Replacing the imposter

Not long after my husband and I married, my parents wanted to buy us a gift. They asked me what I wanted, and I told them that I wanted a challah knife.

 

My parents asked me about the sort of challah knife I wanted and I told them that what I hankered after was the one that they had.

 

My parents’ challah knife had a handle that  was shaped depending on how you looked at it, either like a loaf of challah or like a stalk of wheat. My parents shopped and shopped but their challah knife that was ubiquitous in the mid 1950’s was no longer being sold in the 1980’s.

 

So instead, they bought us this challah knife.

My parents gave it to me and said that they weren’t delighted with this challah knife but it  would do for the moment. I like the stalk of wheat but this is not a comfortable knife to hold in the hand. Those sharp corners do not make for comfortable cutting.

 

When I went to buy the tzitzit for Mike’s tallit at my local Judaica store they had the challah knife of my dreams.

It wasn’t sterling silver like the knife I grew up with. But the design and shape were what I had been missing. I bought it. This is the wheat side.

And here is the set Shabbat table side.

And here is the imposter with the REAL challah knife.

I look forward to using it tomorrow night.