Ask Rabbi Dan
by Rabbi Dan S. Wiko PhD
Susan Smolenski of Little Neck, New York asks:
My question is not one of religion but somewhat of tradition, or maybe just a "bubbemeiseh".
I have asked several people my question, but we all have the same incomplete
memory.
When setting up a new home, I remember my mother and grandma having me bring
three things into the house before anything else. Bread .... salt and something
else. Now that my daughter is setting up her new home for the first time, I have
been searching my own memory and many others and none of us can remember the
third item. (One person said sugar, and I have a very vague thought that it
might be honey.)
Can you help? Thank you.
Dear Susan,
If memory serves me correctly, it was butter. However, since it is all symbolic
to begin with, and yes, probably, a bubbemeiseh as well, anything that
nourishes a household and, thereby, turns it into a home, should serve to make
the third item.
If I might offer additional suggestions, it would be to provide the new home
with an all-inclusive siddur, a copy of the Five Books of Moses, a
kiddush cup, shabbos candlesticks, a Havdallah candle, a spice box
and a cover for the challah........when it's there, it just might get
utilized.
Mazel Tov,
Rabbi Dan
