Challah

Challah is also now known as cholla bread.[8][9] The bread was adopted by bakers in Poland and the Russian Empire and is known as chałka (diminutive of chała) in Poland and khala (хала) in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.[10][11]

Yiddish communities in different regions of Europe called the bread khale, berkhes or barches, bukhte, dacher, kitke, koylatch or koilitsh, or shtritsl.[12][13] Some of these names are still in use today, such as kitke in South Africa.[13]

The term koylatch is cognate with the names of similar braided breads which are consumed on special occasions by other cultures outside the Jewish tradition in a number of European cuisines. These are the Russian and Ukrainian kalach, the Serbian kolač, the Hungarian kalács, and the Romanian colac. These names originated from Proto-Slavic kolo meaning "circle", or "wheel", and refer to the circular form of the loaf.[14][15]

Two homemade challot covered by a traditional embroidered challah cover

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

• The challah is covered. It is customary to use a dedicated cloth called a challah cover for this purpose, although any improvised cover is acceptable.

Something, often what is called a Challah board, is under the Challah, although a simple napkin is acceptable if nothing else is available. The "under" and "covering" are to remind of the dew that fell, before and after the manna. It also serves as a cutting board for slicing the Challah.

(Another reason for the cover is that normally, in the order of saying blessings, the challah would precede the wine; we therefore cover the challah's presence.)

• Kiddush is recited over a cup of wine.
• Each attendee ritually washes their hands in preparation for eating bread. (It is customary not to talk between this washing and consumption of the bread.[18])
• The challah cover is removed.
• A nick is made in the bread with a cutting knife.
• The two loaves are held up together.
• The head of the household recites the blessing over bread: "Baruch atah Adonai, eloheinu melech ha'olam, hamotzi lechem (Le Khemekh) min ha'aretz" (Translation: "Blessed are you LORD our God, King of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth").
• The bread is sliced (or torn, depending on minhag) 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 the blessing on bread.[19] 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.[20]

Normally, the custom is not to talk between washing hands and eating bread. However, according to some, if salt was not placed on the table, it is permitted to ask for someone to bring salt, before the blessing on bread is recited.[21]

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.

The Torah requires that Temple sacrifices to God be offered with salt.[22] 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.[18] Should one eat a meal without performing a commandment, the covenant of salt protects him.[23]

To the rabbis, a meal without salt was considered no meal.[24] Furthermore, in the Torah, salt symbolizes the eternal covenant between God and Israel.[25] As a preservative, salt never spoils or decays, signifying the immortality of this bond.[26]

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.

Sometimes the top is brushed with honey to symbolize the "sweet new year." According to some traditions, challah eaten on Rosh Hashana 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.[27]

Shlissel challah

For the Shabbat Mevarchim preceding Rosh Chodesh Iyar (i.e., first Shabbat after the end of Passover), some Ashkenazi Jews have the custom of baking shlissel[28] challah ("key challah") as a segula (propitious sign) for parnassa (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.[29]

The earliest written source for this custom is the sefer Ohev Yisrael by Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heshel, the Apter Rav, written in the 1800s. He calls schlissel challah "an ancient custom," and offers several kabbalistic interpretations. He writes that after spending forty years in the desert, the Israelites continued to eat the manna until they brought the Omer offering on the second day of Passover. From that day on, they no longer ate manna, but food that had grown in the Land of Israel. Since they now had to start worrying about their sustenance rather than having it handed to them each morning, the key on the challah is a form of prayer to God to open up the gates of livelihood.[29]

The custom has been criticized for allegedly having its source in Christian or pagan practices.[30]

Shabbat challah, known as a bilkele or bulkele or bilkel or bulkel (plural: bilkelekh; Yiddish: בילקעלע‎) baigiel (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.