challah

Meaning

Noun

• A traditional bread eaten by Ashkenazi Jews, usually braided for the Sabbath and round for Yom Tov.
• The commandment to separate a portion of bread or bread dough for the cohanim (Numbers 15:17–21); in contemporary practice, the portion is burned until inedible.
• The portion separated in fulfillment of the above.

Origin

• From Hebrew חַלָּה, influenced by Yiddish חלה.