TheChallah thattook over the House
TheChallah thattook over the House *** Melissa Berg Illustration by Shiela Marie 12TRIBES PRESS INC.
Copyright © 2016 Miriam Ariel/Heart Lab Press Inc.All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributedor transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying,recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the priorwritten per-mission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotationsembodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permittedby copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressedMiriam Ariel/Heart Lab Press Inc.Street AddressCity, State/Province Postal-Codemiriamariel.heartlabpress.comare sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actualpeople, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, orlocales is completely coincidental.Ordering Information: Special discounts are available on quantity purchasesby corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher atthe address above.Miriam Ariel / Heart Lab Press Inc. First EditionISBN 978-0-0000000-0-0Printed in the United States of America
For my Bubbie, Yetta
1 Challah in the House But you promised! If I don't like it here, I canmove back to Golders Green and stay with AuntieAviva” Raizy was trying one more argument. She didNOT under any circumstances, want to remain onSunnyside Avenue even ONE MORE DAY. Theduplex that she now lived in housed three other girlsand they were not the least bit friendly. *1*
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSEmom yelled. Raizy picked up her backpack andstomped to the door. In school that day, each girl made Challah withthe help of her teacher. It was erev Shabbos and thestudents only had a half day of class. Each girl returned home with her own personalchallah dough, all ready to be baked. At this time inthe early afternoon, all of the parents were out. Atara passed Mimi in the hallway and yelled,challah will be better than yourschallah will better than yours as it is modest andSheva yelled back, an *2*
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE *3*
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE Wand Mimi passed Raizy and noticed her chocolatedough. Mimi gave her a judgemental look. Raizy entered her apartment and set her challahdough down on the counter in the kitchen. Raizywent to her room to play. It had been sometime andshe was almost finished building her castle out ofmagnetic tiles. Thump. Thump. *4*
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE What was that? Raizy looked around. Thethumping stopped. Maybe it was just herimagination. She went back to finishing her castle. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Okay, now there was no denying it. Somethingwas definitely making that sound. Maybe it was theother girls. Were they fighting again? Thump. She looked up from her castle. Thsounded as if it was inside her apartment. Raizylooked towards the vent in the corner of her room.. Raizy got up. She walked towards the vent. Thump. Was it coming from there? She put her ear to the vent. The thumps appeared to stop and then *5*
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE *6*
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE Oh no. What looked like her challah dough poured outof the vent. Atara was busy practicing her dance routine whena loud, THUMP - THUMP - THUMP mixed up thebeat causing her to mix up her dance moves. Sheturned off the music. Thump.Strange. She put her ear to her phone, thinking itwas coming from there. No. Thump. Thump. Thump.Maybe it was Raizy playing her horrible music. Shewould text her to stop. Atara felt a tap on her back.She turned around. *7*
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE *8*
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE Oh No. Standing there was a giant Challahmonster looking her in the face. It gushed towardsher. Atara screamed. Mimi was busying reading when she heard athumping coming from somewhere. Thump. She assumed it was Sheva who sometimes bangedon the wall to annoy her. Thump. Thump. She put down her book. Thump. Thump. Thump. She got up, opening the door of her room and *9*
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE * 10 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE Oh No. Mimi slipped on the stream of Challah pouringthrough her hallway. Sheva was busy practicing kick boxing with herboxing gloves. She punched the punching bag a fewtimes. She took a break. Thump. Thump. She looked down at her boxing gloves. Thump. Thump. Thump. The ceiling shook. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. For sure it was Atara practicing her danceroutine. She would go up and yell at her. She stormed * 11 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE * 12 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE Oh no. Sheva experienced what can only be described asa Challah shower. Raizy rushed to the kitchen where she had set thechallah dough to rise on the counter. She shrieked.Her kitchen was completely filled with Challah. * 13 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE The girls rushed out of their apartments. Theycollided into each other.four girls looked at each other. Then Mimi whonever spoke, spoke, 2 Challah Denial None of the girls wanted to admit that theirchallah dough was to blame.answered Atara. Sheva who was completely covered in dough * 14 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE Raizy looked down at her shirt which waswant the other girls to hate her more, could make a shirt out ofMimi.any more sillier than bathing in challah or using it as ever answered. Why Mimi looked down. She was shy and peoplegiving her so much attention, made her turn brightred. just a second