Five Loaves of Challah

Autumn is a season for ingathering

and for harvest. I enjoy seeing the

fall leaves and the pumpkins about the

time when August becomes September.

The large Harvest moon will rise and

the days become cooler, with the crisp

air coming in the morning and in the

evening when the sun sets. Even here

in California we will start marking the

days as “sweater weather.”

In the Jewish tradition during this

autumn season, Rosh Hashanah, the

New Year and Yom Kippur, the Day of

Atonement will be followed by Sukkot.

Sukkot is the "Feast of Ingathering” and

the end of the harvest season and

agricultural year in Israel.

In our Episcopal tradition, October

makes its presence known with Blessing

of the Animals. Next, we will see All

Saints Day at the beginning of

November. Scripture comes alongside

us in our journey, this planet our Island

home. We hear on the heels of Creation

in Genesis 8 how once Noah has lodged

his vessel on Mount Ararat and

disembarks to build a smoking altar to

the Lord, God, having enjoyed the

smell, makes this pronouncement,

“As long as the earth endures,

seedtime and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

day and night,

will never cease.”

Things go along, the earth continues

to spin in its orbit.

I was sitting at a Coffee Bean coffee

house in Goleta with my daughter

Jacqueline during her October season

mid-terms at UCSB. After a fast and

furious catch up with me on all past

events and things significant, she was

busy at work at her laptop. We sat in

silence drinking our respective

beverages, hers a coffee with nitro and

mine an African Sunrise herbal tea with

nonfat milk. All very telling of our freedom. As

I looked at my daughter across the small

square table, I remember those days -

my time at college -long hours crafting

term papers, a continual need to press

forward to finishing the scheduled

syllabus reading for the day. All that

academic work that seemed to have no

end in sight. -College days. Jackie was

glad that I came to visit, perhaps for only

a brief time as far as the clock was

concerned, but for familial support, a joy

transfusion into the arm. As parents

know, young adults can lean into and

appreciate Mom or Dad’s taking on the

mantle of responsibility, even if it is only

for a good minute.

As I respected the invisible sign “do

not disturb” as she clicked away on her

laptop, I went over my own to do lists

on a notebook.

As I cast my gaze across the coffee

shop, I watched as one of the workers

with a large trash bag went past the

display table and nonchalantly moved

each round and well-packaged loaf of

challah bread into the trash bag. Once all

five loaves were in the bag, the worker

made her way to the back of the kitchen.

I careened myself to the side of the

table to see if I could see if she was going

to do what I really thought she was going

to do, namely throw those beautiful

loaves into a trash bin.

I knew they were beautiful loaves

because just fifteen minutes prior, when

I had arrived at the café, I saw the loaves

on their display table. I had admired them

and had meant to make mention of them

to Jacqueline. I Contemplated even

buying one.

While my girls were growing up, I often

made challah bread, the Jewish festival

yeast bread. Though I may not

thoroughly observe Rosh Hoshanna and

Yom Kippur in my faith tradition, I always

try to be mindful of those of our

community who are celebrating their high

holy days. So I knew that the challah

bread that was being sold in Coffee Bean,

a kosher establishment, to have been

made available for those Jewish

costumers wanting to bring home a loaf.

I had just read The Rev. Marek

Zabriskie’s latest Bible Challenge book,

“The Social Justice Bible Challenge,” and

the passage from Leviticus 19 “You shall

reap the harvest of your land, you shall

not reap to the very edges of your field,

or gather the gleanings of your harvest.

You shall not strip your vineyard bare,

or gather the fallen grapes of your

vineyard; you shall leave them for the

poor and the alien: I am the Lord your

God.”

I thought about perfectly good food

being given to the poor, homeless and

the hungry.

I walked up to the counter in the

café and asked the barista, “Did those

loaves just get thrown out?” And the

young man said, “Yes, the date of

expiration has just passed.” Not

wanting to get in a wrangle right then

and there about feeding the poor and

having to acknowledge the standard

rebuttal about food handling laws, I

sat down wondering if there couldn’t

be a better way of handling the

throwing out of packaged food?

I thought about all the homeless in

Santa Barbara and Goleta. And then I

thought about the homeless in Costa

Mesa who might have liked to have

had a slice of challah bread, which is

rich in egg and milk and butter.

When I lived in a missionary dorm

in 2003 in Melbourne, Australia, they

would ring the main house bell when

the donations came in from Brumbys,

the local bakery. The day old bread

would be spread out on a counter top

for the missionaries and seminary

students to have their fill.

Like manna from heaven we

enjoyed this gracious gift from the

local vendor. We really didn’t care

that it was a bit dry or not packaged.

It was just there and it was free. And

it helped to supplement our tight

budgets. Sometimes even a fancy

cupcake, or scone, or jelly roll made

it into the bread heap and then was

given to an on-looking missionary

child who considered this a delight.

I will be having more conversations

in the future about five beautiful

challah loaves. It is reminiscent to

me of the story of five loaves and two

fishes. How far can a small amount

of food go?

Several years ago, when I was in

Trader Joes during this same season

of Autumn, I bought a loaf of challah

bread. A woman passed by me with

her shopping cart. She too had a loaf

of challah bread. She looked at me

with a smile and said, “Shana Tova”

and I replied, smiling, “Shana Tova.”

L’shana tova tikateyvu,

“May you

be written in the Book of Life for a

good year.”

https://www.growchristians.org/2021/10/13/five-loaves-of-challah/