Baking Challa For Shabbos

is it really better to make challah for Shabbat or is it okay to buy it at a bakery?

Shalom!

Thank you for your question!

Among the enactments of Ezra the prophet was for women to bake their own Challa on Fridays. Doing so is considered to be very meritorious as not only is one honoring Shabbos by personally tending to a very important Shabbos need but it also allows one to fulfill the mitzva of hafrashas challa , “separating the portion of dough.” Indeed, some say that the reason that the Shabbos bread is called “challa” is to remind women to perform hafrashat challa when baking the bread. Baking bread at home, especially in honor of Shabbos, was also instituted to ensure that there will be bread available for the poor should they come asking.

One of the reasons that the challa should preferably be baked specifically on Fridays and not on any other day is because the mitzva of hafrashas challa serves to rectify the sin of Chava, which took place on the first Friday of creation. Doing so also serves to remind us that the Lechem Hapanim, the special “Showbreads” of the Beit Hamikdash were baked every Friday. It is completely acceptable, however, to bake the challas earlier in the week if necessary.

The custom of women baking challa was widespread in Talmudic times. Nowadays, however, it is not always convenient or practical for women to bake their own challas due to the many other family and household needs. As such, it is perfectly acceptable to buy challas nowadays. Furthermore, one of the reasons that the custom to bake challas was instituted was to ensure that the family ate pas Yisrael , Jewish-baked bread, at least on Shabbos. Although there are those who eat kosher bread baked by non-Jews, it is preferable to at least only eat pas Yisrael on Shabbos. However, all kosher bakeries today have the status of “pas Yisrael” rendering this concern no longer relevant.

Bava Kama 82a; Taanit 25a; Rambam, Hilchot Ishut 21:5; OC 529:1; Rema, OC 242:1; Mishna Berura 242:6; Magen Avraham 242:4; Chayei Adam , Shabbat 1:4; Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 38:8;