Anat Ishai, who was born in Israel but grew up in Canada, started baking braided Challah loaves in her Thornhill kitchen during the COVID pandemic to help her break out of the isolation of lockdown. She started posting social media videos of herself baking and dancing.

Her moves, with snippets of Jewish pride and shots of her Orthodox Jewish lifestyle caught on. Today Ishai has a devoted following worldwide as “The Challah Mom”, with over 300,000 followers including on her Tik Tok, Instagram and Facebook accounts.

Ishai is now based in Israel. She and her Canadian husband and their four children immigrated in 2023 just four weeks before Oct. 7. She’s chosen to stay in the land of her birth, and rides out the conflict by keeping the war off her public platforms. Instead she channels faith and joy and ritual to help empower Jewish women.

The CJN’s North Star podcast host Ellin Bessner attended The Challah Mom’s stop at Shaarei Tefillah synagogue in Toronto to learn the fascinating story of Ishai’s personal journey: from a secular daughter of Russian Israeli immigrants to reconnecting with Orthodox Judaism and ultimately, teaching all kinds of women about the mitzvah of hafrashat challah.

Related links

Follow Anat Ishai at her website to get her challah recipe or on Instagram
Anat Ishai appears in the new documentary “Sheitel” about why married Orthodox women choose to cover their hair with wigs, scarves, hats or a combination, on The CJN’s North Star podcast.
Anat Ishai sometimes wrote for the Times of Israel during the pandemic.

Credits

Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner )
Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director)
Music: Bret Higgins

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