Challah bread co-op

We had a co-op today to make Challah bread. Our homeschooling friends are Messianic Jews that follow tradition, and it was so much fun to learn how to make the bread and the rituals that accompany it.

According to Jewish law, every Jew must eat three meals on Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath). Traditionally, a "meal" must include bread, so observant Jews eat challah at the beginning of their Shabbat meals. As with any other type of bread, the blessing, "Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha'olam, hamotzi lechem min ha'aretz" is recited before the challah is eaten. Translated, this means, "Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth".

Maisie did such a fantastic job! Here are some pictures:

As we were leaving, the family was preparing their loaves of Challah bread as their Shabbat began just a few hours after our co-op (sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday). Maisie learned much about their traditions, such as the fact that they do not use knives to cut the bread on Shabbat because knives are a symbol of violence and war; instead, the bread is torn off by hand.

When our friends post their recipe, I will post it here. It's very yummy!