Loaves of Torah: Exploring the Jewish Year Through Challah
Rabbi Vanessa M. Harper
CCAR Press Nov 17, 2023
360 pages
Review by: E. Broderick
The holiday of Simhat Torah is almost upon us. For those unfamiliar with Jewish prayer services, every week we read aloud a portion of the Torah starting in sequence from Genesis and ending in Deuteronomy. Simhat Torah is the day on which we finish the cycle and immediately begin again, to show we are continually immersed in Torah, without beginning or end. It is a day of supreme joy as we dance with our sacred text and commit ourselves to its study.
That study can take several forms. There’s an old tradition that each week one should read the written word with Rashi commentary twice and then Targum once. My father had a special book for this practice, which he never failed to complete every week. Today, scrolling through social media, I’ve found several women who involve their children and Shabbat guests in this weekly Torah review by serving a dessert that is somehow linked to the Torah portion. It’s a fun guessing game in the comments as we all try to be the first to post the particular passuk- sentence- that inspired the confection. A similar concept in deployed in Rabbi Vanessa Harper’s Loaves of Torah.
Rabbi Harper’s medium of choice is challah. In the first portion of the book we are greeted by weekly photos of challot that have been braided, painted and molded into edible artworks reflective of that weeks Torah portion. Next to a very brief recap of the pissukim she chose to interpret, there is a series of creative exercises the reader can go through in a variety of mediums to creatively explore the Torah portion. While the challot often seem like a literal representation of the text, the explanations and exercises are often much more abstract. Indeed, it was also interesting for me to see how a reform Jew might move their way through the weekly readings as it was quite different from what I’m used to. It won’t replace my preferred form of learning, but it’s a valuable addition.
The second half of the book is devoted to challah techniques one can use in the process. The intro has an explanation of how the challah tradition got started in the first place and how different Jews have been using challah shapes seasonally almost as long as the bread itself has existed.
Loaves of Torah is the perfect read for the upcoming holiday because it inspires readers to look at the Torah in a new way, to engage everyone around them and create new interpretations for a new year of study. Hafoch ba V’hafoch ba dechulei ba – turn her over and over for all is within her.
Note: BookishlyJewish received a review copy of this book from the publisher.