Bake sales prosper while economy falters

By Michael Orbach

Issue of June 12, 2009 / 20 Sivan 5769

At first glance, Dr. Deborah Dienstag, a local pediatrician, proud mother of

four and grandmother of two, may be the worst businesswoman in the entire world.

Two weeks ago she bought the necessary ingredients for challah. Her two daughters, Sarah Henya, 18, and Rivkah, 16, students at Torah Academy for Girls, baked the challah in her kitchen. Then, in an almost unimaginable con, sold the challah back to Dr. Dienstag for an unbearable $18 per loaf.

But Dr. Dienstag doesn’t consider the purchase of four challahs, one crumb-topped cherry pie, a cheesecake, and a mountain of chocolate covered pretzels a business decision insomuch as an act of charity.

“I was going to give the money anyway,” Dr. Dienstag told The Jewish Star, “and I get the cookies.”

All the profits from this year’s TAG bake sale went to Naveh, an organization in Israel that helps victims of terrorist attacks.

“It encourages young girls to become community activists,” Dr. Dienstag said about the bake sale, “and it involves a lot of organizational skills on the kids’ part. It really teaches them fundraising and business skills.”

Her daughters, alongside Estee Siegal, another TAG student, began the Naveh bake sale five years ago at TAG. So far, they’ve raised over $30,000 for the charity. It seems that while the economy is faltering and charities are suffering, bake sales in the Five Towns and Far Rockaway Jewish community are prospering.

Three other bake sales occurred in the week after the TAG bake sale, not to mention one that took place the same night as the TAG sale in the B’nos Bais Yaakov school. Other beneficiaries included Yad Eliezer, a charity that helps poor Israeli families, and Sophia, an Israel-based school for troubled girls.

The bake sale is usually overhead-free, with parents and students volunteering to buy the ingredients, then baking and selling the goods at a steep profit. The concept is frequently a no-brainer.

“I’m 20 years old. I like cookies; I like cake,” said Yisroel Yavne who helped run a bake sale with his mother for Yad Eliezer. “We decided other people do too.”

Rivkah Dienstag says that their only cost this year was wrapping paper for the baked goods. She says that this year’s profits were lower than from the previous year, but were still strong enough to be considered a success.

“We made over $5,000 this year,” said Rivkah, who is a finishing her junior year at TAG.  “Our total cost was $100.”

This year even a professional pastry chef volunteered a cake.

Regarding the sticky issue of kashruth, products at the TAG bake sale were labeled with the full list of ingredients, possible allergens, and the name of the family in whose kitchen the item was baked. This tactic has been employed in other kosher bake sales as well. Another tactic is to encourage or even require products to be baked in a shul kitchen.

“When something is served in the shul, that means we’re giving our okay to it, but we won’t do it on anything baked privately,” said Rabbi Elazar M. Teitz, the rav of Elizabeth, N.J. “However, if you buy something privately, I would not have any objections. As long as it’s understood that we’re not giving any approval, tacit or otherwise.” Items baked in private homes are required to be labeled as such. Gatherings in the kitchen of the Jewish Educational Center shul there, to prepare for a Shabbos kiddush or a bake sale, are commonplace.

Linda Hartley, an assistant professor at NYU and the president of Hartley Consulting, a non-profit development and management consulting firm, said that bake sales are usually successful because of a strong community ethic.

“The bake sale is a representative of that connecting to community. It feels very good and very American to do it,” Hartley explained.

Getting the cookie also plays a part too.

“It’s immediate –– you can eat it,” Hartley said. “Giving feels good and you’re adding something good on top of it. You’re getting the feeling twice.”

While the bake sale season may be over, Dr. Dienstag said the her patients have taken to preordering her daughter’s challah in advance for next year’s bake sale.

“It’s an opportunity to get really good home baked stuff if you’re not good at it,” she said, laughing.