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We are beginning siman 4. The Chayei Adam will discuss some examples of kavod shabbos. The first one he discusses is bread.
The Chayei Adam discusses whether it is more kavod shabbos to buy bread from the store or to bake bread at home. If one is not a good baker, and the store bought bread will clearly taste better than the homemade bread, the element of oneg overrides the mitzvah of baking one’s own bread. Although personally baking bread shows much more kavod for Shabbos, because of the efforts one invests in the process, since the results are not as favorable, it is preferable to purchase bread.
If one’s homemade bread is of equal or greater quality, they should bake their own bread. The Mishnah Berurah, in siman 252, finds it disturbing that people have stopped baking their own bread. The Chayei Adam writes that the minhag of Klal Yisroel is that people were careful to bake their own bread. We have already mentioned the reason that it is more kavod shabbos when one is personally involved in the baking process. The Chayei Adam does not mention this reason, but it would seem to be implied from the context of the Klal in which he discusses this mitzvah.
The Chayei Adam mentions two other reasons. The first is partially esoteric. We find that there are mitzvos which are more commonly performed by women, and the primary chiyuv was placed on the woman. One example is lighting Shabbos candles. The chiyuv is that the house should be well lit for Shabbos and Yom Tov. In a world before artificial lighting, the only illumination was candles, and Chazal felt it is not oneg or kavod Shabbos to eat in the dark. Although this mitzvah could arguably be considered the man’s responsibility as the owner of the house, Chazal gave it to the woman, since she is generally the one who takes care of home-related events. If the wife is not available, the chiyuv falls to the husband. For example, if the wife is not available, the husband has first rights to the mitzvah over a daughter.
Another example of a mitzvah primarily given to the woman is the mitzvah of hafroshas challah. Since she is generally the one baking, the chiyuv is primarily placed on her, and the husband cannot come along and take the mitzvah from her (unless he is baking, she is unavailable, etc.).There is an esoteric reason for baking bread and separating challah, specifically by a woman on erev shabbos. We will discuss the reason in the upcoming shiur, be’ezras Hashem.
Summary
One of the ways to show kavod Shabbos is to personally bake bread for Shabbos. However, if the store bought bread will taste better, the oneg Shabbos overrides the kavod demonstrated by baking oneself.
