Recreating the Lost Bread of the Beit HaMikdash with Eliezer Seidel

What if one of the greatest mysteries of the Beit HaMikdash could be rediscovered inside a bakery in the Shomron? On this episode of *Live the Land*, Franny Waisman sits down with Eliezer “Leslie” Seidel, a former high-tech professional who left a 25-year career to pursue baking, Jewish bread history, and eventually one of the most fascinating culinary mysteries in Jewish tradition: recreating the **Lechem HaPanim**, the Temple showbread. Seidel shares how his research for *The Jewish Bread Bible* led him to conclude that the most uniquely Jewish breads were those of the Beit HaMikdash. That realization launched a decade-long effort, together with Prof. Zohar Amar, Machon HaMikdash, and other experts, to reverse-engineer a bread whose original method disappeared nearly 2,000 years ago. From ancient coins and forgotten Rashi manuscripts to durum wheat, archaeology, laboratory testing, and the halachic challenge of creating bread that rises without becoming chametz, this conversation explores what it takes to bring an ancient Temple tradition back to life. ## Time Stamps **00:00** – Temple Bread Mystery **03:26** – Meet Eliezer Seidel **11:50** – Workshops and Jewish Bread **16:23** – The Only Truly Jewish Bread **19:09** – The Lost Secret of Beit Garmu **24:36** – The Professor Amar Breakthrough **27:40** – Reverse Engineering the Loaf **32:04** – Ancient Coins and Rashi Clues **34:57** – What the Coins Reveal About Its Shape **35:30** – Hunting for Early Rashi Manuscripts **37:16** – The Vatican Digitized Manuscript Mystery **39:11** – The Firkovich Manuscript Breakthrough **42:51** – Making Bread Rise Without Yeast **46:49** – The Halachic Solution and the Secret **51:09** – Workshops and the Temple Mission **54:08** – The Growing Temple Movement \---------------- Ready to experience it for yourself? Visit https://judeasamariaexperience.com/ to plan your journey to Judea and Samaria.