Sam2:
DY: And, as I’m sure you are aware, R’ Hoffman’s “debunking” is in no way successful. In the slightest.
Actually, I thought R’ Hoffman’s debunking was both thorough and brilliant. He proved that many of Alfassa’s sources were misleading, if not downright untrue. Some highlights:
In other words, Alfassa’s proof of a Christian custom is from a work a fiction.
[sic], again, the Christmas Boar [cake]
The fact is, however, this source does not mention a key in a loaf at all. It mentions a cake with a cross on top of it. How was the shape of the cross made? Either with a bone of a pig or with a cross shaped key. There is no parallel to the Schlissel Challah here whatsoever.
Alfassa’s second proof is talking about a cross, not a key.
The connection that the author makes between this and Schlissel Challah is perplexing. There is no geographic connection. There is no timeline connection. The only similarity is the placing of an item in something else. Both the items are different and the product that they are put in are different. At best, one can say that this is scholarship that lacks rigor.
How would an ancient Irish custom have made it to eighteenth century Eastern Europe, anyways?
Interestingly, there is another quote from Alfassa’s article seems to directly disprove his thesis, which you seem to espouse, that shlissel challah should be assur:
Its hard to give Alfassa much credence after all that.