Halachot and Customs
Can a Man Separate Challah?
Question
I am giving a lesson on the mitzvah of separating challah. For the first time, men (medical practitioners) want to join. Can a man separate challah? What can be said so as not to offend?
Answer
Greetings and blessings,
A man is obligated in the mitzvah of separating challah just as a woman is. Anyone who kneads dough must separate challah.
The custom is to entrust this mitzvah to women, as they usually bake, and this is the main reason—it serves as a rectification for Eve's sin. Nonetheless, certainly a man can separate challah, and he is obligated to do so when he bakes dough and his wife is not present to fulfill the mitzvah.
With blessing,
Binyamin Shmueli
עברית
