“Ode to GF”
Picture a challah baking in the oven; the smell emanating throughout the house. Shabbat is approaching and soon the doughy bread will sit in the center of the table, on a silver platter, covered by a decorated cloth made for that specific purpose. Traditionally, we bless the candles and the wine, and then start the meal by sending pieces of challah around the table to be devoured by the guests. Except if you, like me, have been diagnosed with celiac disease. In truth, there are many alternative ways of cooking to make versions of traditional delicacies gluten free, including challah. One of our members, Audrey Nadel, recently gave me “The New Yiddish Kitchen: Gluten-Free and Paleo Kosher Recipes for the Holidays and Every Day” cookbook with recipes for anything from chopped liver to matzah ball soup (the recipe for challah is delicious, but the only way to make it look braided is to by a special challah mold). Still, alas, it is not the same.
A verse in this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Eikev, declares, “God subjected you to the hardship of hunger and then gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had ever known, in order to teach you that people do not live on bread alone, but that they may live on anything that God decrees” (Deuteronomy 8:3). The saying that we “don’t live on bread alone,” is often used to demonstrate that Torah study is just as important as food when it comes to sustaining a human being. For me, and other Jews that are Gluten Free the statement in the Torah is literal. We really cannot live on bread alone. In Israel they call celiac the disease of a thousand faces for the many ways it appears in different people. Celiac is an autoimmune disease caused by an inability to tolerate the gluten protein in wheat, barley and rye. There are over 200 possible symptoms, and for some people, like myself, no symptoms at all. In truth, I am happy to live in a time with so many food options that are gluten free. It wasn’t that way ten years ago, and it certainly wasn’t that way in the days of Moses. For me, the GF symbol on foods stands for more than just Gluten Free, it also stands for grateful. When I see it on a package while shopping, it is almost like seeing manna from heaven.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex