This year’s annual Jewish Journeys Great BIG Challah Bake is sure to have all the right ingredients for a night of tasty challah, mitzvot and memories. The event will be held at Factory 220 in Passaic on Thursday evening, Nov. 14.

During the week of Nov. 11, approximately 1 million women from around the world will be participating in challah bakes in conjunction with the International Shabbos Project.

Women and girls ages 12 and up are welcome to participate in what Jewish Journeys community leader and challah bake chair Debbie Rosalimsky promises will be a fun girl’s night out.

“This event will be an evening of unity among Jewish women across the political spectrum, of different generations, and from different backgrounds,” Rosalimsky said.

The event was designed for women of all skill levels to attend—some bake challah every week while others are just learning to make it, Rosalimsky explained. She remembered how intimidating challah baking seemed to her before she first started the tradition. One of the goals of the evening is to help new bakers overcome any similar reservations.

“I want them to say, ‘Oh, it’s not as hard as I thought,’” she said. She would be thrilled if the more experienced bakers also learned something new at the event, whether it be a new braiding technique or how to elevate the challah-making experience.

She hopes to fill every Jewish home with homemade challah—a mitzvah to which she feels deeply connected.

Those attending the event will also be supporting the mission of Jewish Journeys, a grassroots organization under the umbrella of JInspire Bergen, dedicated to helping Bergen County mothers with children under the age of 18 connect with their Judaism. They accomplish this by taking them on a nine-day Birthright-like trip to Israel through Momentum (formerly known as JWRP). After the trip, Jewish Journeys provides yearlong programming for the moms who have discovered a new excitement for Judaism. Programs include weekly classes, monthly challah bakes, Shabbat meals, holiday celebrations, chesed opportunities, social activities and more.

At the challah bake, a total of 800 place settings will be set out, complete with pre-measured ingredients, an apron, bowl, recipe card and a challah coach at each table to help with kneading and braiding. This year for the first time, two gluten-free tables will be offered. Attendees should be aware that space for this option is limited, and those interested should follow the instructions provided to sign up during the online registration process.

Jordana Baruchov, Jewish Journeys’ newest community leader, will lead the participants in making the challah and the hafrasha. While the challah dough rises, attendees can count on motivator Naz to energize the crowd. After the dancing, Rosalimsky will give a braiding demonstration. The evening will conclude with the announcement of the raffle winners.

Teaneck resident Heather Benjamin will have three generations attending the challah bake this year. She said, “I will be coming with my two daughters, my daughter-in-law and my mother-in-law. This will be my mother-in-law’s first time making challah and we are so excited to be part of this amazing girls’ night out!”

After last year’s challah bake, a bystander who was carpooling participants leaving the event commented to Rosalimsky, “Seeing all those women walking out the doors with smiles on their faces and a skip in their step was incredible. It definitely looked like something magical went on in there.”

That moment confirmed just how special the night was to her and to the women in the community.

“It’s a meaningful night out,” she said. “It’s an opportunity for Jewish women of different backgrounds to connect, be inspired and have fun with each other.”

Jewish Journeys participant Michelle Mandelman became involved in the challah bake a year after her trip to Israel in the spring of 2014. She is now in charge of pre-measuring all of the ingredients for the hundreds of women in attendance, and is excited to help raise money and awareness for the organization.

Mandelman is grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of the Jewish Journeys trip. Since her return she began lighting Shabbat candles, making challah and keeping a kosher home. Among other things, she enjoys attending weekly classes, holiday celebrations and Shabbat meals hosted by her community leaders.

“It’s a wonderful organization,” she said. “My life wouldn’t be the same without it. It’s enriched my life and brought more meaning.”

Mandelman is glad to have brought more Jewish tradition into her home since her trip. Her husband recently started attending the local men’s Whiskey and Wisdom learning program after his own Jewish Journeys/Momentum Men’s trip to Israel. Last year, Mandelman’s younger son spent a gap year at a program in Israel before choosing to go to college at Binghamton University, a choice he made for its vibrant Jewish life.

Out of gratitude toward her experience with Jewish Journeys, Mandelman was looking for a way to pay it forward to other mothers and daughters in her community. She started her own yearly challah bake event with the fifth grade girls at Temple Emanuel’s Hebrew school and their mothers in Woodcliff Lake. The program has been running successfully for three years.

“Jewish Journeys opened up all of these opportunities.” Mandelman said. “If I hadn’t gone on the trip I wouldn’t have made this spiritual journey and taken my family along with me.”

Rosalimsky wants to thank the generous sponsors of the event, which include Factory 220 for donating their venue for the fourth year in a row, Inflated Creations of Passaic, OneFamily Fund, Berkshire Bank, BML-Blackbird, The Bram Family, North Jersey Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery and Sari’s Wigs.

Registration is first come, first served until tickets sell out, and there are no walk-ins. To sign up, visit http://www.jewishjourneys.org/great-big-challah-bake-2019/

Doors will open at 6:45 p.m. to give participants time to enjoy the raffle. The event will start promptly at 7:30 p.m.

If you have any questions regarding the challah bake, please email [email protected]

For more information about Jewish Journeys, please visit www.jewishjourneys.org

By Elizabeth Zakaim

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