Challah is a big deal. Jewish women get really excited about challah.
Except what we know as "challah" isn't really "challah."
The actual, correct, appropriate translation of "challah" is the portion that was taken off dough to be given to the Kohanim. The remaining majority of that dough was made into lechem for everyone else.
For thousands of years, Jewish women made simple loaves of bread. Then, in the 1500s, braided bread became trendy in Europe, and Jewish women jumped on the bandwagon. The trend never left, to the point that we sometimes think that the only bread that can be made for Shabbos must be braided. Only Sephardim who have not been exposed to Ashekenazi mishaggassen have loaves on their Shabbos tables.
The mitzvah is to take the challah off dough, and as long as that dough will become bread and has the minimum amount of flour, the mitzvah can be done.
But since challah is now braided challah bread, many women can find the skill daunting. Ma actually did not make challah bread until a neighbor found out, ordered her to come over to her house, and taught her.
Yet the mitzvah is not so inaccessible. If yeast and water and flour are chucked into a bowl, you've got dough to take challah from. So give it a try. And maybe, one day, if you feel like it, you can try braiding it too.
It's not exactly mishegassen. The custom of the 6 braid has a pretty solid reason. It's supposed to remind us of the 12 lechem hapanim in the Beis Hamikdosh - 6 braid times 2 challahs.
ReplyDeleteAs I was typing this, I was thinking of all the people I know who braid 3 or 4 stranded challahs, and I thought that those must be mishegassen. So I googled it, and it turns out there are traditional explanations for each of those!
But yeah, it's only a custom - not halacha. So you can throw a lump of dough into the oven, and you're good.