The threshold for ḥalla is learned from the Torah’s phrase “the first of your kneading” – arisoteikhem (Bamidbar 15:20). The Sages connect this to the dough of the generation of the desert, made from each person’s daily portion of manna: an omer per person (Shemot 16:16). Since the manna could be ground and kneaded into dough (Bamidbar 11:8), and since an omer is one-tenth of an eifa (Shemot 16:36), this became the minimum measure for ḥalla (Eruvin 83b). From dough containing less than this amount, one does not separate ḥalla, because it lacks sufficient halakhic significance.
One-tenth of an eifa is equivalent to the volume of forty-three and one-fifth eggs – 2.160 liters, assuming an egg volume of about 50 cc. In practice, it is best to round the amount to 2.200 liters. This threshold is measured by the volume of the flour before water is added; ingredients added later, such as salt or spices, do not count toward the ḥalla threshold. The most accurate method, therefore, is to measure the flour by volume, using a container with volume markings.
When one cannot measure the flour by volume, one may rely on weight as an estimate. This estimate is not exact, because flour of the same volume can weigh more or less depending on the type of flour and how densely it is packed. Therefore, when using weight, there are two practical amounts. Once the lower threshold is reached, one separates ḥalla without a berakha, since the obligation remains uncertain. Once the higher threshold is reached, one separates with a berakha, since the obligation is then clear. Since different flours have different densities, each type of flour has its own amounts, as shown in the table.[6]
| Whole Wheat | White Flour / Spelt | Rye | Oat / Barley | |
| Separate with a berakha (compressed flour) | 1.650 kg | 1.550 kg | 1.350 kg | 1.200 kg |
| Separate without a berakha
(loose flour) |
1.450 kg | 1.250 kg | 1.150 kg | 1.050 kg |
[6]. The ḥalla threshold is forty-three and one-fifth eggs (Rif; Rambam, MT, Laws of Bikkurim 6:15; Rosh; SA YD 324:1). This is a measure of flour by volume, not by weight. With water, volume and weight correspond: one liter of water weighs one kilogram. Flour, however, is much lighter than water. Wheat flour, depending on the type and density, weighs roughly half to two-thirds as much as an equal volume of water. Therefore, the precise way to measure the ḥalla threshold is by volume.
Kol Bo 48:9 questions whether flour should be measured when loose and aerated or when compressed. Nevertheless, since the other Rishonim and Aḥaronim did not raise this concern, we measure flour as it stands before us. This is also stated explicitly by Tosafot, Menaḥot 52b, s.v. ḥasera; Meiri, Pesaḥim 48b; Magen Avraham 456:4; Peri Ḥadash 456:1; and Maḥatzit ha-Shekel 456:4. Accordingly, the best practice is to measure the flour in a container that holds the ḥalla measure. Once the flour’s volume reaches 2.160 liters, one separates ḥalla with a berakha; ideally, it is preferable to use 2.200 liters.
In practice, however, measuring by volume is not always possible. Often one has only a kitchen scale, or the flour comes in bags marked by weight. For that reason, poskim also gave weight equivalents. Once weight is used, however, the density of the flour becomes important. R. Ḥayim Naeh found that flour sometimes weighs only about half as much as an equal volume of water, rather than two-thirds, and therefore ruled that one should separate ḥalla without a berakha already from 1.250 kg of wheat flour. Our measurements, however, show that when white flour is packed down, it weighs a little more than two-thirds as much as an equal volume of water, and whole wheat flour weighs considerably more. It may be that flour today is generally more compressed because it is stored in sealed bags.
Since one cannot always know how dense the flour is, the table gives two practical amounts. Once the lower amount is reached, one separates ḥalla without a berakha, because the flour may already reach the ḥalla threshold. Once the higher amount is reached, one separates with a berakha, because that measure is then certainly present. True, one could argue that since ḥalla in the present era is rabbinic, cases of doubt should be treated leniently (SA YD 325:1 and Shakh 2; SA YD 330:4 and Shakh 8; see Mishpetei Eretz 2, note 13). Nevertheless, because this uncertainty arises constantly, there is reason to be stringent, as we find with other recurring halakhic doubts, such as the laws of the udder and of an asham. In practice, as an enhancement of the mitzva, the custom is to separate without a berakha from any amount that may reach the ḥalla threshold (see Mishpetei Eretz 2, note 2 and the table on p. 477; Tevu’ot ha-Sadeh, p. 147). The table here assumes an egg volume of 50 cc, and the amount for separating with a berakha was rounded upward to avoid uncertainty.
