Challah for the road!

We went to a family wedding last weekend. I haven’t been to a wedding in so long that I don’t actually remember the last one that I attended. It was a beautiful, both the wedding itself and the setting where my extended family all came together for the first time in a very long time.

I brought challah. Naturally!

I woke up early Friday morning at home to make a double batch of challah specifically to take with us. I made it in the merit of those that I would be gifting it to. Since we were driving, it would be easy to transport the challah with us.

I wanted to share these homemade challahs with my family. I call sharing challah “challah diplomacy” when I gift challahs to others. It’s one of the many ancillary benefits of making challah in the first place! Obviously challah nourishes us physically but the practice of making and sharing challah also nourishes us spiritually.

Making challah is one of the 613 mitzvot (good deeds) in Judaism, and there is a principle of enhancing these mitzvot aesthetically called “hiddur mitzvah”. You can beautify a mitzvah!

I love that.

So I’ve taken it to heart and when I gift my challah, I want it to look as beautiful as it tastes.

Along with the still-warm challahs resting on the baking sheet, I added therefore some clear cellophane bags, white ribbon and labels. I even remembered the scissors and a pen to write little messages! I wanted to wait until we got to our destination and the challahs had cooled before I individually wrapped and labeled them.

They rode up the I-5 alongside our wedding attire! It all felt rather festive.

That evening, I shared the challah.

I gave one to my brother and his wife, and one to my sister and her husband. The third challah was for my cousin and his wife, who were hosting the rehearsal dinner.

Before we even made it out of our hotel room, we had almost devoured one of my siblings challahs! Luckily the other two were still wrapped up, the ribbons securely tied. Otherwise, who knows? Maybe we would have just foregone the rehearsal dinner, stayed in, and eaten challah together that night.

I am glad saner heads prevailed.

When we got to my cousin’s house, I gave his wife the remaining challah. And she started to tear up. Actual tears. After hugging me and saying thank you, she told me how meaningful it was to receive a challah that I made just for them. And I realized then how different it would have been if I had just shown up with flowers, or some other hostess gift. A freshly made challah is different. And everyone knows it.

At the end of the evening, just as we were leaving, she pulled me aside again. Quickly and quietly she opened a cupboard in the kitchen. There sat the wrapped challah. “Sshhh,” she said. “I’m hiding this for us to have later!”

I didn’t tell anyone what I had seen; I kept her secret.