Tonite the Shikkerdovid and wife did the annual “Schlissel Challah” baking. The Shabbat after Pessach there is a custom amongst extremely crazy, superstitious Jews to bake challah with a key in it as a “segulah” for parnassah.

The thought occurred to the Shikkerdovid as he was kneading the dough that the word “challah” as opposed to bread or “lechem” has a cultural and spiritual significance. We use the word “challah” in reference to the loaves we eat on shabbat rather than lechem because it is charged with meaning. The word “challah” refers to the portion of “dough” (I guess that is why it is a segulah for parnassa) that we give to the Kohen.

It is interesting that the term “Challah” is universally used and ‘lechem” is never used when we refer to the shabbat loaves. The Shikkerdovid would like to humbly offer that this is because we are always in a framework of giving or thinking of others. We define what we eat and our world in the context of giving.

In the words of the great Rabbi Jon Gotti, “May your life be like Italian challah, long and full of dough.”