There is a custom in Jewish communities to bake a Shlissel Challah (Yiddish for key) for the Shabbos after Pesach. These Challos are best known as a segula for parnasa and livelihood, though there are other reasons for it.
There is a minhag to bake shlissel challah (shlissel means key in Yiddish) for the Shabbos after Pesach. Shlisel challos are best known as a segula for parnasa, though there are other reasons for it.
Some bake the challah with an actual key inside, some make the challah in the shape of a key and some put sesame seeds on top in the form of a key. There are those who make the challah flat to look like matzos. We will discuss this later on. The Ohev Yisroel says about shlisel challah that “the minhagim of our fathers are most definitely Torah”.
There are many reasons given for this minhag of baking shlissel challah; we will go through some of them. (Some of the items written below can also be found in Taamei Minhagim, Nitei Gavriel, Sefer Hatoda’a and Minhag Yisroel Torah)
First of all, the second mishna in Rosh Hashanah says on Pesach we are judged on the grains, parnasa. Rabbeinu Nissim asks if we are judged on Rosh Hashana then how are we judged on Pesach? He answers that on Pesach it is determined how much grain there will be in the coming year for the world, but on Rosh Hashana it is decided how much of that grain each individual receives. The Meiri, however, says that on Rosh Hashana it is decided if one will live or die, suffer or not and other such things, but on Pesach is when we are judged on the grains. Based on this there are customs in Sephardic communities to do things Motzei Pesach as a sign that we want Hashem to give us livelihood.
In Aram Soba (Syria) and Turkey they put wheat kernels in all four corners of the house on Motzei Pesach as a sign of prosperity for the coming year. (Moed L’kol Chai -R’ Chaim Palagi, Beis Habichira). From a mishna we already see that there is a connection between Pesach and parnasa.
Different ways of making Shlissel Challah
As mentioned above there are those that make the challah round and flattish for this Shabbos, in the image of matza.
Some make the challah in the shape of a key.
Some attach a piece of dough in the shape of a key. Breslov Customs for Pesach (page 57) says this is the minhag of the family of Reb Elazar Kenig shlita and of Manistritch.
Sefer Hatoda’ah mentions making the image of a key with sesame seeds on top of the challah. These first three customs can, perhaps, be seen from the wording of the Ohev Yisroel in one place where he says we put the image of a key on the challah.
Some place an actual key in the challah. Perhaps this is done because of the wording in many places of indenting the challah with a key.
Either way it is done the key or image of the key is usually on top. An interesting observation about this. The Gemara quoted by the Yismach Yisroel (reason 6), about the key, is at the top of daf 31b. At the bottom of the daf is the mishna mentioning the women’s mitzvah of challah. Here too, the key is on top and the challah on the bottom.
Step by step tutorial on how to shape your challah dough into a key by Joy of Kosher.
“Shtisel” Shlissel Challah by Fleishigs Magazine
When discussing how to present the Fleishigs version of the shlissel Challah, we couldn’t help but laugh at how shlissel and Shtissel (an Israeli television drama series about a fictional Jewish family living in Geula, Jerusalem) sounded one and the same. This inspired our Shtisel Shlissel Challah. The most common food enjoyed on the show by Kiveh and his friends is kugel and pickles at Anshen, the local eatery. We sugared & peppered beef fry to mimic the sweet, peppery notes synonymous with Yerushalmi Kugel and folded it into an egg challah, which we glazed with more egg, sugar and pepper and served it with pickles. Chasdei Hashem! Now if only Anshen had this on the menu? Shkoyach!
Challah:
? 3 lbs. ready to use challah dough
? 2 4-oz. packages beef fry
? ½ c. brown sugar (light or dark)
? 2 tbsp black pepper
? 1 aluminum 8” tube pan
? 1 aluminum 9” loaf pan
? 1 aluminum 3” mini loaf pan
Egg Wash:
? 1 egg, lightly beaten
? 1 tbsp sugar
? 2 tsp black pepper
1️⃣ Preheat oven to 350 F. Place beef fry on baking tray. (Lay an oven-safe cooling rack over baking tray for even crispier beef fry.)
2️⃣ Sprinkle sugar and black pepper over beef fry and roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until crunchy and caramelized. Allow to cool for a bit and then finely chop beef fry.
3️⃣ Place dough in stand mixer with a dough hook attachment (or do this by hand) and add beef fry bits into mixer. Mix for 3 minutes, until beef fry is fully incorporated into dough.
4️⃣ Cut 3 inch opening in the tube pan, loaf pan and mini loaf pan and connect them together on a baking tray to create a key-like shape.
5️⃣ Use one-third of challah dough to create a 3-braid challah and place around tube pan, sealing it into a circle. (Before sealing, slice a 3-inch piece of the 3-braid challah to use as the edge of the key. Set aside.)
6️⃣ Shape remaining dough into a 4-braid challah and place in loaf pan, connecting the circle and braid by pinching edges together and placing end of braid under the challah circle.
7️⃣ Place reserved 3-braid into mini loaf pan. Allow dough to rise another 30 min at room temperature. Combine egg, sugar and black pepper. Brush over challah dough.
8️⃣ Bake for 30 min. Remove from oven and reglaze with remaining egg-pepper wash. Bake for another 10-15 min or until challah is golden brown.
Allow to cool before slicing.
Serve with pickles.
This is not the minhag of Chabad and the Rebbe.
I saw that there were two comments and I knew with 100% certainty that the first comment would say that this isn’t Chabad’s minhag. So tell me – does it harm us to make a challah in the shape of a key?
Does it harm us to wear a shtreimel, have long payos and long white socks?? Let’s just blend in to all other sects.
Not even close to the same thing.
But its not an “Aveira” either (if you do so….
It isn’t a minhag of Chabad but if it is a minhag of a person’s family they should continue it.
So is it minhag Chabad or not?
It isn’t. It actually has Christian sources
Source for this?
can you substantiate this claim please? which christian sources?
http://www.mesora.org/Shlissel.html “Keys were traditionally manufactured in the form of a cross, the traditional symbol of Christianity,[8] a physical item all Christian commoners would posses in their home.[9] On Easter, the Christian holiday which celebrates the idea of J ‘rising’ from the dead, they would bake the symbol of J —the key shaped like a cross—into or onto a rising loaf.[10] This was not only a religious gesture, but the bread was a special holiday treat. Sometimes these breads were wholly formed in the shape of a cross; other times the shape of a cross was made out of dough and… Read more »
…he’ll see tum’ah everywhere. So yes, if this guy has crosses on his mind, he’ll see everything as containing a cross. Next he (and you) will be saying that having windows with panes in your house comes from Christian sources…
The Minhag chabad is to argue on collive as to whether it is appropraite to do shlissel challah.
Takke Every year
Brings the Minhag from the Oheiv Yisroel, the Apta Rov (a talmid of the Maggid