A challah cover is a special cloth used to cover the two braided loaves (, ''

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 ...

''; ''pl.'' , ''challot'') set out on the table at the beginning of an

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...

or Yom Tov meal. While its appearance lends a decorative and ceremonial aspect to the set table, its presence serves both a halakhic and symbolic function.

Description

Challah covers may be made from any kind of fabric or paper. They are often hand or machine-

embroidered Embroidery is the art of decorating Textile, fabric or other materials using a Sewing needle, needle to stitch Yarn, thread or yarn. It is one of the oldest forms of Textile arts, textile art, with origins dating back thousands of years across ...

, painted, appliqued or

tie-dye Tie-dye is a term used to describe a number of resist dyeing techniques and the resulting dyed products of these processes. The process of tie-dye typically consists of folding, twisting, pleating, or crumpling fabric or a garment, before binding ...

d. They are sometimes adorned with fringes interwoven with silver or gold thread. The challah cover must be large enough to cover two braided loaves without allowing the bread to be seen through the sides, and opaque enough so that the loaves cannot be seen through the fabric. Store-bought challah covers often bear the inscription ("To honor the holy Shabbat") or ("To honor Shabbat and Yom Tov").

Halakhic function

At the beginning of a Shabbat or holiday meal, a blessing (

Kiddush Kiddush (; ), , is a blessing recited over wine or grape juice to sanctify the Shabbat and Jewish holidays. Additionally, the word refers to a small repast held on Shabbat or festival mornings after the prayer services and before the meal. S ...

) must preferably be made over the wine first in order to sanctify the Shabbat. This is followed by the blessing over the bread (challah), which begins the meal. However, in the hierarchy of blessings mandated by the Sages, the blessing over bread should precede the blessing over wine. In order to preserve the priority of the wine, and not to "shame" the bread which should be blessed first, the bread is “removed” by concealing it from view with the challah cover. In the absence of a challah cover, one may use a napkin, doily, tissues, or similar covering.

Symbolism

Remembrance of the manna

The placement of the challah under the challah cover and over the Shabbat tablecloth (or over a challah cutting board) also recalls the Biblical scene of the

manna Manna (, ; ), sometimes or archaically spelled Mahna or Mana, is described in the Bible and the Quran as an edible substance that God in Abrahamic religions, God bestowed upon the Israelites while they were wandering the desert during the 40-year ...

which the

Israelite Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...

s ate every day following the Exodus from

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. When

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

told the people about the manna, he said that it would fall for them every day of the week. However, in deference to the holiness of Shabbat, the manna would not fall on that day. Instead, two portions of manna would fall on Friday, enough for that day and for the Shabbat ( Exodus 16:22-26). This is given as the reason for the use of two braided loaves at Shabbat and holiday meals, as the challot represent the double portion of manna that fell in honor of Shabbat. Each morning the Israelites found the manna in the fields, encased in two layers of dew to preserve its freshness.

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki (; ; ; 13 July 1105) was a French rabbi who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He is commonly known by the List of rabbis known by acronyms, Rabbinic acronym Rashi (). Born in Troyes, Rashi stud ...

describes the way the manna was found:

Thus we see that the dew fell upon the ground and the manna fell upon it, and then dew fell again upon this, and so it was as though it were carefully packed in a chest (Rashi on Exodus 16:13, quoting Mechilta, Yoma 75b).

Thus, we place the challot beneath a challah cover and over a tablecloth (or challah board) to recreate the

miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...

of the manna at our own Shabbat tables.

History

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

ic times, food was served to banquet guests on three-legged trays rather than tables. These trays were brought to each guest by waiters. On Shabbat, the trays would be brought out only after the Kiddush, to show that the meal was being served in honor of the Shabbat, which had just been sanctified by the recital of the Kiddush. Today, Ashkenazi Jews set the table with the challah, but cover it until the time when it would have been carried in, in Talmudic times. This demonstrates that the meal only begins after — and because of — the Kiddush. Covering the challah so as not to "shame" it while the wine is being blessed has been cited as an object lesson for the importance of not shaming one's fellow humans. The following story is told about Rabbi

Yisroel Salanter Yisrael ben Ze'ev Wolf Lipkin, also known as "Israel Salanter" or "Yisroel Salanter" (November 3, 1809 – February 2, 1883), was the father of the Musar movement in Orthodox Judaism and a famed Rosh yeshiva and Talmudist. The epithet ''Salanter ...

Rabbi Yisroel was once stranded in Kovno for Shabbat. Everyone wanted to host him, but he chose to spend the Shabbat at the home of a baker who had no children to feed, so he would not take away anyone's portion of food. The baker was an observant Jew but hardly a man of intelligence. As he ushered his esteemed guest into his house, he shouted at his wife, "Why are the challahs not covered? How many times must I remind you to cover the challahs?" The poor woman, recognizing her distinguished guest, hurried to cover the challahs with tears in her eyes. When the baker asked Rabbi Yisroel to do the honors by reciting the Kiddush, the Rabbi first asked him, "Can you tell me why we cover the challahs?" "Of course," replied the baker. "Every child knows the answer. When there are many different foods on the table, the first blessing is always made over the bread, after which no other blessing need be made. On Friday night, however, the first blessing has to be made over the wine. In order not to shame the challah, who expects the blessing to be made over her, we must cover her over until after the sanctification of the wine." Rabbi Yisroel looked at the baker incredulously. "Why do your ears not hear what your mouth is saying?" he asked. "Do you think that our Jewish tradition does not understand that a piece of dough has no feelings and would never become embarrassed? Understand that our laws are trying to sensitize us to the feelings of human beings, our friends, our neighbors, and especially our wives!"

Matzo covers

At the

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

seder The Passover Seder is a ritual feast at the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted throughout the world on the eve of the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar (i.e., at the start of the 15th; a Hebrew day begins at su ...

, the matzos are also covered. Ashkenazi Matzo covers differ from challah covers in that they can contain three "pockets" into which the three matzos (set out at the beginning of the Seder) are inserted. According to the Gemara, matzo is called ''lechem oni'' (poor man's bread); the Hebrew word ''oni'' (עוני) can also be construed as "answers," yielding, "bread upon which answers are spoken." Thus, the matzos are uncovered during the telling of the story of the Jews' servitude in

. However, when the wine cups are raised to express praise to God for the redemption, the matzos are covered so that they will not be "shamed", as one is giving preference to the wine.Gelbard, Shmuel Pinchas (2000). ''Rite and Reason: 1050 Jewish Customs and Their Sources''. New York: Feldheim Publishers.
/ref>