Challah Shame

As Rosh Hashanah approached, a local baker was besieged by customers asking for challah.  Because he can produce only a few loaves of the traditional bread at a time, he limited them to folks who called in orders ahead of time.

One customer did not like the policy.  Why, she demanded, could she not have someone else’s challah?

The woman at the counter patiently explained the policy, and the reasoning behind it.

“You’re a challah Nazi!” the customer spat back.

On one hand, that’s an almost comic overreaction.

On the other — considering the holiday — it shows an embarrassing ignorance of history.  Or perhaps a willful misuse of it.  Either way, the customer never apologized.

Perhaps that’s something she might think about a week from tomorrow.  It’s Yom Kippur — the Day of Atonement.