Challah

In most observant Jewish homes, the mother begins the Friday evening Sabbath meal by lighting candles and the father recites a blessing over the challah, a plaited bread enriched with oil and eggs. The plaited shape of the loaf symbolises the bond between man and the deity and is always used - except for Rosh Hashanah, the celebration of the New Year, when a spiralled round challah is baked to recall the continuous circuit of time and Passover, when matzo, the unleavene