challah

Challah or hallah ( ; , ; 'c'''hallot'', 'c'''halloth'' or 'c'''hallos'', ), also known as berches in Central Europe, is a special bread in Jewish cuisine, usually braided and typically eaten on ceremonial occasions such as Shabbat and major Jewish holidays (other than Passover).

Ritually acceptable challah is made of dough from which a small portion has been set aside as an offering. Challah may also refer to the dough offering. The word is biblical in origin, meaning "loaf". Similar (usually braided) breads with mainly the same ingredients including brioche, kalach, kozunak, panettone, pulla, tsoureki, vánočka are found across European cuisines.

Name and origins

The term in Biblical Hebrew meant a kind of loaf or cake. The targum is (pl. , var. ) which also means loaf. The word derives from the root (), which means "pierced." According to , ''challah'' was a sort of bread with a central hole, designed to hang over a post.

In Rabbinic terminology, ''challah'' often refers to the portion of dough which must be separated before baking, and set aside as a tithe for the Kohen, since the biblical verse which commands this practice refers to the separated dough as a "''challah''". The practice of separating this dough sometimes became known as ''separating challah'' () or ''taking challah''. The food made from the balance of the dough is also called ''challah.'' The obligation applies to any loaf of bread, not only to the Shabbat bread, but it is traditional to intentionally bake bread for the Sabbath in such a manner as to obligate oneself, to dignify the Shabbat. By synecdoche, the term ''challah'' came to refer to the whole of the loaf from which ''challah'' is taken.

There is no consensus as to the source of challah’s braided form. Author of A Blessing of Bread, Maggie Glezer, writes that the braiding began in 15th century Austria and Southern Germany, "with Jewish housewives following their non-Jewish counterparts, who plaited the loaves they baked on Sundays". The braids were meant to symbolize the Sabbath bride’s hair, according to Professor Hasia R. Diner. Another food historian Hélène Jawhara Piñer, a scholar of medieval Sephardic cuisine, has suggested that a recipe for a leavened and braided bread found in a 13th-century Arabic cookbook from Spain, the '' Kitāb al-ṭabīẖ'', may have been a precursor to challah. However, while this bread closely resembles the preparation of challah, it was flavored with saffron and fried, was described in the book as 'the making of braids,' translated into Spanish as ''guedejas'', and can be translated to Hebrew as ''peot''. According to Piñer's analysis, following their expulsion from Spain, Sephardic Jews brought this bread northward through Italy in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Variant names

Challah may also be referred to as ''cholla'' bread. In Poland it is commonly known as (pronounced ; diminutive of ), in Ukraine as ''kolach'' or ''khala'' and () in Belarus and Russia.

Yiddish communities in different regions of Europe called the bread , or , , , , or , or .Come ’Round
Forward.com, 2004.South African Challah?
Forward.com, 2005. The etymology of kittke is given as ''Kitt'' + ''-ke'': ''Kitt'' in German means "putty

"-ke" is the Diminutive#Slavic languages, Slavic diminutive suffix found in many Yiddish words and names. Kitke referred not to the whole challah but simply to the braids or decorations that were attached to the challah like putty before baking, and the word must have originally referred to these. Some of these names are still in use today, such as in South Africa.

The term ''koylatch'' is cognate with the names of similarly braided breads consumed on special occasions by other cultures outside the Jewish tradition in several European cuisines. These are the Russian '' kalach'', the Serbian , the Ukrainian kolach the Hungarian (in Hungary, the Jewish variant is differentiated as Bárhesz), and the Romanian . These names originated from Proto-Slavic ''kolo'' meaning "circle", or "wheel", and refer to the circular form of the loaf.Колач
(in Russian). Max Vasmer. ''Russisches etymologisches Wörterbuch''. Winter, Heidelberg 1953–1958 (in German). Russian translation by Oleg Trubachyov: Этимологический словарь русского языка. Progress, Moscow, 1964–1973.

In the Middle East, regional Shabbat breads were referred to by the local word for bread, such as in Farsi or in Arabic.

