Hi, my name is Nava, and I will be celebrating my bat mitzvah in a few weeks. As part of my becoming a bat mitzvah, I wanted to work on a project that would combine my passion for baking with helping those in the community in need. I decided to create a dessert cookbook and sell it to raise money for Tomchei Shabbos of Bergen County, which helps provide meals for Shabbat and Yom Tov for local families.

I started by reaching out to my family and friends to contribute dessert recipes for the cookbook. I found it especially meaningful to have gotten recipes from my great-grandmothers, whom I never met. This included a collection of hand-written recipes that one of my great-grandmothers had written out on index cards and used to bake for family occasions. By holding the recipes my great-grandparents wrote and by baking the same treats they served to my parents and grandparents, I feel a link to the previous generations. I hope that my cookbook will help continue the legacy they left to our family.

A large number of recipes came in from family in Israel as well. While printing them in Hebrew would have added another dimension of authenticity, it was a challenge for the printer, and would also have made them less accessible to a lot of people using the cookbook. So with the help of an Israeli family member, we embarked on translating them to English. In addition to trying to understand the Hebrew, I also needed some math to convert grams and liters to ounces and cups!

I also enjoy art, and decided to paint a picture to use as the cover of the cookbook. I felt that this added a personal touch to the project. Just like with baking, there is a satisfaction to creating something from scratch and then enjoying it together with family and friends. At the same time, I am happy to be able to help out those in our community who are hungry. I hope you will join me in supporting this worthy cause.

To purchase a cookbook, please visit https://navasbatmitzvah.weebly.com/.