This week I would like to discuss a very interesting bread offered in the Mikdash, called murbechet.
There were three types of matzos in the menachot (Meal Offerings) of the Mikdash, and each had oil added to them in a different way (Vayikra 7:12).
The first is called the rakik, a thin round matzah, very similar to the hand-baked matzos we eat on Pesach (although in the Mikdash they were soft and flexible, not hard and cracker-like as in the modern Ashkenazi matzos). Oil was added to the rakik after it was baked by spreading it over the matzah with the finger. The oil had to be spread in a special pattern detailed in the Gemara (Menachot 75a), in the shape of the Greek letter chi, similar to the English letter X, basically in the shape of a “cross.” (Christianity stole this pattern from us.) This was also the pattern oil was spread on the forehead of a Kohen upon his inauguration into service in the Mikdash.
The second type is called challat matzah. This bread resembled a large, round “pita.” While the dough for this bread was being kneaded, oil was mixed into the dough. This “pita” style bread was then baked.
The third, our current topic, is the murbechet. This bread was similar in shape to the challat matzah, a large, round “pita.” No oil was mixed in with dough during the kneading. After the dough had been shaped into its pita form, the dough was boiled in water (Rokeach) for a short time (about one minute). Following that, the boiled bread was baked in the oven for a short time, and after removal from the oven, it was fried in oil, also for a short time, on the machvat, a flat skillet. Although the murbechet had three different types of “heating,” the resulting bread had to be soft and almost underbaked (Vayikra 6:14). The verse says “tufinei,” which the commentaries say means “baked almost raw.”
The root of the word murbechet is derived from the Hebrew word “revucha,” meaning boiled. There are two opinions on how the bread was boiled. The Rokeach, mentioned above, describes dunking the ready-shaped pita bread in a pot of boiling water. The Rambam, on the other hand, says that the dough is kneaded with boiling water (obviously using a spoon so that you do not burn your hands).
R’ Chaim of Volozhin, in his book Nefesh HaChaim, says that oil in the matzos symbolizes spirituality. Incorporating oil into the three types of matzah in different ways reflects different levels of spirituality.
The rakik, with oil visible on top, is the highest level. The challat matzah, with the oil “hidden” inside the dough, is the lowest, and the murbechet is an intermediate level where oil is absorbed from the outside into the bread while frying.
The Nefesh HaChaim compares this structure to a concept called “Naran” which is a Hebrew abbreviation – “Nun Reish Nun,” – for neshama, ruach, nefesh. This Kabbalistic concept says that the neshama has three levels: the neshama is the highest, the nefesh is the lowest, and the ruach is the intermediate level.
R’ Chaim of Volozhin offers the parable of a glass blower. The first stage in blowing glass is when the artisan takes a breath of air in his lungs – this is akin to the neshama, something purely intangible and purely spiritual – like Hashem breathed life into Adam when He created man. The next stage is when the glass blower exhales this breath through a glass pipe; this is the ruach, the intermediary stage. Finally, at the end of the pipe is a blob of hot molten glass. The breath of air enters the molten glass and gives it shape. This is the nefesh, the material, earthly form. In this parable, the rakik parallels the neshama, the murbechet the ruach, and the challat matzah the nefesh.
Why the different types of matzah and their symbolism? Each had to be offered for a different reason. When someone needed to atone for a sin or offer thanks to Hashem, they would consult first with the Kohen who would instruct them which offering to bring, much like a physician prescribes medicine.
The murbechet was used in the Mikdash in three primary offerings. The minchat chavitin of the Kohen Gadol, was brought each day, in the morning and evening, together with the tamid offering. It was one of the four components of the toda (thanksgiving) offering, and it was also part of the offering brought by a Kohen being inaugurated into service in the Mikdash.
In the 9th century in Prussia, Christians forbade the Jews to bake breads similar to their “holy” breads. One such bread was a ring-shaped bread called a brezel (the forerunner of the pretzel) which was part of their communion ceremony. This ring-shaped bread was baked, so Jews were forbidden to bake ring-shaped breads. To overcome this limitation, the Jewish bakers petitioned the governor, asking if it would be acceptable for them to make ring-shaped bread made using a different method of preparation. The governor agreed. The ingenious Jewish bakers shaped the dough into a ring shape, boiled it in water and then toasted it in an oven, unlike the Christian bread which was not boiled. This was the first bagel.
Where did the Jewish bakers come up with such a crazy scheme? Nobody in history before then had ever boiled bread dough. It is my theory (presented in my new book, The Jewish Bread Bible (currently in the stage of being published), that they were simply copying the method of preparing the murbechet in the Mikdash.
Parshat HaShavua Trivia Question: All the spent ashes from the sacrifices were scooped into a mound in the center of the Mizbe’ach. What was this mound called?
Answer to Last Week’s Trivia Question: Why is the letter “aleph” in the word Vayikra small? Moshe, the humblest person on earth, wanted to write “Vayikar,” the same abridged form that Hashem used in calling Bilam. Hashem instructed Moshe to add the aleph, but in his humility, Moshe wrote it small (Ba’al HaTurim, Vayikra 1:1).
