Challah for Parashat Noah
A dove and an olive branch.
Every week, Julie Seltzer, artist and Torah scribe, bakes a challah depicting an aspect of the week's Torah portion.
And the dove came to him in evening-time, and--a snatched olive branch in its mouth! (Genesis 8:11)
וַתָּבא אֵלָיו הַיּוֹנָה לְעֵת עֶרֶב, וְהִנֵּה עֲלֵה-זַיִת טָרָף בְּפִיהָ
Mankind becomes wicked and God decides to destroy the world in a flood, saving only Noah and his family. Noah knows that the waters have receded when the dove can finally reach the branch of an olive tree. The olive branch has therefore come to symbolize peacefulness.
Julie Seltzer is a scribe, baker, and artist. She began creating challah art at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Connecticut, where she lived until recently. Julie now resides in the Bay Area, where she is writing a torah scroll at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco.
