Challah bake: Celebrating with bread
Katherine Mansfield/For the 缅北禁地
Batya Rosenblum, who co-directs Chabad of the South Hills with her husband, Rabbi Mendy Rosenblum, leads women in a challah bake Jan. 19. Women gathered to make one loaf for Loaves of Love and a second for themselves and their families in honor of Batya鈥檚 birthday.
Katherine Kaplan-Locke adds flour to her challah dough during a bread bake at Chabad of the South Hills Jan. 19.
Deb Berlin, of Upper St. Clair, kneads challah dough during a bread bake event at Chabad of the South Hills Jan. 19. The bread making experience benefitted Loaves of Love.
Katherine Mansfield/For the 缅北禁地
Challah bread鈥檚 seven ingredients symbolize the seven days of the week and represent aspects of life. For instance, flour symbolizes physical nourishment while sugar stands in for life鈥檚 sweetness.
Batya Rosenblum, center, explains the ritual of challah, breaking the first bit of dough off the batch, praying over and then burning it.
Batya Rosenblum explains challah rituals to women celebrating her birthday with a bread bake at Chabad of the South Hills Jan. 19.
Photos: Katherine Mansfield
Miriam Rosenblum, right, leads women in braiding challah dough during the bread bake birthday celebration for her mother-in-law, Batya Rosenblum, Jan. 19. Longtime family friend Deb Levy, left, artfully executes a three-strand braid.
Katherine Mansfield/For the 缅北禁地
Miriam Rosenblum demonstrates a four-strand challah braid during the bread bake event at Chabad SH Jan. 19.
Braided challah is coated lightly with an egg mixture and topped with sweet or savory seasonings.
Some celebrate a birthday by breaking bread with loved ones.
Batya Rosenblum celebrated by baking bread with friends old and new.
More than a dozen women gathered inside Chabad of the South Hills last month for an evening challah bake that benefitted Loaves of Love, which provides bread to older adults and others in need.
鈥淲e are all here to knead the dough of life with hands of love,鈥� said Rosenblum, who co-directs Chabad SH with her husband, Rabbi Mendel Rosenblum, as guests arrived. 鈥淚鈥檝e been doing women鈥檚 events for 24 years. There is a special tradition of the power of women doing this mitzvah (good deed).鈥�
Jewish women have for centuries baked challah, a tradition dating to the Israelites鈥� exodus from Egypt, when manna fell from the heavens. The bread is often associated with holidays like Rosh Hashanah; indeed, it plays an integral role in celebrations. But the fluffy, braided bread that can be enjoyed with sweet or savory toppings is also served weekly in Jewish homes during Shabbat, or the Sabbath.
With such a rich history, it follows, then, that baking challah is more than mixing, stirring, kneading and baking. The act of baking challah bread is symbolic and meditative.
鈥淲e call it our bread of life,鈥� said Adah Schall, a longtime friend of Rosenblum鈥檚 and a member of Chabad SH. 鈥淲e use it in all of our holidays and all of our blessings. We feed our souls with our challah. It鈥檚 food, it鈥檚 nourishment. God feeds all of us. The bread, for us, is a joyous meal as well as it means something spiritually.鈥�
The seven ingredients used to make challah dough represent the seven days in a week, and seven aspects of life.
Sugar, Rosenblum explained, symbolizes life鈥檚 sweetness, and the yeast, which helps dough rise, represents a prayer for a family鈥檚 or individual鈥檚 growth. Flour is symbolic of physical blessings; eggs represent the blessings of life and children, and salt鈥檚 a symbol for rebuke.
鈥淲ater represents the Torah. It鈥檚 our greatest gift,鈥� Rosenblum said.
The birthday girl led a discussion on gratitude 鈥� 鈥渉ave an attitude of gratitude,鈥� she encouraged 鈥� while waiting for the challah dough to rise. Before braiding the challah which, when baked, is as pretty as it is delicious, the ladies gathered in the Chabad kitchen, where Rosenblum broke off a small piece of the batch, comprised of each individual鈥檚 dough, and prayed.
鈥淚t鈥檚 great to eat challah. It鈥檚 important to clarify it鈥檚 not the eating that is holy, it鈥檚 the separation of the dough. The first of our dough shall be given to God,鈥� Rosenblum said, quoting the Torah鈥檚 Book of Numbers. 鈥淲e take off that first piece, we say a blessing and we actually burn it. The first piece actually does not belong to me. It all comes from Hashem. A person can鈥檛 take anything physical with him when he leaves this world.鈥�
But the women celebrating Batya Rosenblum鈥檚 birthday in communion with one another did take one ready-to-bake challah with them when the party ended. Rosenblum鈥檚 daughter-in-law, Miriam Rosenblum, led a challah dough-braiding demonstration and conversation flowed as women鈥檚 fingers weaved three- and four-strand braids with the dough.
鈥淪alt of the earth isn鈥檛 nice enough for them (the Rosenblums),鈥� said Deb Levy, of Upper Saint Clair, a family friend for more than two decades. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 even tell you how many things I鈥檝e done, the amount of Shabbat dinners we鈥檝e made. She brings us together. We鈥檙e always doing something nice.鈥�
Dough braids complete, women topped their challah loaves with everything seasoning or a sweet crumble, left one loaf on the table for Loaves of Love and headed out with a warm 鈥渉appy birthday鈥� or 鈥渢hank you鈥� or 鈥済ood night!鈥�
When the last of her guests had taken their challah and gone, Batya Rosenblum cleaned the workspace with an easiness.
鈥淲hen you think about your birthday, you think about the person who gave birth to you,鈥� Rosenblum said, noting this is her second birthday without her mother, who passed in November 2021. 鈥淚 thought of a mitzvah that鈥檚 connected to Jewish women. It was amazing.鈥�
To learn more about Chabad of South Hills services and upcoming events, visit https://www.chabadsh.com/.