Giving Thanks
Rendre grâce
Dando gracias
Ringraziamento
נותן תודה
Giving Thanks
“Two days after Malachi comes to the bakery, Chona’s fever breaks, and her health slowly but surely improves. Moshe attributes her recovery to Malachi. Each day, the baker delivers a loaf of challah for Chona, but Moshe doesn’t give the bread to her because it tastes good; he thinks it tastes terrible. While Malachi’s baking skills are amateur at best, he demonstrates fervent prayerfulness, charming joy, and great enthusiasm for life.
”
Why am I writing about challah?
Recently, my husband and I traveled through a portion of Italy on foot. We had been traveling for 6 days by the time I had read about the use of bread among Jews for a special “bread festival” in the particular region in Italy near Mont Blanc.
I loved this tradition in this particular region and was eager to read more.
During another period in my life, I attended the wedding of my friends Andrea and Woody Zuill. They were getting married in a mountainous community in California and I was asked to bake bread for their wedding feast. I was 27 years old at the time and decided to bake EVERY SINGLE bread recipe in the book BEARD on BREAD. (no lie) There are 100 recipes in this book. (I'm serious). A rabbi married my friends and when he tasted my challah he told me, “This is the best I have ever tasted!” This was a huge compliment. All I could do was thank him and smile. I was a little taken aback. It was quite the endorsement.
This prompted me to think a bit more about the role challah played in Jewish life.
I read once
“It is said God instructed Moses to donate part of every loaf to the local Jewish priests as an offering, and the Challah is the 'Manna' or 'bread from heaven' passed down to the chosen people.”
A long time bread baker, I believed in the significance of such an offering. My mom baked bread throughout my entire childhood and was often a good indicator that if she baked bread prior to breakfast, “Watch Out!” she may be in a mood! (it’s the need to knead that offers the first clue)
But I knew of Manna. I was introduced to it through my initial trip to Hawaii with our friends Mark and Laurie. Our kids were little and everything we did during this time was an opportunity to teach something new to our children.
Here is what I learned:
“In Hawaiian and Tahitian culture, mana is a spiritual energy and healing power which can exist in places, objects, and persons. Hawaiians believe that mana may be gained or lost by actions, and Hawaiians and Tahitians believe that mana is both external and internal.”
These gifts of mana (regardless of spelling), I believe, are essential to the concept of exchange.
Whether it be exchange of time, conversation, friendship, and yes, the occasional gift, this is mana.
This past weekend, our friends from our own wedding gathered together for a weekend on the Central Coast, California. A gathering of folks for whom some have known each other since their own teenage years; for all of us, we have known each other for over 35 years.
There aren’t many secrets left between us and to be honest, the truth is often welcomed with relief.
We gathered to celebrate Michael’s 60th birthday this past weekend. Traveling from Oakland and Orange County towards the center of the state, we met in Cayucos, CA. We took the time to pause our busy lives to remember all the ways we love one another.
Our mana this weekend included the exchange of laughter and photos from the past.
Our mana included the exchange of food and wine and the need to celebrate the passage of time.
Our mana this weekend included the exchange of silly behavior.
Our mana this weekend took the form of ice cream and birthday cake, indulgences that may not be so frequent as they were when we were younger - but still necessary!
Our mana included the exchange of friendship.
FRIENDSHIPS THAT LAST A LIFETIME
MARRIAGES OF THE HEART
Thank you Central Coast!
This is the season to pause our busy lives and celebrate the nourishing sustenance of friendships that grow and deepen over time.
Welcome to the season of challah and mana and the grace that lives in these beautiful traditions.
