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Chabad.org » Ideas & Beliefs » Questions & Answers » Mitzvot & Jewish Customs » Why Is Challah Braided?


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Why Is Challah Braided?



Question:

Why do we braid the challah bread baked for the Shabbat meals?

Answer:

Shabbat represents the idea of unity. The six days of the week are the paradigm of diversity. They are like the six directions in our three dimensional world--north, south, west, east, and up and down. During these days we are in a search outward, full of action and initiative, trying to master our environment.

Shabbat, on the other hand, represents the inner point. Shabbat points inward, and is full of the unity and the peace that comes with unity. That is why we greet one another with "Shabbat Shalom," Shabbat of peace and unity. Shabbat also represents the innerness of absorbing the blessing from the six workdays and directing them to our homes and our lives.

Perhaps the braiding of the challah, which is eaten at the Shabbat table, also represents this idea of unity: how we tie everything together, bringing all the diversity in our lives together for a peaceful harmony and unity that only the Shabbat can achieve.

Most challahs are braided with six dough strands. The two challahs together are thus also symbolic of the twelve showbreads which were placed every Shabbat on the Table in the Holy Temple sanctuary.


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By Chana Weisberg   More articles...  |   RSS Listing of Newest Articles by this Author

Chana Weisberg is a noted educator and columnist and lectures worldwide on issues relating to women, faith, relationships and the Jewish soul.


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Reader Comments
Latest Comments:
Posted: Feb 22, 2008
braided challah
What you wrote was very beautiful, but my understanding is that the Hebrew word for braid is the same as one of the words for chaos. Is this correct? I also wonder why it is called challah since in the Tanakh thew word challah is almost always used for bread that is without leaven.
Posted By Anonymous

Posted: Feb 22, 2008
challah
That is a beautiful way of looking at it. We also know that baking challah has the power to bring blessing into our homes. Bringing G-d into our homes also brings unity between family members.
Do you know how this ties in to the custom of making 12 loaves - first row: one; second row: two; third row: three and the next three rows the opposite order.

What does one do with the challah that is separated - burn it in the same oven as the challah itself? Before or after? I know that if I forget to separate the challah - the bread is forbidden. Does this then make my oven non-kosher if I will brun that dough in it together with the bread?
Thank you for sharing. I will use this idea in my classes. Gut shabbos wishing we will merit the shabbos for all eternity.
Posted By zlata ehrenstein, zfas, israel

Posted: Feb 21, 2008
Challah
Beautifully written and very introspective.
Posted By Pat MacLeod



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