Shabbos Project challah bake is back

In a fun evening of Jewish unity, over 1,000 South Shore women will partake next week in the aromatic spiritual tradition of making challah together. Similar events are scheduled throughout the metropolitan area and around the world.

The third annual Great Challah Bake — kicking off the annual international Shabbos Project weekend — is set for Thursday, Nov. 10, 6:45 pm, at the Sands Atlantic Beach.

Last year’s bake attracted a large and diverse group of local Jewish women: businesswomen, mothers of school children, daughters of Holocaust survivors, women with little or no knowledge of Jewish ritual tradition, ladies who bake their own challah regularly, and everyone in between. Many brought their daughters, sisters, mothers, aunts, nieces and cousins with them.

This year’s theme is “keeping it together,” tying together this ancient practice that all Jews enjoy taking part in. 

Participants will learn the historical significance of this delicious bread as they prepare and braid two challahs. Admission, $36, includes baking supplies, instructions, musical entertainment, an apron, raffle prizes, and a recipe book.

Thursday night’s Great Challah Bake is a precursor to the Shabbos Project weekend, on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 11 and 12, a coordinated event taking place concurrently in 500 cities around the world. Guidelines on how to observe the Sabbath will be distributed at the Challah Bake, showing how easy it is to do.

While this will likely constitute a review of the obvious for women in the Orthodox community, Shabbos Project’s goal is to encourage kiruv, with observant Jews using this special weekend to offer less religious relatives, friends and colleagues a taste of Shabbos.

“I was moved to tears at the sight of 1,000 women dancing, singing, and baking challah together,” said Teri Gatti Schure, executive director of the Cedarhurst Business Improvement District, who participated in a previous Challah Bake.                  See Shabbos Project on page 2

“I couldn’t help but wish that my mother-in-law, who was a Holocaust survivor, could have been there with me,” Schure said.

The challah bake is perfect night out for ladies and girls aged 12 to 112. Jackie Bitton will lead the event, and Slovie Wolff will voice inspirational thoughts in honor of her recently departed mother, the renowned Rebbitzen Esther Jungreis.

Over a dozen organizations are joining together to make this event a success.

“Shabbos enables us to [unplug for a day and] set aside the distractions, demands and pressures of daily life, offering us the time and space to renew our inner selves and to reinvigorate our most important relationships,” said Rabbi Warren Goldstein, Chief Rabbi of South Africa and founder of the Shabbos Project.

To register for the challah bake, go to: TheGreatChallahBakeLIStyle.eventbrite.com

To volunteer at the event, or host people to experience Shabbos at your home, email to TheGreatChallahBakeLIStyle@gmail.com

To keep abreast of the event of Twitter, follow #keepingittogether