Ruth
Schreiber

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ערכת קבלת פנים

18x18cm

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Bread is regarded as the most basic foodstuff. In the Talmud, a meal (requiring a blessing to be recited) is defined by the consumption of a piece of bread larger than an olive. There are several traditions that place bread and salt together:

1. It is an imitation of Temple ritual, where offerings were prepared with salt.

2. It refers to Genesis 3:19, which says "By the sweat of your brow, shall you get bread to eat"; salt is representative of the sweat.

3. Bread and salt are regarded as a natural pair because the Hebrew words lechem (bread) and melach (salt) are both spelled from the same three letters (לחם, מלח).

By bringing bread and salt to a new home, one is making it possible for newcomers to sustain themselves. There is a tradition that these are the first foods to enter a home, as a welcome. And dipping bread (or challah) into salt is an integral part of any Jewish festive meal.

 

For this work, I baked a round bowl out of bread and heaped it with salt.