ago, you said you wereand Raizy.Sheva. * 15 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSEpointing at Mimi. All the girls circled Mimi.be me. In my apartment, challah was dripping from All of the girls glanced around deciding who toblame next. Then they all fought and blamed eachother.is? We have only a short time before our parentsreturn home and unless we deal with this mess, there They all looked around. They looked towards the stairs. On the top of thestairs was Challah dough. It formed a mouth andyou girls were mean to each o * 16 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE * 17 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE The challah dough began to roll full speed downthe stairs towards them. The girls ran and took cover outside. The Challahmonster slammed the door behind them. girls. * 18 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE 3 Challah Tactics Atara chirped tied agiant red string around Mimi thought to herself, what do the other girlsknow? Tehillim never failed her before. Mimitiptoed up to the door. * 19 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSEthe first step into the sea? Always thought he was Mimi stood at the door. She took out her pockettehillim and read. At that moment, a big clump ofdough oozed out of the window. late. Splat. Mimi walked back to the group with dough in herhair. Atara giggled. A surprised Mimi, looked at Sheva, ve listened to metime to pray- go * 20 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE 4Challah Punches nd timexclaimed Raizy. Atara and Raizy.stormed up to the front door. She opened the door and gave the Challah abeating. By the end she was sweating.Unfortunately all her effort barely produced a dent.The challah monster laughed and slammed the door.Sheva backed up. * 21 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSEbacked into the challah dough that had fallen onslipped. t.Atara who pouted. Raizy looked to the spot where the dough had lipped.It was then that Raizy noticed something. All of the sudden the dough that landed thereRaizy. suggested Mimi. * 22 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSEmaybe all of th pointed at the houseoverf ill magically disappear,girls. The Challah must have sensed their fearbecause it started to expand and expand once more. The Challah that had oozed out the window wasdo something soon, it could take over the wholeblock.you say we need to do more than pray? That Godhelps those who help themselves? Those meaning us,not just each one of us alone. We need to work Sheva watched the Challah pour out of thewindow on to the grass. It was now pouring out ofthe window even faster. The more fear they showed, * 23 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSEthe more challah poured outto her old self. ng we need to dosomething now!piped Raizy. All the girls looked at her as if she was crazy.There was now a giant expanding challah puddle onthe grass outside her window. u mean help it takeit. If we bake the outside, it may stop it from flowingout of all the windowsShe * 24 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSEleast contain it for a while n the basement storage room, my mom They looked towards the basement, which hadchallah oozing out of the windows. 5 Challah move! Sheva ran to the side of the house and producedtwo shovels and two yogurt containers. * 25 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE All of the girls began shoveling out Challah doughwell. As they shoveled, the challah would just fill upthe space they shoveled. They sat on the ground, ready to give upAtara left and came back with a long play tunnel thathad been sitting in the back yard. She stuck thetunnel into the dough and they shoveled out thecenter of the tunnel. After a while they had created a tunnel that couldbe crawled through. They could see the handle of theback room door. Since Atara had thought of thetunnel, she agreed to go through it. She got to thedoor handle and turned it. All the girls sighed in relief as the Challah had nottaken over that back room. Atara threw boxes of tinfoil out through the tunnel. Sheva and Raizy caughtthem. Mimi counted the boxes. They had ten,enough to cover the house. The girls took the foil and covered the entirehouse with it. * 26 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSEstopped expanding. She lifted up the tin foil andlooked under. The challah was baked. de The Challah had stopped growing and it appearedto have receded a bit. Mimi was right. The girls had temporarilystopped the Challah monster but who knew howlong that would last. The middle was probably stillpretty soft and rising. For all they knew, it could startrising again, this time even more rapidly. * 27 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE 6Challah, Help! o was nowhungry after the workout.you said that the challah monster likes when wework together, well what if we had a neighborhoodbake Raizy helped Atara set up the tables and Mimi wasin charge of cash. Sheva publicized the event andinvited all her friends. So did the other girls. Soonenough there was a crowd outside of their house.The hallway entrance of the first floor had beencompletely cleared out as the girls had worked extrahard to create 100 loaves of dough to sell. * 28 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE However after a while people stopped buyingdough and just socialized on the lawn and playedgames.exclaimed. She looked at Raizy. Raizy had to getcreative. She stood on a platform.the most interesting thing to make out of Challah d asked.unision.as you want, make whatever you want, be creativeand you might win Passover Everyone on the lawn rushed into the house andbegan removing challah dough. * 29 