Comments on: My challah journey http://jcarrot.org/my-challah-journey/ Jews, Food, and Contemporary Issues Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:21:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 By: Noa Heyman http://jcarrot.org/my-challah-journey/#comment-182 Noa Heyman Thu, 08 Feb 2007 20:38:39 +0000 http://jcarrot.org/my-challah-journey/#comment-182 1/This blog is great! Ben and Anna and Phyllis, you were all right. 2/Phyllis, might you consider posting your fabulous challah recipe? As one of your LimmudNY students, I am cautiously optimistic I may bake challah for a second time one day. It was truly superb. 1/This blog is great! Ben and Anna and Phyllis, you were all right.
2/Phyllis, might you consider posting your fabulous challah recipe? As one of your LimmudNY students, I am cautiously optimistic I may bake challah for a second time one day. It was truly superb.

]]> By: Edith Stevenson http://jcarrot.org/my-challah-journey/#comment-125 Edith Stevenson Thu, 25 Jan 2007 06:33:23 +0000 http://jcarrot.org/my-challah-journey/#comment-125 My response is to my blessed daughter's comments: I guess we all choose our priorities. I tried to work my schedule to be able to be home by noon or 1:00 on Fridays, to make the challah (yes, only most weeks, not all of them), and a slightly more special dinner for Friday night because that warm fuzzy feeling on Shabbat was more important to me than whatever work I might have still done the last day of the week. And when I started doing lots of cooking at the Shul, for Kiddush lunches, you kids reminded me how if I made our challah there, the house didn't smell of fresh baked bread when you came home from school! And one totally different note, to add to Phyllis' 10 year journey, filled with all kinds of errors and omissions: once I too forgot the yeast until the dough was all mixed. I thought I could sprinkle some on the dough, and just work it in a bit, let it rise, and hope for the best. It didn't. I braided it anyway, thinking maybe in the baking it would become more than a pretzel. While it was Slightly better, it was definitely smaller than the usual. I told the family of my probable failure, and begged for forgiveness. I put the hard little thing on the board and covered with our precious cloth. After the Kiddush, my 10 year old son, with his budding sense of humour, lifted the cover to say the Motzi, and started out, "Yitgadal, v'yitkadash, sh'mei rabbah........" In playful laughter, I was forgiven. My response is to my blessed daughter’s comments: I guess we all choose our priorities. I tried to work my schedule to be able to be home by noon or 1:00 on Fridays, to make the challah (yes, only most weeks, not all of them), and a slightly more special dinner for Friday night because that warm fuzzy feeling on Shabbat was more important to me than whatever work I might have still done the last day of the week. And when I started doing lots of cooking at the Shul, for Kiddush lunches, you kids reminded me how if I made our challah there, the house didn’t smell of fresh baked bread when you came home from school!

And one totally different note, to add to Phyllis’ 10 year journey, filled with all kinds of errors and omissions: once I too forgot the yeast until the dough was all mixed. I thought I could sprinkle some on the dough, and just work it in a bit, let it rise, and hope for the best. It didn’t. I braided it anyway, thinking maybe in the baking it would become more than a pretzel. While it was Slightly better, it was definitely smaller than the usual. I told the family of my probable failure, and begged for forgiveness. I put the hard little thing on the board and covered with our precious cloth. After the Kiddush, my 10 year old son, with his budding sense of humour, lifted the cover to say the Motzi, and started out, “Yitgadal, v’yitkadash, sh’mei rabbah……..” In playful laughter, I was forgiven.

]]> By: Nigel http://jcarrot.org/my-challah-journey/#comment-121 Nigel Wed, 24 Jan 2007 20:30:02 +0000 http://jcarrot.org/my-challah-journey/#comment-121 And all this challah-talk is making me hungry... :-) Nige x And all this challah-talk is making me hungry…

:-)

Nige x

]]> By: Phyllis Bieri http://jcarrot.org/my-challah-journey/#comment-118 Phyllis Bieri Wed, 24 Jan 2007 15:19:09 +0000 http://jcarrot.org/my-challah-journey/#comment-118 Sharon -- I am inspired by your beautiful response. Thanks for reminding me to meditate a bit more, and be thankful for the process. Sharon — I am inspired by your beautiful response. Thanks for reminding me to meditate a bit more, and be thankful for the process.

