'By The Way' Bakery Receives Mezuzah from Preschool

From Chabad Greenwich: By The Way bakery in Greenwich, CT, which opened its doors on December 19, 2016, received its Mezuzah today from the Gan of Greenwich Preschool’s Mitzvah Club.

“As part of the preschool’s Mitzvah Club curriculum,” explained Preschool Director Maryashie Deren, “every Monday the children learn about a mitzvah, and then do a hands-on activity.” This week, Maryashie and Chabad of Greenwich Rabbi Yossi Deren led the preschoolers to the bakery’s doorpost (just up the street at 19 E. Putnam Avenue in Greenwich) for the Mezuzah Ceremony.

“We wanted to welcome the bakery and bless it while also teaching the children how to put up a mezuzah on a doorpost, what prayer to say, why we put up a mezuzah on each doorpost, and what’s inside each mezuzah,” said Rabbi Deren “We put up a mezuzah on each doorpost of a living space to fulfill the mitzvah in Deuteronomy to ‘write (these words of god) on the doorposts of your house and gates. ‘The children were very excited to learn and participate in this mitzvah, and formally welcome the bakery to the neighborhood.”

During the ceremony, Rabbi Deren explained that inside every mezuzah is a rolled up parchment, which is prepared by a specially trained scribe who writes, in black ink, the Hebrew prayer “Shema Yisrael.” This prayer begins with a phrase “Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is One,” which encapsulates the monotheistic essence of Judaism.

While the children were blessing the bakery with a mezuzah, Chabad of Greenwich acknowledged being blessed by the bakery as well.

The communities of Greenwich, CT, Hastings on Hudson (NY), and Manhattan’s Upper West Side and Upper East Side, were all very enthusiastic to have had the bakery’s owner, Helene Godin, open her store in their locations. Not only does the bakery provide only gluten-free, dairy free, and certified kosher baked goods (satisfying the strictest of kosher standards!), its pastries, breads, cakes, muffins, and more are made the old-fashioned way: by hand, from scratch, in small batches, and always healthy and wholesome—from muffins bursting with real blueberries, to lemon layer cakes filled with homemade lemon curd, to chocolate chip cookies with the finest Belgian chocolate inside. Best of all, it’s a wonderful source of delicious challah on Fridays (but call ahead to order it, because they go fast!).

Photos courtesy of Chabad of Greenwich