‘Hallelujah for a brand new day and the wondrous smell that floats my way.’
A poor but happy peddler lives in the attic of a bakery. Whilst he does not have much, he is content with his life. Every morning, he wakes up to the wonderful smell of freshly-baked bread and loudly exclaims his joy through the open window.
The baker, however, grows ever more irate that the peddler should enjoy the smell of his bread without ever paying for it. He asks the Rabbi for help.
The Rabbi summons the peddler and instructs him to return in one week with enough money to pay the baker back for all the times he has enjoyed the smell of his challah. The peddler works harder than ever that week. On Friday morning, when he returns with as much money as he can scrape together, the rabbi takes his coin-pouch and shakes it for the baker to hear. The sound of the coins is payment, the Rabbi says, for the smell of the bread. Sound and smell, just like Shabbat, are free for everyone in the world to enjoy.
A delightful retelling of an inspiring folktale, The Peddler and the Baker teaches the importance of sharing and inclusivity, the beauty of Shabbat and the idea that anyone, regardless of their circumstances, has the right to find joy in the world.
A recipe for challah follows the story.
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Yael Molchadsky is the director of the Children's and YA department at Kinneret-Zmora-Dvir publishing house in Israel. She is also the editor of the prestigious Marganit series, which aims to bring literary translated fiction to young Hebrew readers. Yael has translated picture books from English and German and is a sought-after speaker on Childre
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