]]> By: Phyllis Bieri http://jcarrot.org/my-challah-journey/#comment-117 Phyllis Bieri Wed, 24 Jan 2007 15:14:56 +0000 http://jcarrot.org/my-challah-journey/#comment-117 Anna -- I totally agree. If I were a single parent, baking challah might be impossible. It's all economics. But it's also about priorities. I have several students who mix the dough Thursday night and let the first rise happen overnight in the fridge. If I worked a full day on Friday and had my kids in daycare, I still couldn't do it, though. Unless I had a husband who could shape the braids, or a babysitter, or a neighbor.... Did someone once say something about it taking a village? The nuclear family thing can be vicious, particularly for working women. I once considered quitting my very rewarding job because my family was not eating enough home cooked meals every night. I am incredibly lucky to be able to work 3 days a week. The whole family benefits. Anna — I totally agree. If I were a single parent, baking challah might be impossible. It’s all economics. But it’s also about priorities. I have several students who mix the dough Thursday night and let the first rise happen overnight in the fridge. If I worked a full day on Friday and had my kids in daycare, I still couldn’t do it, though. Unless I had a husband who could shape the braids, or a babysitter, or a neighbor…. Did someone once say something about it taking a village? The nuclear family thing can be vicious, particularly for working women. I once considered quitting my very rewarding job because my family was not eating enough home cooked meals every night. I am incredibly lucky to be able to work 3 days a week. The whole family benefits.

]]> By: Sharon Lebewohl http://jcarrot.org/my-challah-journey/#comment-115 Sharon Lebewohl Wed, 24 Jan 2007 02:52:51 +0000 http://jcarrot.org/my-challah-journey/#comment-115 I make Challah almost every Friday and for me, it is a major part of the Shabbat experience. I also prefer to do all the kneading by hand, but that may be because I also love playing with my food. It is a very spiritual experience and it helps me feel connected with Jewish women all over the world. I love to light the Shabbat candles with the smell of freshly baked challah in the air. When my children were little, I gave them each playdough which became their make believe challah dough. Sometimes we shaped the dough into the letters of their names. While the dough is rising, I often pray or meditate and it is the time that I feel closest to God. My daughter-in-law is pregnant and it is important to her to bake challah every Friday, especially now. She is on bedrest, so we've been sharing the experience together, often right in the bedroom. I make Challah almost every Friday and for me, it is a major part of the Shabbat experience. I also prefer to do all the kneading by hand, but that may be because I also love playing with my food. It is a very spiritual experience and it helps me feel connected with Jewish women all over the world. I love to light the Shabbat candles with the smell of freshly baked challah in the air. When my children were little, I gave them each playdough which became their make believe challah dough. Sometimes we shaped the dough into the letters of their names. While the dough is rising, I often pray or meditate and it is the time that I feel closest to God. My daughter-in-law is pregnant and it is important to her to bake challah every Friday, especially now. She is on bedrest, so we’ve been sharing the experience together, often right in the bedroom.

]]> By: Anna Stevenson http://jcarrot.org/my-challah-journey/#comment-111 Anna Stevenson Tue, 23 Jan 2007 21:06:08 +0000 http://jcarrot.org/my-challah-journey/#comment-111 I also grew up with my mom making challah often. Not every friday, but most. And I loved it - my whole family did. But I wonder now...breadbaking takes time. It's hard to be a mother, and work a full-time job -- and be expected to bake bread on Friday afternoon -- as well as make dinner and everything else! So I want to celebrate challah but at the same time I'm wary of this nostalgic "mother used to bake bread" vision that floats around when we think not only about Shabbat but about all the meals we eat, and yearn for hearty, non-commercial, homemade fare. Because, in fact, mother is doing a thousand other things, and she just might not have time! Mothers out there -- what do you think? I also grew up with my mom making challah often. Not every friday, but most. And I loved it - my whole family did.

But I wonder now…breadbaking takes time. It’s hard to be a mother, and work a full-time job — and be expected to bake bread on Friday afternoon — as well as make dinner and everything else!

So I want to celebrate challah but at the same time I’m wary of this nostalgic “mother used to bake bread” vision that floats around when we think not only about Shabbat but about all the meals we eat, and yearn for hearty, non-commercial, homemade fare. Because, in fact, mother is doing a thousand other things, and she just might not have time!

Mothers out there — what do you think?

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