The Lopsided Challah

Ages 12-15

Devory makes challah by herself for the first time, and the braid comes out wrong.

She did every step, and began the braid at the middle the way her mother does. By the end, one side is fat and the other side is thin, and the ends do not match.

She brushes it with egg and puts it in the oven. She stands at the window while it bakes. The smell comes slowly through the kitchen, and then it fills it.

When it comes out, it is brown. It is shining.

She turns it on the board so the fat end faces the wall.

On Friday night, her father lifts the cover. The challah is on the board in front of him, with the thin end toward his hand. He takes the knife.

Devory does not move. He cuts a slice from the thin end, and passes it round.

When the board comes back to the kitchen, there is the rest of it, with the fat end whole. She turns it round to face her, and tucks the fat end under, and sets the knife beside it.