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE At that moment, the news crew that Atara calleda free Passover Vacation to Israel for the person whocomes up with the most interesting use of Challah The reporter held up the microphone to Raizy, - d in Sheva. Challah cakes, challah bracelets, challahnecklaces, challah dolls were made. Raizy picked up a Challah in the shape of a t-shirt. It was time for the girls to choose a winner. Raizypulled the g * 30 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE * 31 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSEA little boy overheard. He yelled to everyone, People overheard and they were upset. Theythrew their challah dough at the girls. The Challah Monster learned of what happenedand he was not happy. He got angrier and angrierand angrier.to take over Then, the Challahmonster poured out of the house at rapid speed.Blahhhhh! There was chaos. All of the neighbors ran indifferent directions. Raizy and her friends took coverin the treehouse. ara. * 32 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE * 33 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE 7 Challah FloodAtara. d Atara.prize, so what if we made it right by doing the steps ped in Raizy. * 34 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSELooking at the house and the lawn which was asked Raizy.The girls shook their heads. a. ack * 35 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE One problem. Sheva remembered that she hadlent her bicycle to her cousin.window. Challah was oozing out.asked Mimi.what if we told the Challah monster that it was But in Egypt, as Godtold Moshe to ask Pharoah to let us have two weeksSheva.saying it is * 36 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE They sang Dayeinu. The Challah monster heardthem singing and panicked,shrink. Raizy ran through the front door and made it toher room where she quickly opened the storagecloset and pulled out her bike. The Challah monster shrunk and shrunk until itsaw the calefridge which clearly marked the days of Pesach.yelled and with that it started to expand again andexpand and expand. Raizy quickly rushed into her bedroom andslammed the door The Challah monster threw openher door and expanded and expanded. Soon Raizy was pushed up against the window.She opened it but it was too high for her to jump and * 37 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSEland safely. What would she do? With quickthinking, she began to braid the dough. Then with alaser she had gotten as a gift last Channuka, shebaked the end so she could hold on more easily. Then she threw down her bike which landed in apile of leaves and she grabbed the braided challahdough and climbed down safely. The speed of thegrowing Challah dough behind her allowed her toreach the ground quickly. She landed in a pile ofleaves. Now to pull it on the bicycle. The girls grabbedthe dough and together they pulled it towards thebike. Then they attached it to the end of the bike.Sheva cycled off. Unfortunately, only a moment laterthe challah broke. * 38 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE 8 Challah Trailsfour strandsto do them.strands, it will be even harder than thsaid Sheva. They divided the bread into four strands, onerepresenting each one of them. Each of them took a * 39 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSEstrand and pulled it out as far as they could, to theend of their lawn. Then they braided it in a braid. Then Sheva got on her bike. She tried one moretime to pull the Challah dough out of her house andthis time it worked. Challah poured out the frontdoor. The Challah monster saw all the girls workingtogether and not giving up. He grew less angry andhis heart warmed. His heart warmed so much thatmagically braided itself. A giant braided challah trailed from the back ofthe bicycle. A kid on the street did a double take sodid Rabbi Kelleman who was coming back from shul.The other girls followed Sheva, running beside her.but there was still a giant trail of dough behind her.She got off her bike. * 40 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE * 41 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE imi. She got on the bike. Theother girls watched as she drove around and aroundin a circle. As she did so they Challah formed amountain. When the last bit of challah was added tothe mountain, they walked up to the door of theshelter and rang it. Mimiaround,work, I want to see their The girls pulled Raizy away and they watchedfrom a hiding place the excited reactions of thehomeless people and the staff. * 42 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSE 9 Challah Clean Up The girls returned home. Their nannies were stillwatching TV, not even realizing what had happened.Their parents would be home any second and whilethere was no Challah, their apartments were anabsolute mess. While the challah dough was gone,there were still parts of the baked dough thatremained as crumbs in odd places throughout theirapartments. Cleaning up for Passover would be anightmare. The girls walked back outside. There was no wayhome any second. Realizing there was no way theycould clean up, they all sat down in the outdoor treehouse. Their lawn was completely overturned. * 43 *
THE CHALLAH THAT TOOK OVER THE HOUSEChairs were scattered about and tables flipped over.It looked as if their house had been hit by a hurricane.anything.be or the world takes advantage of us. You know, Mimi picked up the vase that she had put in all themoney that they earned at the bake sale. They all looked at the vase which was completelyfilled with cash.at the amount of money in the vase.Challah. She took some off the slide.She took some off the swing. * 44 *
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