Dough offering
[11][12] Included in this exemption is dough that has been kneaded with milk and honey to be deep-fried over a stove into honey-cakes (Hebrew: dūḇshanīn).
[13] The Jerusalem Talmud[14] makes the exemption of separating the dough-offering contingent upon breadstuffs that have been cooked in a frying pan or pot over a stove, rather than baked in an oven.
[16] The halakhic sources for the mitzvah are Shulhan Arukh, Yoreh Deah 322 and Mishneh Torah Bikkurim Chapter 5 Section 1.
[18] Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz explains that the Land of Israel is sustained by rainfall, whereas crops in Egypt are irrigated by the waters of the Nile river which requires human intervention, making it logical that the first fruits of Israel be presented to God who brings its rainfall.
In some Kabbalistic literature, such as Shlomo HaKohain of Greece's commentary on the Zohar, the performing of this commandment by women, who traditionally did the cooking, uplifts the dough from a state of tevel (spiritual non-readiness) and brings it to a state of khullin (mundane and permitted to its owner), thereby correcting the action of Eve who gave of the forbidden fruit to her husband.
[20] Nachmanides[21] as well as the Tosafist Isaiah di Trani[22] explain that it is the actual giving of the Challah portion to the Kohen that is the primary component of the Mitzvah.
The minimal quantity of dough whose preparation mandates the performance of the Mitzvah is quantified by Chazal as a portion of flour equivalent to 43 and 1/5 eggs,[24] also known as one omer (one-tenth of an ephah).
[29] The consumption of Challah by a Kohen in the Land of Israel is forbidden by Torah law due to the absence of the ashes of the Red Heifer necessary for ritual purity.
The commentators to the Shulchan Aruch record that it is the Minhag of some Diaspora Jews to be scrupulous in giving Challah (in this case fully baked passover matzah) from the dough used for baking "Matzot Mitzvah" (the Shmurah Matzah eaten during Passover) to a Kohen minor to eat.
[38] Kohanim of the diaspora have begun initiating requests from Jewish communities and prominent Rabbis to widely implement this Minhag, citing that its implementation would increase in Kiddush Hashem (per the unique brocha requirement) and reawaken awareness of the key component of the mitzvah of challah -the actual giving of the challah to the Kohen[citation needed].
