How to Take Challah

Before challah is baked, it can be taken.

The practice of tithing or "taking" part of something one has and giving that part to God is well established in Jewish religious literature. The first five books of the Bible, or the Torah, mandate that one-tenth of a Jewish person's crop be given to a levitical priest as a tithe. When it comes to bread such as challah, the Torah does not specify an exact amount that must be taken, but only that a part be separated from the whole and given to God.

Things You'll Need

• Challah dough

Instructions

1. Weigh your challah dough; if you have more than five pounds, or an "omer" worth (omer is the standard unit of food measurement in the Torah), you must separate, or take, one part out of the whole. If your dough weighs less than two and a half pounds, you do not have to take a part away.

2. When kneading challah dough that weighs more than five pounds, the baker must recite a blessing for the taking of the challah which says "who sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to separate challah."

3. After kneading, but before baking challah that is made from only five specific grains (wheat, oats, rye, spelt and barley), the part should be taken. Do not take the part before kneading nor after baking.

4. Understand that this custom is intended to remind the baker of his or her reliance on God and to connect the mundane act of food preparation to the sovereignty of God, as owner of all the earth. Do not eat the challah that is taken but rather burn it to the point that it is inedible.

References

• Chabad: The Details About Separating Challah