When Aliza Black saw the video that Hamas released in early December of Edan Alexander, a hostage in Gaza from Tenafly, she felt compelled to act. A resident of Englewood and longtime member of the Kaplan Jewish Community Center on the Palisades, she felt connected to the Alexander family, who also are very involved with the JCC. She immediately thought of putting together a challah bake for women from all over Bergen County. Together with her good friend Emily Isak, a locally renowned baker, she approached the JCC with her idea and they enthusiastically agreed.
On Dec. 12, over 300 women came to make challah and say the associated brachot at the JCC. Many had never baked challah before. They were all there to support the Alexander family and beseech shamayim to free Edan Alexander, and all the hostages in Gaza, with the power of prayer.
For Black, there are many similarities between making challah and bringing together Jewish women. “Just as the strands of challah are braided into one delicious loaf, different Jewish communities coming together as one magnifies our collective strength,” said Black. “We all go to different synagogues, but this is one place that unifies us. There is no greater way to uplift our prayers than by doing this together. The whole point is for our prayers to be answered and for every hostage to return home safely, physically and mentally healthy, and be reunited with their families.”
Alyssa Schiffman, chief mission officer for the JCC, said she responded with an immediate “yes” when Black reached out to her with the idea for the challah bake. Schiffman’s staff arranged the room and registration while Black and Isak handled all the marketing and the logistics of getting ingredients together.
Black and Isak contacted veteran challah bake organizer Nechama Kamalhar to run the event. Kamalhar, director of family engagement for NCSY, leads challah bakes frequently, using her own recipe for the bread that has become known as “Nechallah” by her many fans. Although she lives in Brooklyn, Kamalhar said she was happy to come and organize the challah bake. “Bringing together so many different communities is what we feel like Hashem is looking for,” she said.
In a brief interview at the event, Steve Rogers, CEO of the JCC, and Mayor Mark Zina of Tenafly emphasized their commitment to bringing Edan Alexander home. “Edan Alexander and his family have been members here at the JCC and we do everything we can to support his family,” said Rogers. “We have constant campaigns of letter writing, emails and videos, trying to keep the pressure on here and in Israel to do the right thing and bring the hostages home.”
Zina said that supporting Edan and his family is their top priority. “Morally, we have to do it; we want to bring the young man home,” he said. “Every event we do is significant and lifts everyone’s spirits.” Zina recalled some of the events Tenafly has previously done, like putting together a Shabbat table a year ago with 200 seats representing each hostage along with their photos. “I’m in constant contact with Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, and he’s deeply involved in working to bring Edan and all the hostages home.”
Liat Hortig, whose son and Edan were childhood friends, spoke to the group about watching Edan grow up. “Edan made a life-changing decision to return to Israel and serve in the IDF,” said Hortig. “Edan isn’t just a name on a list of hostages. He’s someone I’ve known since he was five years old. I watched him grow up alongside my own children and into an amazing young man. This is deeply personal.”
She explained that on the morning of Oct. 7, Edan called his mom, Yael, and described the situation. He reassured her that he was safe. That was the last conversation before he was abducted to Gaza. “Eleven days ago, Hamas released a propaganda video showing Edan. It’s a reminder of the urgency to act. We must do everything we can right now to bring Edan and all the hostages home. As we make challah tonight, let’s take a moment to reflect on the power of prayer and unity. Let’s send those prayers to Edan and all the hostages. May our prayers be heard and may they come home safely.”
The tables were set with ingredients at each place. Rebbetzin Didi Konikov of Chabad in Englewood made the bracha over the hafrashat challah, the portion that is separated when more than five pounds of flour are used. Kamalhar instructed women from the stage at each step and Isak acted as a runner, stopping by the tables to help.
As the dough was rising, Liat Corrine Unger, also of Tenafly, spoke about her cousin Omer Shem Tov, another hostage in Gaza. Omer was kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival with his best friends, Maya and Itay Regev. Itay was with Omer until he and Maya were released in the only hostage exchange to date. Itay told Omer’s family that Omer was suffering due to his asthma and did not have access to an inhaler. He had terrible stomach pain from not receiving the right kind of nutrition for his celiac disease.
But Itay relayed something heartwarming, too. One day the hostages received grape juice and some pita bread. Omer, who had always made kiddush for his family on Friday nights, rationed the bread and juice along with salt shaved from some pretzels, to make kiddush and Hamotzi for Shabbat. They knew it was Shabbat because they kept track of the days by listening to the Muslim calls to prayer.
“This is the power of tradition; this is the strength of the Jewish people,” Black commented in a follow up email conversation. “Each woman at the challah bake took her freshly braided dough to bake at home. And as the challahs were enjoyed by their families this past Shabbat, each bite was a shared prayer for Edan, Omer and every hostage who has yet to return home.”
