"Taking" Challah as an Act of Giving

(18) Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: When you enter the land to which I am taking you (19) and you eat of the bread of the land, you shall set some aside as a gift to the LORD: (20) as the first yield of your baking, you shall set aside a loaf as a gift; you shall set it aside as a gift like the gift from the threshing floor. (21) You shall make a gift to the LORD from the first yield of your baking, throughout the ages.

(4) And the LORD said to Moses, “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. (5) But on the sixth day, when they apportion what they have brought in, it shall prove to be double the amount they gather each day.” (6) So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “By evening you shall know it was the LORD who brought you out from the land of Egypt;

Rav Ḥisda said: A person should always rise early on Friday in order to prepare all of the expenditures for Shabbat, as it is written with regard to the collection of the manna: “And it shall be on the sixth day, and they will prepare that which they have brought” (Exodus 16:5), indicating that the children of Israel would begin preparing the food for Shabbat immediately upon collecting the manna in the morning. Apropos manna, the Gemara mentions other matters derived from it. Rabbi Abba said: On Shabbat a person is obligated to break bread in his meal over two loaves of bread, as it is written: “And it happened on the sixth day, they collected double the bread, two omer for each one” (Exodus 16:22).

(30) And the first of all the first-fruits of every thing, and every heave-offering of every thing, of all your offerings, shall be for the priests; ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, to cause a blessing to rest on thy house.

(8) The commandment is practiced by males and females in the Land of Israel by Torah writ, as it is stated, "when you eat from the bread of the land," but specifically at the time that all of [the people of] Israel are there, meaning to say their majority.... On a rabbinic level [we are obligated] to separate challah [even] outside of Israel, so that the concept of challah not be forgotten by Israel (Mishneh Torah, Laws of First Fruits and other Gifts to Priests Outside the Sanctuary 5:7). And because the obligation is so that it not be forgotten by Israel, we are accustomed to be lenient with it, such that we only separate a kazayit from a large dough, and throw it into the fire. And it is not given to any priest - child or adult. And I have heard that in some places they are accustomed to separate large challah according to the measurement that the Sages gave us for it, and they give it to a minor priest boy, that impurity does not come to him out of his body or to a minor priest girl who has not yet menstruated. And they even give it to an adult priest who has immersed [to purify himself from genital flows]

(1) The LORD appeared to him by the terebinths of Mamre; he was sitting at the entrance of the tent as the day grew hot. (2) Looking up, he saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them and, bowing to the ground, (3) he said, “My lords, if it please you, do not go on past your servant. (4) Let a little water be brought; bathe your feet and recline under the tree. (5) And let me fetch a morsel of bread that you may refresh yourselves; then go on—seeing that you have come your servant’s way.” They replied, “Do as you have said.” (6) Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quick, three seahs of choice flour! Knead and make cakes!” (7) Then Abraham ran to the herd, took a calf, tender and choice, and gave it to a servant-boy, who hastened to prepare it. (8) He took curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared and set these before them; and he waited on them under the tree as they ate.

(67) Isaac then brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he took Rebekah as his wife. Isaac loved her, and thus found comfort after his mother’s death.

(1) האהלה שרה אמו INTO HIS MOTHER SARAH’S TENT — He brought her into the tent and she became exactly like his mother Sarah — that is to say, the words signify as much as, [And he brought her into the tent] and, behold, she was Sarah, his mother). For whilst Sarah was living, a light had been burning in the tent from one Sabbath eve to the next, there was always a blessing in the dough (a miraculous increase) and a cloud was always hanging over the tent (as a divine protection), but since her death all these had stopped. However, when Rebecca came, they reappeared” (Genesis Rabbah 60:16).

There is a custom among women here [in Baghdad] to give some coins to tzedaka before separating challah.

Blessed are you, HaShem our God, Ruler of the Universe, who makes us holy through commandments, and commands us to separate Challah.

Phonetics: Ba-ruch a-tah Adonai Elo-hei-nu Melech Ha-Olam asher kid-shanu b'mitz-vo-tav, v'tzi-vanu l'ha-frish challah.

(Remove the equivalent of a big olive of dough, say the blessing and then burn/freeze/throw away the challah).