The Greater Englewood community is kicking off the upcoming Shabbos Project weekend with a Great Big Challah Bake to be held October 25 at Congregation Ahavath Torah. Women of all ages and backgrounds are invited to join this community-wide event that hopes to bring together members of all the Englewood congregations and their leaders.
The Shabbos Project was established to invite Jews from all walks of life to come together to experience one full Shabbos in accordance with Jewish law. It’s an opportunity to restore Jewish identity and unite Jews across the world. Similarly, the challah bake is an opportunity for the community to unite and engage in a spiritually uplifting experience. Challah making has been passed down from generation to generation as a special mitzvah for women to fulfill. The spiritual impact for a woman and her household upon taking and making challah has tremendous meaning. It offers a sense of Divine renewal. “The Englewood challah bake gives the women of our community an opportunity to join together to celebrate the mitzvah of challah. The evening will be filled with insight into the meaning behind challah, the importance of the mitzvah, singing and dancing,” said Lindsay Setton, event coordinator.
Whether you make challah on a weekly basis or have never attempted to make challah, you are encouraged to join. “This is a wonderful way to unite the town,” said Rebbetzin Chana Reichman from the East Hill Synagogue. Each of the rebbetzins from the Englewood community will offer a brief thought related to the mitzvah of challah, including Shoshana Poupko, Dina Goldberg, Freidi Hyman, Myriam Kuessous, Sarah Genack, Debbie Block and Chana Reichman. “The idea of challah itself is unifying,” explained Rebbetzin Reichman. You take a variety of separate ingredients that are ultimately combined into one form that is used for holiness. The same holds true for a community of different individuals who are coming together to create something holy. The actual separating of challah can be likened to the idea of us, as people, separating ourselves from the general day-to-day activities to perform something spiritual, she added.
Rebbetzin Reichman believes there is a wonderful life lesson to be learned from the mitzvah of taking challah. God has bestowed upon us as individuals and as part of a community a multitude of physical blessings. Perhaps the separating of challah teaches us that we must take a piece of this physical endowment and designate it for something spiritual. “Hopefully, this event will inspire and enrich all of us to grow together as women, as Jews and as a community,” declared Rebbetzin Reichman. For more information about the Great Big Challah Bake please visit www.ahavathtorah.org/challah_bake.
By Andrea Nissel
