There was a little mixup this year with the Challah order we made from the New Mount Pleasant Bakery in Schenectady (which we get in additon to the Challah baked here at Shabbos House). They make very large and rich delicious Challah that we like to use for Hamotzee. So we ordered a dozen of the big Challahs and a bunch of more of smaller ones sliced for the tables. But might not have been clear that the larger Challahs should be whole for the Hamotzee, so they came sliced, too, and therefore could not be used for Hamotzee.
So the end result was we could not use these sliced Challahs for HaMotzee, put those out on the tables and used smaller whole ones instead, because the blessing must be made on a whole complete uncut loaf. But. the Baal Shem Tov taught that everything can be a lesson in the service of G-d, so what’s the lesson from this year’s sliced Challahs?
That brings me to an old insight I had years back about the two types of Schach cover on top of our Sukkah. We have bamboo mats and evergreen. Both are cut vegetation that’s still in a raw state, so they are both Kosher legit forms of Sukkah cover. The bamboo mats we use actually have a Kosher certification to ensure they were not made for a specific use other than Sukkah which would invalidate them for the Mitzvah.
Bamboo mats are much more practical. They aren’t sticky, unwieldy or clumsy. You save them from year to year, an investment in bamboo mats can last 20 years or more. They roll up nicely and are easy to store. It saves me the headache each year of figuring out where to get enough cut evergreen branches for the Sukkah.
Personally, I’m a big fan of the evergreen on top of the Sukkah. Ah, the rich green branches hanging through the roof add so much to the atmosphere, and bamboo mats just can’t do the same. The fresh cut tree branches are fragrant, and their inconsistency: fuller here, sparser there, adds to their character. They dip in through the top and create that genuine Sukkah feel.
Ah, that brings me to an valuable positive life message we can learn from the bamboo mats. They provide Even-Spread.
Even-Spread is an important principle in many areas where consistency or an equalized result is desired. It’s a financial investing term for those of you in the business school. It has to do with the spreading of cells in a lab experiment so they don’t clump up together. And you know those green spreaders people use on their lawns for fertilizer or whatever, it helps ensure it doesn’t all end up on one spot but get spread around equally.
Bamboo mats provide reliable, consistent cover, unlike evergreen which can be heavy in some places and open in others. Same idea with the sliced Challah. When I cut the whole Challahs by hand, some people get an end, others get a big piece of middle, there are thicker slices and thinner ones. Sliced Challah is an equalizer. It’s spread out evenly, everyone gets basically the same piece, no one gets a huge chunk and their friend only getting a little corner.
This is an important message in our Judaism. Even spread is something we ought to be mindful of in our Jewish observance and involvement. Some Jews tend to concentrate their Jewish activity in a few days a year, or in one day a week. Even spread says we ought to have a little Jewish activity each and every day, even if it is short or quick. A word of Torah online, participation in a Jewish event, putting on Tefillin – whatever it is – let our Judaism spread throughout our years and our weeks, doing a little something Jewish every single day.