Covering the Bread of Life

Vintage challah cover on eBay

Almost every single Friday, I begin the day by baking four braids of challah - the bread of the Jewish sabbath. I keep one and give the other three away, which has been a delight.

I began this weekly ritual five years ago, in an effort to connect - in a very tangible way - with my history and my memories. Wearing Grandma Marion's apron and using her mom's flour scoop makes me happy.

After the four-hour process of mixing and waiting and braiding and waiting, the aroma of those warm, pillowy braids turning golden in the oven fills me with a sense of peace and grounding.

Once it's cooled a bit, I cover my challah with a rough-edged, white linen cloth. My grandparents' covers, on the other hand, were absolutely exquisite: blue velvet or cream silk, embroidered with rich colors that sang with the joy of Shabbat. 

I always assumed that covering the challah was to keep it warm and fresh until it was time to light the candles and pour the wine. But actually, the reason comes straight from the Torah, back in the Israelites’ time in the wilderness after the Egypt rescue. 

And the Lord spoke to Moshe, saying, 

I have heard the murmurings of the children of Yisra᾽el: speak to them, saying...in the morning you shall be filled with bread; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God. 

And it came to pass, that...in the morning the dew lay round about the camp. 

And when the layer of dew was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a fine flaky substance, as fine as the hoar frost on the ground. 

And when the children of Yisra᾽el saw it, they said one to another, Man-hu (what is it?): for they knew not what it was. And Moshe said to them, This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. 

And [Moses] said to them, This is that which the Lord has said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath to the Lord: bake that which you will bake today, and what you will boil, boil today; and that which remains over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

Exodus 16:12-15 Koren Jerusalem Bible

Rabbis explain that the reason we cover the challah on Shabbat, the Sabbath, is to remind us of the dew that covered the manna each and every morning of the Israelites' forty-year sojourn. It is a reminder of God’s provision, His faithfulness, and His grace to sustain them – and us – every day.

On Shabbat, the challah cover especially reminds us of the dew that covered the double portion of manna on the sixth day - that extra provision of God - so that His people would have enough to both eat and to rest on the Sabbath.

I love this. I love how a lot of the old traditions of my Jewish upbringing are actually rooted in Scripture, without me even realizing it.

When I stumbled upon the spiritual reason for covering the Sabbath challah, my thoughts eventually turned to something that Yeshua, Jesus, had said.

“I’m telling you the most solemn and sober truth now: Whoever believes in me hasreal life, eternal life. I am the Bread of Life. Your ancestors ate the manna bread in the desert and died. But now here is Bread that truly comes down out of heaven. Anyone eating this Bread will not die, ever. I am the Bread—living Bread!—who came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this Bread will live—and forever! The Bread that I present to the world so that it can eat and live is myself, this flesh-and-blood self.”   John 6:47-51 The Message

In the wilderness, God had rained down manna from heaven, covering it with dew each morning. 

Then finally, when the time was full, God sent Jesus down from heaven. Deity covered with human flesh. 

He was ultimately covered – like my Sabbath bread – with a linen cloth. Shrouded for death. 

But, as John and Peter discovered on Resurrection morning, that burial cloth was a covering that Jesus left - neatly folded - behind Him. The Bread of Life rising from death.

And so we - who are nourished by the resurrected Bread of Life - and covered by His sacrifice, will one day leave our grave cloths behind, too. 

And rise to new life.