APRIL 14 • 2022 | 23

acquaintances had been having.
For Parshat Bo in early January, 
which tells of the plague of dark-
ness, her cloud-shaped challah was 
thickly covered with poppy seeds. 
But there was a slit in the top.
“The darkness of COVID once 
again feels insurmountable, not to 
mention a sincere arrival of win-
ter,” she wrote that week on her 
Facebook page. “But we must all 
remember that after these plagues 
the Hebrew nation is freed from 
bondage and soon dances at the 
Red Sea shore celebrating their freedom! 
Looking at our fraught world today, 
we can see that there is a little bit more 
sunlight each and every day. As Leonard 
Cohen wrote ‘there is a crack, a crack in 
everything, that’s how the light gets in.’”
For Shabbat Mishpatim, which fell in 
late January this year, Robinson noted the 
Torah’s directive not to charge interest 
on loans to fellow Israelites. That week, 
one of her challahs was shaped like a big 
zero while the other, along with two rolls, 
looked like a percentage symbol. Soon 
after baking them, she was heartened to 
see that Rabbi Arianna Silverman of the 

Downtown Synagogue picked up on 
the same theme in her weekly Shabbat 
message and related the “no interest” 
idea to Hebrew Free Loan of Michigan, 
which Robinson has long supported.
At the end of the year, Robinson cre-
ates a book with photos of her creations 
and gives a copy to each of her three 
sons, Ruby, Ian and Avery. Sometimes 
she’ll use a shot taken before the bread 
is baked, because the baking process 
can affect the design in unanticipated 
ways.
Robinson has been making challah 
every Friday for decades. Before start-

ing the Torah project, she would 
dabble in different designs or 
braids, sometimes making special 
shapes for Jewish holidays, birth-
days or other occasions.
She never colors the dough and 
uses only seeds to decorate — 
except in the case of the teddy bear 
challahs she makes every week for 
her 2-year-old grandson, which 
have chocolate chips for eyes.
Friends and neighbors often enjoy 
the fruits of Robinson’s passion. 
Sometimes she just makes more 
challah than the family can use. “Then 
I put a notice out on email and friends 
come and pick it up,” she said, adding 
that this was helpful early in the pan-
demic to those who had trouble getting 
to bakeries or supermarkets.
Robinson has kept up a correspon-
dence with Ian’s former rebbitzin, 
Gachi Waingartin. They exchange their 
challah photos every week. Waingartin 
writes in Spanish, and Ian often serves 
as translator.
“Sometimes we have the same idea, but 
the challahs look very different; we each 
have our own style,” she said. 

“WHEN I CAN MAKE THESE ANCIENT WORDS IN THE TORAH 

RELEVANT TO LIFE TODAY, IT ALL COMES TOGETHER FOR ME.”

LEFT: Challahs can be a literal or artistic impression of the 
weekly Parshat. RIGHT: This challah for Parshat Bo is 
cloud-shaped with a slit to “let in the sunlight.”

A challah for Shabbat Mishpatim, which notes the Torah’s 
directive not to charge interest.

