As anyone who has ever taken part in a Shabbos meal knows, Challah is much more than just a fancy loaf of bread. After Kiddush is made on Friday night or Shabbos day, challah is the first food to enter a person’s mouth, to signal the beginning of the meal.

Rabbi Chaim Neiditch, Director of Southern Region JSU, visited over a dozen clubs at high school around Greater Atlanta, teaching kids about the significance and origins of challah. Ensuring that the sessions left a sweet taste in their mouths, everyone had a blast making their own challahs out of dough, rolling, matting, shaping, and finally braiding them before placing them into ovens to bake.

While the delicious aromas swept through the room, teens learned that the concept of challah originally came from the manna from Heaven that G-d provided to the Jews in the desert after the Exodus. Today, it symbolizes G-d’s continued sustaining of his Chosen People. For most of the participants, it was their first time making challah, and especially after tasting their handiwork, it will probably not be their last either!