Challah

The pure, simple, unadorned Hebrew word challah (חלה) means “a loaf of bread.” This has come to have two specific meanings: Dough Separated and Sanctified The halachic definition of challah involves separating a section of dough from your kneading and giv...

The first portion of your kneading, you shall separate as a dough offering (challah)... (Numbers 15:20-21) In its more widely-known usage, the Hebrew word challah refers to the Shabbat bread. But in its more basic, biblical and halachic meaning, challah i...

How to recite the blessing on bread at the Shabbat meal.

When we do good, lots of good, we may be lured into a sense of entitlement. I gave 20% to charity; I can now buy whatever I want with the rest, without regard for social responsibility. I volunteered at the school for two hours; I am now entitled to laze ...

In order to enable the Jews to observe Shabbat while wandering in the desert, G-d provided them with a double portion of manna on Friday. To commemorate this miracle, the Sages instituted that we break bread over two complete loaves at the start of every ...

I noticed on Friday night at the meal that before you blessed the Challah, you made a small cut in one of the loaves. What is the meaning of this custom?

Question: My doctor recently ordered me off wheat. What do I do after Kiddush on Shabbat? Is there something else which I should eat instead of bread? Answer: First of all, let's understand why Kiddush must normally be followed by bread. The Talmud provid...

There are a number of reasons for this tradition. 1. When our ancestors traveled in the desert for forty years, they subsisted on the manna that miraculously fell from heaven every day. The challah we eat on Shabbat is actually in place of that manna. Sin...

Since their arrival in Singapore as Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries in 1994, Rabbi Mordechai and Simcha Abergel have guided a renaissance for the Asian nation’s 1,000 Jews.

The long-standing Jewish custom is for Shabbat breads to be braided. Here's why.