Learning to bake challah, with a little Jewish tradition SUUDER

MANSFIELD — On its own, challah is a soft, lightly sweetened loaf of bread. That’s only part of it. Ask anyone who is Jewish about challah, and you’ll hear about tradition, responsibility, family, childhood memories, the Sabbath, bar mitzvahs, and other celebrations, and holidays (except for the upcoming Passover table).
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Over 350 women with all levels of baking experience came together for the Mega Challah Bake on March 18 in Mansfield to learn the time-honored ritual of mixing, kneading, and braiding the bread. The Bake, a collaboratiion of the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Boston, Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, and Chabad Jewish Center in Mansfield, cost $20, and featured a hands-on lesson, plus a challah to take home, along with a bit of history and tradition. Making challah, the guests learned, is a mitzvah — or good deed — in Judaism. The process involves tearing off some uncooked dough and saying a prayer (bracha) before the loaf bakes. “The experience of making challah is a ritual, and an opportunity to have people come together, share experiences, and make memories,” said Fiona Epstein, vice president of Youth Services and Adult Engagement at JCC. Teaching baking techniques to hundreds of women at once might have been a tough task, but the Bake was cleverly structured. Each table featured 10 guests and one leader, and the ingredients — flour, yeast, salt, water, sugar, oil — were already portioned and labeled. Tsivi Kivman, a challah guru from Mansfield, stood on stage and gave instructions on how to mix and knead the dough. As ingredients were added, Kivman explained their symbolic significance. For oil, she said, “On the one hand, it spreads quickly and easily, seeping through and permeating the substances with which it comes in contact. On the other hand, when mixed with other liquids, oil stubbornly rises to the surface and refuses to be absorbed by anything else.” When adding oil to the dough, she said, “think about integrating Jewish values into your daily life.