Holy Challah! 35-Foot Attempt To Break Guinness World Record Displayed on UWS

By Gus Saltonstall

Imagine braiding a 35-foot challah. Imagine baking one. You’d probably set a world record.

That’s what the group that came together to create such a humongous challah hopes. The large (to say the least) loaf was unveiled and displayed at Congregation Rodeph Sholom on West 83rd Street last Friday, with hopes that it will soon be certified by Guinness World Records as the longest challah ever created.

If Guinness World Records accepts the measurement and video evidence, the 35-foot, two-inch bread, would break the world record that is currently held by the 32-foot-long challah created in 2019 by Grandma Moses Bakery and the Jewish National Fund in Australia.

While it was unveiled and displayed on the Upper West Side, the loaf was created in Brooklyn and New Jersey.

Strauss Bakery, a kosher bakery in Borough Park, Brooklyn, made the more than 200 pounds of dough, and undertook the arduous task of braiding the 35 feet of challah. The bread was then trucked to a commercial kitchen in New Jersey, where a 40-foot-long tunnel oven was used to bake the bread.

The loaf was created in a collaboration between the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and the Orthodox Union. It was made in honor of “Shabbat of Love,” which is a JFNA initiative to help Jewish families organize and host thousands of Shabbat dinners.

The challah was the brainchild of Sarah Eisenman, the chief officer of community for Jewish Federations of North America, who wanted to create a “record-breaking activity” to go along with the initiative. After first considering the world’s largest Shabbat dinner, she refocused on the easier-to-accomplish challah record, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

And why did Rodeph Sholem have the honor of hosting the challah at an all-school Shabbat assembly on Friday? That’s where Eisenman’s children attend school.

Safe to say the kids were impressed.