Jewish brides make challah on their wedding day

Video Description

Have you seen this before? Jewish brides baking bread in their full wedding gowns—kneading dough, even in the ballroom? It’s not for the wedding feast. It’s a tradition. Jewish women have three special mitzvahs (commandments) just for them. One is lighting candles on Friday night for Shabbes, often with the family gathered around. Another is going to the mikvah, the ritual bath, after their period—this is for married women only. The third is making challah, the traditional Shabbes bread. When women make challah, they perform hafrashat challah—setting aside a small piece of dough and burning it. In ancient times, this was given to the priests. Today, it’s a symbolic act, done with a blessing. In Orthodox Judaism, a bride’s wedding day is the holiest day of her life. Her prayers are said to carry special power. So when she does hafrashat challah and says the blessing, it becomes a moving moment of hope and prayer—as if the heavens are open to her. And later, there will be bread. Delicious.