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Memories of Sabbath
 Challah for Sabbath, ordinary bread for the rest of the week
“Oh, they were really beautiful. Mother had a way of braiding bread with eight braids which is unusual in itself and then she would gloss over the top of the bread with the yolk of egg and when the bread was baked it would come out shiny and golden.”
Hyman Greenstein, manuscript, 1954. Greenstein grew up on a farm in North Minneapolis, Minnesota around 1900. Courtesy of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest.
Sabbath traditions change in a land where Sunday is the day of rest
“You know my parents... had to keep their grocery store open on Shabbas... So Friday nights, we would retreat into the back room, light the candles as if Shabbas had come for all of us, and then my father would go back to tend the store.”
Rose Barzon Goldman, manuscript, 1975. Goldman grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the 1910s. Courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society.
“Picture in your mind a Friday...
The men of the house have come in from the fields earlier than on [the] other days. The chores are completed. Everyone has cleaned up and put on fresh clothes... Now all is ready for the Sabbath prayer, and then the delicious food. My Mother places a beautiful embroidered shawl over her head and lights the Sabbath candles, softly chanting the prayer. Father fills the wine glasses... raises his Kiddish cup and recites the Kiddish prayer. The Challah is cut... The food is served. Contentment and peace reign in the home.”
Sylvia Kremen Rosenberg, manuscript, 1976. Sylvia Kremen Rosenberg's family farmed near Wilton, North Dakota, roughly between 1900 and 1920. Courtesy of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest.
top photo: Sophie Frishberg slicing a challah at the St. Paul Jewish Community Center, about 1965. Courtesy of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest.
inset photo: Lighting the Sabbath candles. Courtesy of Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest.
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