֶם לְכׇל־בָּשָׂ֑ר כִּ֖י לְעוֹלָ֣ם חַסְדּֽוֹ׃
Who gives food to all flesh, His steadfast love is eternal.
no-TEN le-KHEM le-KHOL ba-SAR, kee le-o-LAM khas-DO
Psalms 136:25

Description about BREAD

Lechem, the Hebrew word for “bread,” is often used to refer to food and sustenance more broadly, as in the verse from Psalms, “Who gives bread to all flesh, for His steadfast love is eternal (136:25). In Judaism, bread represents the most complete and highest form of food, worthy of having a unique blessing recited over it: “Blessed are You, God, King of the universe, Who brings forth bread from the earth.” Due to its elevated status, the sages require us to ritually wash and purify our hands before eating bread, and on Shabbat and Jewish holidays, meals must include bread in order to reflect the elevated holiness of the day. In the Tabernacle, and later in the Temple that stood in Jerusalem, special loaves of bread were baked each week and placed on golden tables opposite the Menorah, the golden candelabrum. These breads were called lechem hapanim, literally “bread of faces”; because the bread was baked in molds, the resulting loaves had two “faces,” or sides. On the Shavuot holiday, a special offering of two loaves of bread were brought to celebrate and bless the harvesting of the new wheat crop. Milchama, the Hebrew word for “war,” contains the same letters as lechem, for it can often feel like a struggle, or “battle,” to earn one’s bread and make ends meet. For this reason, the miracle of the manna bread that God provided the Israelites for 40 years in the desert was also a test. The people were commanded to only collect the precise amount that they needed for each day and to trust that God would continue to provide lechem for them, day after day.

Attribute of BREAD

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