There's never a dull moment in Israel. That's the title of
the type of stories Tzvia collects. They are all 100% real-
life, honestly recounted renditions of conversations
overheard and/or experienced.
My daughter Pnina was eating at a restaurant several months
ago. Suddenly, she noticed an employee coming out of the
kitchen and walking up to a woman who was sitting at a table,
eating with her husband and several children.
The kitchen employee explained to this woman that he was
making bread and cake in the kitchen and that it was time to
take challa. He asked her if she would like to come
into the back of the kitchen and make the challa
blessing over the separated dough.
The woman was taken aback, and in a surprised voice, asked,
"Isn't the mashgiach here?"
Nonplussed, the kitchen worker answered, "Yes, he is. But it
is a special mitzva for a woman to take challa
and recite the blessing over it." [This is especially true
for expectant mothers in their advanced stage.]
Pnina was flabbergasted by what she had just witnessed.
As the woman got up from her meal and followed the baker into
the kitchen, Pnina turned to her friend and exclaimed in
amazement, "Can you believe that such a phenomenal thing just
happened?"
Pnina's friend, who lives in Givat Shaul, wasn't overwhelmed
in the least. There is a huge baking complex near her home
which actually keeps a list of women in the neighborhood with
their phone numbers. When it comes time to take
challa, one of these women is contacted -- that is,
unless no one has presented herself at the premises in person
to ask for this particular mitzva, which is a known
segula for an easy birth. Whoever is available, rushes
over to the factory to make the brocha.
After all, the 24-hour Mashgiach who works there is a
man...