Ingredients and preparation

Most traditional Ashkenazi challah recipes use numerous eggs, fine white flour, water, sugar, yeast, oil (such as vegetable or canola), and salt, but "water challah" made without eggs and having a texture like French baguette also exists, which is typically suitable for those following vegan diets. Modern recipes may replace white flour with whole wheat, oat, or spelt flour or sugar with honey or molasses.

According to Sephardic Jewish observance of halachah, a bread with too much sugar changes the status of the bread to cake. This would change the blessing used over the bread from Hamotzi (bread) to Mezonot (cake, dessert breads, etc.) which would invalidate it for use during the Kiddush for Shabbat. While braided breads are sometimes found in Sephardic cuisine, they are typically not challah but are variants of regional breads like çörek, eaten by Jews and non-Jews alike.

Egg challah sometimes also contains raisins and/or saffron. After the first rising, the dough is rolled into rope-shaped pieces which are braided, though local (hands in Lithuania, fish or hands in Tunisia) and seasonal (round, sometimes with a bird's head in the centre) varieties also exist. Poppy or sesame (Ashkenazi) and anise or sesame (Sephardi) seeds may be added to the dough or sprinkled on top. Both egg and water challah are usually brushed with an egg wash before baking to add a golden sheen.

Challah is always pareve (containing neither dairy nor meat—important in the laws of Kashrut), unlike brioche and other enriched European breads, which contain butter or milk as it is typically eaten with a meat meal.

Israeli breads for shabbat are very diverse, reflecting the traditions of Persian, Iraqi, Moroccan, Russian, Polish, Yemeni, and other Jewish communities who live in the State of Israel. They may contain eggs or olive oil in the dough as well as water, sugar, yeast, salt, honey, and raisins. It may be topped with sesame or other seeds according to various minhagim.

Rituals and religious significance

According to Jewish tradition, the three Sabbath meals (Friday night, Saturday lunch, and Saturday late afternoon) and two holiday meals (one at night and lunch the following day) each begin with two complete loaves of bread. This "double loaf" (in Hebrew: ) commemorates the manna that fell from the heavens when the Israelites wandered in the desert after the Exodus. The manna did not fall on the Sabbath or holidays; instead, a double portion would fall the day before the holiday or sabbath to last for both days. While two loaves are set out and the blessing is recited over both, most communities only require one of them to be cut and eaten.

In some Ashkenazi customs, each loaf is woven with six strands of dough. Together, the loaves have twelve strands, alluding to the twelve loaves of the showbread offering in the Temple. Other numbers of strands commonly used are three, five, and seven. Occasionally, twelve are used, referred to as a "Twelve Tribes" challah. Some individuals – mostly Hasidic rabbis – have twelve separate loaves on the table.

Challot - in these cases extremely large ones - are also sometimes eaten at other occasions, such as a wedding or a Brit milah, but without ritual.

Traditional Sabbath meal procedure

It is customary to begin the evening and day Sabbath and holiday meals with the following sequence of rituals:

* The challah is covered, customarily with a dedicated challah cover cloth. (Normally, in the order of saying blessings, bread would precede wine. Covering the challah allows the Kiddush blessing to come first.)
* Kiddush is recited over a cup of wine.
* Each attendee ritually washes their hands in preparation for eating bread. (In some communities, the hands are washed before the Kiddush. It is customary not to talk between this washing and the consumption of the bread.)
* The challah cover is removed.
* The two loaves are held up together.
* The head of the household recites the blessing over bread: "" (Translation: "Blessed are you our God, King of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth").
* The bread (one or two, depending on minhag) is sliced (or torn) and salted, and the pieces are distributed to each person at the meal to eat.

The specific practice varies. Some dip the bread into salt before blessing the bread. Others say the blessing, cut or tear the challah into pieces, and only then dip the pieces in salt, or sprinkle them with salt before they are eaten. Some communities may make a nick in the bread with a cutting knife.

