It was a busy Erev Shabbos in the Greenbaum home. Zaidy and Bubby were coming for Shabbos and everyone was helping.
“Totty,” called Mommy, as she braided the challah dough. “Did you put the Shabbos lamp in the guest room?”
“Doing it right now!” Totty answered as he hurried past the kitchen.
“Mommy,” said Basya, stirring the contents of a large bowl. “I put three cups of oil into the potato kugel like the recipe said, but it looks more like soup.”
“Three cups???” exclaimed Mommy, startled. “The recipe calls for three tablespoons!”
“Oh, whoops,” said Basya. “So should we add more potatoes to balance it out?”
“That would make enough kugel to feed hundreds of people,” replied Mommy, walking over. “Here, let me help you drain the extra oil.”
“Mommy, I can’t find the challah cover,” said Yitzi, who was setting the table.
“It’s in the drawer next to the oven,” Mommy said.
Mommy consulted her list. “Okay we have the herring Zaidy likes, as well as crackers to go with it. We have fish, garlic, chicken - oy! I forgot to buy dessert!”
“Shimmy!” called Mommy. “Can you please run to the store?”
Shimmy rushed into the kitchen. “What do we need?” he asked.
“Let’s see,” said Mommy. “Once you’re going, we should get an extra two boxes of tissues and a jar of pickles. But the most important thing is dessert. I thought, in honor of Zaidy and Bubby, we would get the Jolly Munz Super Extra Pareve Deluxe.”
“Ooh yum,” said Shimmy, licking his lips. “I don’t want to forget that. I’m going to tie a piece of ribbon around my finger so I remember to get the dessert.”
Shimmy hurried off to the store as the rest of the family continued getting ready for Shabbos.
“Good Shabbos!” Totty said warmly as he walked into the house with Zaidy, Shimmy, and Yitzy after Maariv. Everyone rushed to their places at the table and sang Sholom Aleichem.
“Oy, Totty!” said Shimmy. “One of the challos isn’t shaleim. You see? There’s a piece missing from it.”
Totty looked at the challah. “It’s fine,” he said with a smile.
“How could it be fine?” asked Shimmy. “We need to have two whole challos for lechem mishna!”
“Shimmy,” Totty said. “There’s just a tiny dent in the crust. It’s still considered shaleim.”
“I’m glad to see you’re concerned about the halachos of lechem mishna,” said Zaidy, putting his hand on Shimmy’s shoulder. “But do you also remember to think about what the lechem mishna reminds us of?”
Shimmy looked puzzled. “It’s a halacha,” he said.
“Yes,” said Zaidy. “But why do we have that halacha?”
“Oh, it’s because of the mann. In the midbar, the Bnei Yisroel got double mann on Erev Shabbos. But we don’t have mann anymore, so we put double challah on the table.”
“Not exactly,” Zaidy said. “The lechem mishna is a reminder. Do you look at the challah every week and think about the mann?”
“Well, uh, no, not really,” stammered Shimmy. “It’s just something we do.”
“But Shimmy,” said Zaidy gently. “We don’t ‘just do’ things. Hashem gave us food in the midbar and continues to provide us with food every day. The neis of how our body digests food is no less of a miracle than the mann falling from the sky. The lechem mishna is like a string tied around our finger to remind us to think about that. What point is there in a reminder if we don’t look at it and remember what we’re supposed to think about?”
Horrified, Shimmy looked at his finger which still had the ribbon tied around it.
“The dessert!” he exclaimed. “I forgot to buy the dessert!”
“But didn’t you tie that ribbon around your finger so you wouldn’t forget?” asked Yitzy.
“Well yeah, but as I walked through the store I was just admiring the perfect bow I tied and I walked right past the dessert aisle. And then I saw the crackers Zaidy likes so I bought those instead of the Jolly Munz Super Extra Pareve Deluxe!”
“It’s okay, Shimmy,” said little Yaeli, trying to cheer up her older brother. “Maybe these crackers are like the mann and they’ll taste like dessert!”
“Hmm, I don’t think so,” said Mommy. “But we have plenty of delicious food and I’ll take some brownies out of the freezer for dessert.”
“Well one thing’s for sure,” said Shimmy. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget about dessert again - and I’ll always remember to think about the mann and the miracles of food every time I look at the lechem mishna.”
Have a Wonderful Shabbos!
Let’s review:
- How is lechem mishna like the ribbon Shimmy tied around his finger?
- What are some of the lessons in Emunah we can learn from the mann?
