Deep thought for last week, 3 Adar I 5768

In this past week's parshah, Terumah, we're taught about the Mishkan -- the portable Tabernacle that Eretz Yisrael carried with them throughout the desert. In the course of this reading, there is the first mention of the showbreads -- these loaves of bread baked fresh each week and placed in the Tabernacle. The miracle of the showbreads is that when the old ones were replaced by the new ones, the old ones were still as warm and fresh for the Levites to eat, as they were the week before when they were first placed on the alter. There were twelve showbreads on the Tabernacle, and we remember this today on Shabbat by having two challahs, each with six braids, for a total of twelve braids.

Six Braid Challah

Now making a six braid challah isn't so hard. It takes some practice -- it's not as intuitive as a three braid challah. On the other hand, I noticed that it seems to come out "fuller" then the simpler three braid challah. This however got me to thinking. Can you make a single twelve braid challah? Well the folks at Black Widow Bakery have a pretty cool one!