Challah-bread tradition lives on with Peoria group
Warm, homemade bread straight from the oven is a common tradition for many families during the holiday season, but bread symbolizes much more for those of the Jewish faith.
More specifically, challah bread, an often braided egg bread.
About 20 women gathered Tuesday at a Vistancia home in north Peoria to spread the love and make challah bread a day ahead of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana.
Northwest Valley Jewish Women’s Circle makes challah bread
Cooking 101: How to make braided challah
The women, young and old, are part of the Northwest Valley Jewish Women’s Circle. They gathered around the kitchen table and counter, measuring flour, kneading dough in bowls, laughing and coming together around this Jewish tradition.
Rosh Hashana, which marks the “head of the year” for the Jewish religion, began at sundown Wednesday.
“It’s not only a time of celebration, but also sets a tone for the rest of the year,” said Sholom Lew, the rabbi at Chabad of the Northwest Valley in Glendale, where the women attend services.
During the holiday, Jews typically attend services, accept the sovereignty of God and focus on the changes they need to make to live a more perfect life, he said.
Most Jews partake in the bread every Sabbath, but it’s a little different during the holiday season, said Norbert Samuelson, a professor of religious studies at Arizona State University. For Rosh Hashana, the braided bread is made into a circular shape, he said.
The circle, with no beginning or end, symbolizes perfection, which is what Jewish people strive for during the holiday, he said.
The circular shape also looks like a crown, Chana Lew said. The shape not only represents perfection, but the crowning of God, she said.
Chana Lew, the rabbi’s wife, organized the Tuesday bread-making to teach the women about the bread and how to prepare it.
Bread is a nutritional staple, she said. As bread represents life, by consuming the challah bread, Jews believe it gives spiritual nutrition, she said.
Chana Lew said it’s important for today’s Jewish women to know how to prepare the special bread, as it is one of the three main responsibilities for a Jewish woman. The women also light candles on the Sabbath and holidays and are supposed to bring holiness to the family.
While challah bread is eaten during every Sabbath, the loaves are more plentiful during Rosh Hashana. This is to remind people that God takes care of his people, she said.
“It sets a statement that everything we have actually comes from God,” Chana Lew said.
Each women Tuesday made two loaves of bread. Chana Lew said they’re calling them “loaves of love,” because each woman took one loaf home to her family and gave the other to someone in need.
“The goal is to uplift our families,” she said.