To explain the calculation more fully: Rambam’s calculation assumes that flour weighs about one-third less than an equal volume of water (Commentary to the Mishna, Eduyot 1:2). Rambam also gives the weight of flour from which ḥalla must be separated as approximately 520 Egyptian zuzim, or dirhams (MT, Laws of Bikkurim 6:15). On this basis, R. Ḥayim Naeh calculated the amount as 1.666 kg, using an egg volume of 57.6 cc; according to that measure, forty-three and one-fifth eggs equal 2.488 liters. However, his calculation relied on the Turkish dirham current in his time, which weighed 3.205 grams. About four hundred years earlier, the Turks had increased the dirham’s weight by roughly twelve percent, whereas the dirham used before Rambam’s time weighed only about 2.83 grams (see Peninei Halakha: Berakhot 10:10, note 11). In practice, then, we treat an egg volume as 50 cc, which makes 2.160 liters the flour volume that triggers the ḥalla obligation.
A more precise calculation of Rambam’s measure supports this conclusion. If the measure is calculated using 520 dirhams at 2.83 grams each, an egg volume comes to 50.94 cc, and the ḥalla measure comes to about 2.200 liters. Other data points yield slightly smaller measures: dirham coins weighing 2.81 grams would produce an egg volume of 50.58 cc and a ḥalla measure of 2.185 liters, while the early Ashkenazic measure gives an egg volume of about 46 cc and a ḥalla measure of 1.987 liters (R. Benish, Middot Ve-shi’urei Torah 13:4–5). This Ashkenazic measure also accords with Roman and Egyptian cubits, and Rambam’s comments in Eduyot 1:2 likewise imply a slightly smaller measure. Since rabbinic measures are generally rounded, the practical standard is to treat an egg volume as 50 cc. Accordingly, one separates ḥalla with a berakha from 2.160 liters of flour; for ease of measurement, it is best to round up to 2.200 liters.
If one separated ḥalla without a berakha from a doubtful amount and later added more dough so that the total amount now certainly reaches the ḥalla threshold, one must separate ḥalla again, still without a berakha.
According to Tzlaḥ and Ḥazon Ish, eggs in earlier times were about twice the size of our eggs, close to 100 cc, making the ḥalla measure 4.320 liters. However, based on Ḥazon Ish’s own measurements, wheat flour weighs only slightly more than half as much as an equal volume of water, not two-thirds; according to this, one would separate with a berakha from 2.250 kg of flour (see Mishpetei Eretz 2:1). A similar calculation appears in Ben Ish Ḥai, Tzav 19, who treats weight like volume, producing a figure close to that of Ḥazon Ish; see Peninei Halakha: Berakhot 10:6, note 7. In practice, however, the custom is not to follow this view, which raises serious difficulties. See Tevu’at ha-Sadeh 4:1, which records that R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach and R. Yosef Shalom Elyashiv wrote that the custom follows R. Ḥayim Naeh.
Some question whether whole wheat flour should fully count toward the ḥalla threshold, because the bran – the outer layer of the kernel – may have been removed and later returned to the flour. If so, perhaps it should not count toward the measure, as the Mishna states: “Five quarter-kav of flour are subject to ḥalla – they, together with their leaven, bran, and coarse bran… If the coarse bran was removed from them and returned to them, they are exempt” (Mishna, Ḥalla 2:6). This concern is raised in Mishpetei Eretz 2, note 2, and Tevu’at ha-Sadeh 4:5 writes that, because of this doubt, one should add 15 percent before separating with a berakha. In practice, however, this does not seem necessary. The Gemara in Shabbat 76b and the commentators to the Mishna explain that bran which was removed and later returned was excluded from the measure because people did not normally prepare dough that way, except in poverty. Today, however, whole wheat flour is valued precisely because it includes the bran. Since flour of this kind is made for ordinary use, the bran counts toward the ḥalla threshold. R. Mechta writes similarly in Emunat Itekha 112.
One may ask: if the ḥalla measure corresponds to the amount of manna a person received for one day, how can that measure be so large? If manna had the caloric value of wheat or barley – about 330 calories per 100 grams – then each person would have received nearly 5,000 calories a day, far more than the 2,000 to 2,500 calories a typical person today generally needs. At times, they also ate meat in the evening. Moreover, the Mishna states that two kav of wheat flour were enough to sustain a poor woman for a week (Ketubot 5:8), whereas the ḥalla measure, understood as a day’s food volume, is one and three-quarter kav. Similarly, regarding akhilat pras, we find that an average person’s daily bread consumption was about eight egg-volumes (Eruvin 82b; Peninei Halakha: Berakhot 10:7, note 8). True, bread was the staple food, even when eaten together with other foods. It is therefore logical to assume that manna had a significantly lower caloric value than grain, and that each person received the amount he needed. Thus, the ḥalla measure corresponds not to a day’s caloric intake, but to the volume of food that constitutes a person’s basic daily sustenance.