Normally, the custom is not to talk between washing hands and eating bread. However, according to some, if salt is not placed on the table, it is permitted to ask for someone to bring salt before the blessing on bread is recited.

Salting

Salting challah is considered a critical component of the meal. Customs vary whether the challah is dipped in salt, salt is sprinkled on it, or salt is merely present on the table. This requirement applies to any bread, though it is observed most strictly at Sabbath and holiday meals.

The Torah requires that Temple sacrifices to God be offered with salt. Following the destruction of the Second Temple, Rabbinic literature suggested that a table set for a meal symbolically replaces the Temple altar; therefore, the blessing over food should only be recited with salt present on the table. Should one eat a meal without performing a commandment, the covenant of salt protects him.

To the rabbis, a meal without salt was considered no meal. Furthermore, in the Torah, salt symbolizes the eternal covenant between God and Israel. As a preservative, salt never spoils or decays, signifying the immortality of this bond.

Special challah

Rosh Hashanah

On Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, the challah may be rolled into a circular shape (sometimes referred to as a "turban challah"), symbolizing the cycle of the year, and is sometimes baked with raisins in the dough. Some have the custom of continuing to eat circular challah from Rosh Hashana through the holiday of Sukkot. In the Maghreb (Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria) many Jews will simply bake their challah in the shape of "turban challah" year-round.

Sometimes the top is brushed with honey to symbolize the "sweet new year." According to some traditions, challah eaten on Rosh Hashanah is not dipped in or sprinkled with salt but instead is dipped in or sprinkled with honey. As above, some continue to use honey instead of salt through the Sukkot holiday.

challah

For the '' Shabbat Mevarchim'' preceding Rosh Chodesh Iyar (i.e., the first ''Shabbat'' after the end of Passover), some Ashkenazi Jews have the custom of baking challah ("key challah") as a '' segula'' (propitious sign) for (livelihood). Some make an impression of a key on top of the challah before baking, some place a key-shaped piece of dough on top of the challah before baking, and some bake an actual key inside the challah."Second Thoughts: The Key to ''Parnassah''." ''Hamodia'', Feature Section, p. C3. 23 April 2009.

The earliest written source for this custom is the of Avraham Yehoshua Heshel (1748–1825), published in 1863. He refers to challah as a preexisting custom and offers several kabbalistic interpretations.

The custom has been criticized for allegedly having its source in Christian or pagan practices.

Challah rolls

Challah rolls, known as a or or or (plural: ; ) or (Polish) is a bread roll made with eggs, similar to a challah bun. It is often used as the bread for Shabbat or holiday meals.

Similar breads

Similar braided, egg-enriched breads are made in other traditions. The Romanian colac is a similar braided bread traditionally presented for holidays and celebrations such as Christmas caroling . The Polish is similar, though sweeter than challah. The Czech vánočka and Slovak vianočka is very similar and traditionally eaten at Christmas. In Bulgarian and Romanian cuisine there is a similar bread called cozonac ( Bulgarian: ), while tsoureki bread (also known as or ) is popular in Armenian, Greek and Turkish cuisines. A sweet bread called ''milibrod'' ( Macedonian: ), similarly braided as the challah, is part of the dinner table during Orthodox Easter in Macedonia. Zopf is a similar bread from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, with a sweeter variant known as or . In Finnish cuisine, pulla (also known as cardamom bread in English) is a small braided pastry seasoned with cardamom that is very popular in Finnish cafés. Brioche is an egg-enriched bread, but it is not braided.

Unlike challah, which by convention is pareve, many of these breads also contain butter and milk.

See also

* Challa (disambiguation page)
* Pain petri
* Kubaneh
* Mouna
*Israeli cuisine
*Jewish cuisine
*Prosphora
* Kolach
*Korovai

Notes

References

External links

Schlissel Challah – An Analysis BY Rabbi Yair Hoffman

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Braided egg breads

Jewish baked goods
Jewish breads
Shabbat food
Israeli breads
Jewish ceremonial food and drink
Holiday foods