Anyone hear this story before?

Diamond Member Joined: Mar 08 2007 Posts: 3430

I was reading a story to my son from Mishpacha Jr. magazine about a maggid in Baghdad who always used 36 challos every Shabbos because of something in Kabbalah that says to bless 12 challos for each meal... The story goes that his wife got angry because in the summertime the challos would get all moldy (no freezers back then) and she would have to throw them out. What a waste... so she went to her husband's Rav who agreed with her and told her DH to reduce it to 4 challos per meal. So happily, next Shabbos she saw that he bought 12 challos instead of 36 and put them in the cupboard. But lo and behold! When she's preparing to take out the challos, she sees there are 36 challos!... OBVIOUSLY a great nes occurred and the challos multiplied. The wife saw she was wrong to admonish her husband and he went back to buying the 36 challos...

Now, when I read this all I could think of was "Huh??" Why didn't they donate the extra challos to the community? And call me cynical, but why should we believe the challos actually multiplied? Maybe the husband went behind her back and bought the extra challos in the end... I love reading stories about g'dolim to my kids and nisim that happen in their merit, esp. when the source is good, but this story just really annoyed me (Maybe the idea of all that challah going to waste? Maybe because it made the wife seem like a nag?). Has anyone ever heard this story before?

Executive Member Joined: Dec 20 2007 Posts: 435

Yep I read the story and thought EXACTLY the same thing!!! Why didn't they donate the challos to anyone else?? I'm sure there was who to give it...

The other thing I was thinking- didn't they all make their own challos in those days? But if they did that would answer the question of how she knows he didn't go behind her back and buy more- If she had made them herself she would know if they multiplied.

Platinum Member Joined: Apr 06 2008 Posts: 5149

Since wasting challah is no joke I don't really believe the story.

Diamond Member Joined: Aug 03 2007 Posts: 4448

I regard it as just another "holy jews in eastern europe" (ok now in baghdad Laughing

) story.

Hmm. If it is indeed about a maggid in Baghdad, they would have surely used
something that resembles pitah rather than water/egg challot we're more familiar with.
(Very interestingly, Baghdadi matzot used for pesach looks--and tastes--exactly
like pitot, being soft and thick).

It was quite common in the Middle East for families not to own their ovens,
bread/pitot were baked by community bakers.