Overview
- Community outlets on Friday published explainers and how-to guides for the custom kept on the first Shabbat after Passover.
- Shlissel means key in Yiddish, and some shape the braided Shabbat loaf like a key or bake a real key inside as a prayer for income.
- Writers trace the practice to the Book of Joshua, when the manna stopped and the people began to live off the land.
- The coverage highlights regional variants of post-Passover customs, from sprinkling grains in Syria and Turkey to Mimouna in Morocco to key loaves in Eastern Europe.
- Chassidic sources add mystical notes, including a gematria that links the Hebrew word for challah to mercy and to asking for help from Heaven.