Challah on the Brain

I've got challah on the brain...and in my belly! When most people (Jews and non-Jews alike) think about the quintessential Jewish foods, challah is usually somewhere near the top of the list. Even folks who may have never eaten or seen a loaf of challah...or ever met anyone Jewish, likely know that challah is something that is in someway connected with Jewish culture and carb consumption. It's become a part of our North American Pop Culture lexicon.

Three braids, six braids, or twelve braids. Round or oval. Sliced or ripped. Shaped like a key with a hole in it...or not. Raisins, saffron, chocolate, cheese, anise, poppy seeds, sugar and more sugar. What is and is not considered challah can be a hotly debated topic, and how challah has evolved, not just since its biblical origin story, but even just over the last several decades is a fascinating tale...one that far better researchers and writers than I have covered in countless books and articles.

However, what most people (Jews and non-Jews alike) may be less aware of is that in many parts of the world, challah (as we think of it), is not a part of the Jewish table at all. Since the majority of North American Jews are of Ashkenazi heritage (broadly referring to those of us whose ancestors emigrated from Eastern Europe), we tend to envision only those things associated with Ashkenazi culture as "Jewish", challah being one of them, yet globally the characteristics of what makes up Jewish culture and heritage are far more expansive.

For example, my bubbies and zedas ate challah on Shabbat, spoke Yiddish, and would kvetch and futz as they schlepped their tuchases to shul to kibitz and schmooze with the rest of the mishpocheh of yentas, shlemiels, shlimazels, shmendriks, and mentches and kvell over their shayna maidels and boychiks. Oy, the mishegas! Yiddish is merely one of several "Jewish" languages spoken around the world. Like matzo ball soup and gefilte fish it's part of Ashkenazi Jewish culture. Yet, go to one the Jewish communities in Zimbabwe or India, and they likely wouldn't know what the heck you were talking about. Challah is also predominantly a part of Ashkenazi Jewish culture. Yet, every other Jewish community out there around the world has always had some sort of bread-related food on their Shabbat table...AND, just because we may have never eaten, seen, or heard of them doesn't make them any less Jewish than the challah that we've all come to love.

We are a dispersed people. Throughout our history we've been forced out or chased out of most parts of the world. This has also made us a diverse people. Every place we've sought sanctuary we've brought along our culture and traditions, and over time, like all immigrants and refugees since the dawn of humankind, those traditions have blended with those of the cultures around us. Traditional challah (not the super sweet variety that most of us associate with Shabbat), has similar characteristics with other Eastern European bread products. The same goes for the foods of Sephardic, Mizrahi, and every other flavor of Jewish community out there. The Torah is our constant, unchanging port in the storm, everything else evolves with necessity.

Sadly, many (arguably most) of these varied Jewish communities no longer exist in the lands they have come to call home. We've returned to most European countries after having been officially expelled by their governments at various times, but certainly not all. Will we ever return to Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, or Afghanistan, (all of which we can trace our history back for thousands of years), in the same way that we eventually returned to England, Hungary, Spain, and Portugal? Who knows.

Back to the bread!!! I want to keep this light and fluffy like a nice, fresh-baked challah. So, even though you can no longer any Jews left in Somalia or Libya to break bread with, one place to experience and eat every type of Jewish food (and bread product) from every Jewish community from every corner of every country around the world is in Israel. Many of these unique and varied Jewish communities only now exist in Israel, and they have brought with them and continue to maintain their traditions, languages, cultures, hopes and dreams...and their breads. How cool would it be to one day do a Jewish Breads of the World tour in Israel.

Below are a small sampling of websites with information and recipes for the challah alternatives enjoyed by our Jewish brothers and sisters from other countries.

Morocco:

https://koshercowboy.com/breads/perlas-challah-bread/

https://marocmama.com/moroccan-challah-bread-recipe/

Ethiopia:

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/the-nosher/how-to-make-dabo-the-festive-ethiopian-jewish-bread/

https://andreasgardencooking.com/2016/11/12/bereketei-ethiopian-sabbath-bread/

Yemen:

https://breadtopia.com/kubaneh-jewish-yemeni-bread/

https://www.food.com/recipe/mahlouach-yemenite-pancakes-183087

Iraq:

https://citycongregation.org/programs-and-presentations/shabbat/shabbat-cultural-program-iraqi-jewish-bread-khubz-tawa/

Greece