The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

Two days after Malachi comes to the bakery, Chona’s fever breaks, and her health slowly but surely improves. Moshe attributes her recovery to Malachi. Each day, the baker delivers a loaf of challah for Chona, but Moshe doesn’t give the bread to her because it tastes terrible. While Malachi’s baking skills are amateur at best, he demonstrates fervent prayerfulness, charming joy, and great enthusiasm for life. Moshe and Malachi become fast friends, bonded by their shared experience as Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Moshe gives Malachi a wearable mezuzah with the inscription “Home of the Greatest Dancer in the World” (63), but his friend insists that Moshe give it to Chona instead.

Despite his initial excitement to inform Moshe that he has a wife, Malachi dodges all of Moshe’s attempts to learn about her. In addition, Malachi declines all of Moshe’s invitations to visit his home and see Chona. Malachi’s bakery begins to fail almost immediately because he has no prior baking expertise. Moshe offers to help Malachi find Black people to work at his bakery, but he declines because they wouldn’t keep kosher. Malachi sees Dodo working at the theater and wonders why the boy isn’t in school. He is troubled by the way that Black people are treated in America and observes, “We are integrating into a burning house” (71).