Challah

Homebaked challah

Challah may also be referred to as cholla bread.[9][10] In Poland it is commonly known as chałka (diminutive of chała, pronounced ha-wa), in Ukraine as 'kolach' or 'khala' and khala (хала) in Belarus, Russia.[11][12]

Yiddish communities in different regions of Europe called the bread khale, berkhes or barches, bukhte, dacher, kitke, koylatch or koilitsh, or shtritsl.[13][14] Some of these names are still in use today, such as kitke in South Africa.[14]

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 kalach, the Serbian kolač, the Ukrainian kolach 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.[15][16]

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

Challah-Platter, Basel, 20th century, in the collection of the Jewish Museum of Switzerland.

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:

Challah cover for Sabbath, interwar period. Collection of the Auschwitz Jewish Centre

• 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 consumption of the bread.[20])
• The challah cover is removed.
• 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 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.[21] 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.[22] 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 was not placed on the table, it is permitted to ask for someone to bring salt, before the blessing on bread is recited.[23]

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.[24] 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.[20] Should one eat a meal without performing a commandment, the covenant of salt protects him.[25]

To the rabbis, a meal without salt was considered no meal.[26] Furthermore, in the Torah, salt symbolizes the eternal covenant between God and Israel.[27] As a preservative, salt never spoils or decays, signifying the immortality of this bond.[28]

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 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.[29]

Shlissel 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 shlissel[30] 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.[31]

The earliest written source for this custom is the sefer Ohev Yisrael by Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heshel, 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.[31]

The custom has been criticized for allegedly having its source in Christian or pagan practices.[32]

Challah rolls, known as a bilkele or bulkele or bilkel or bulkel (plural: bilkelekh; Yiddish: בילקעלע) or 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.