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July 13, 2012
Celiac disease and challah
Jewish rituals can be a challenge for those living gluten-free.
JAN LEE
Challah is a mainstay in the celebration of Jewish traditions, making an appearance at almost every major festivity on the Jewish calendar. It symbolizes the joy and peace of Shabbat, the continuity of a new year at Rosh Hashanah, the sweetness that we seek in our life and for the world. It is hard to imagine someone turning down a piece of this favorite confection. Harder still to believe is that there have been millions of Jews throughout history for whom eating this delicacy would be nothing short of perilous.
A significant number of Jews must abstain from eating challah – or matzah, hamantashen or any other such treat, for that matter – because of an autoimmune disease that wreaks havoc on the body when wheat is ingested. The affliction is called celiac disease, and its symptoms really don’t have anything to do with wheat per se, but with a protein that is present in wheat, rye, barley and spelt. Ingestion of gluten by someone with celiac disease triggers an autoimmune reaction that can ultimately herald the existence of other diseases, like malnutrition, osteoporosis and cancer.
It isn’t enough that these grains happen to be four of the five species that are used in hamotzi, baked bread. Modern food-processing techniques make the ingestion of oats – the fifth grain used in hamotzi – risky unless the oats have been processed in a gluten-free environment.
Gluten-free advocates often talk about the significant cost and difficulties that celiac disease can present, but few Jewish authors have centred on another danger: the sense of disconnect and alienation that can result from not being able to participate in traditions so intrinsic to one’s faith.
Sure, there are gluten-free challah recipes these days; hundreds, if not thousands, live on the Internet. And there is gluten-free shmurah oat matzah. There are also support groups, and a staggering number of Jewish cooks with their own personal appreciation of the trials of staying gluten-free. This alone suggests that a significant number of the estimated three million celiacs in the United States may be Jews. But, even in its best and most ornate form, gluten-free challah is just not the same as the buttery-sweet tradition that has been passed down through the ages.
Gluten is much more than a coincidental ingredient in bread. It is what allows us to braid the challah and build the many symbols into our holiday challot, such as the ladder or the roundness of a fulfilling new year. It is what, through synthesis with other ingredients, creates the fluffy, airy texture that we crave at Shabbat. The appearance alone of challah made without gluten represents a compromise, a symbol of something cherished, but not quite attained.
Gluten is also what allows matzah to stay together, but retain its flaky texture, and it is an intrinsic part of certain dishes on the seder table. Without gluten, dishes like chicken soup with matzah balls, gefilte fish and your bubbe’s fantastic Pesach cake are all the harder to make. Judaism is replete with symbols fashioned from gluten’s unique alchemy, and is amazingly bereft of kosher options to use in its stead.
Some holiday recipes can survive without gluten, of course. Over the years, cooks have discovered stand-ins for the protein, like guar gum and xantham gum, that, when combined with ingenious mixtures of flours made of bean, vegetable and non-gluten grains, can create passable hamantashen, cakes and cookies. And oat flour, which, by itself, is harder to leaven, makes satisfactory matzah.
But, there remains a problem.
Sharron Matten, a Chicago-based chef and the author of the blog Kosher Every Day, notes that rabbis have stipulated that, in order for baked bread to be considered challah (and thus used for Shabbat traditions), it must comprise a “significant amount” of flour from one or more of the five grains. This is an option that is nearly impossible for gluten-free bakers, who often must rely upon large amounts of other ingredients, like tapioca, rice flour and potato starch to “lighten” the dough. Matten’s answer to the problem is an example of the extensive brainstorming that Jewish gluten-free bakers must use to remain religiously observant. (Her recipe even includes the use of a baking pan that simulates the braided appearance of wheat challah.)
Yet, creative cooking doesn’t override all problems. What does the gluten-free individual do at shul on Friday nights, after Shabbat morning services and bar/bat mitzvahs? Individuals who are gluten-free are unable to eat anything at celebrations if they are unable to tell for sure that the food was prepared with gluten-free needs in mind. Ironically, perhaps, the growing availability of non-gebrokts baked goods at Passover makes the holiday a bit easier for celiacs, but, again, only if there is forethought to labeling the dishes non-gebrokts or gluten-free.
For readers unfamiliar with the term, non-gebrokts (Yiddish) refers to the Orthodox-Ashkenazi tradition of abstaining from eating any product made of matzah that has been combined with liquid, such as matzah balls, during the first seven days of Passover. The Jewish food industry now makes many of its baked products without matzah in recognition of this exceptionally stringent tradition, rendering foods made in this manner gluten-free.
So, the true challenge, really, isn’t finding ways to eat gluten-free, but to stay connected socially and/or religiously with the Jewish community.
According to the Mayo Clinic, the incidence of celiac disease has risen sharply over the last 60 years. Researchers say the increase is due to improved diagnostic methods, as well as a growing intolerance to gluten in the general population. Many Jewish communities are already attempting to address this growing problem by ensuring that there are items on Kiddush tables that are certified gluten-free and that there are alternative dietary options available at events. Some other steps that could be taken include organizing educational forums to discuss the halachic challenges associated with a gluten-free diet, offering gluten-free kosher cooking/ baking classes for Passover and Purim (at least), including articles in synagogue newsletters about kosher gluten-free resources and establishing a regional “hotline” to help connect individuals with gluten intolerance.
Our traditions sustain and nurture our connections with Judaism and, throughout history, they have evolved to meet the changing needs of our communities. Perhaps the increasing prevalence of celiac disease will inspire new ways to express the meaning, symbolism and beauty of challah at the Shabbat and holiday table.
Jan Lee’s articles on Jewish culture and traditions have been published in B’nai B’rith Magazine, Voices of Conservative and Masorti Judaism, and on Suite101.com. She is also a contributing writer for TheDailyRabbi.com. Her blog is multiculturaljew.blogspot.ca.
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