Chabad.org
Photos by Roland Bosma and Hanna Gaber
A routine customer-service call had some unexpected results recently, as recounted by Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin, outreach director for Chabad Tucson.
The rabbi was working together with members of the community preparing for a “Mega Challah Bake,” held on Oct. 23, and co-sponsored by Chabad and the Tucson Jewish Community Center.
The program included a game show that used a real-time audience response app, in which the 200 women attending could text their responses to a quiz that was shown on a large screen at the beginning of the program.
To set up the game, Ceitlin called the San Francisco-based Poll Everywhere company, which provides classroom-response and audience-response systems in more than 100 countries.
“We’re having a large event tonight, and we’ll be making special bread together,” he explained.
The woman on the other side of the phone then said something rather surprising. “You know, you could simply say ‘challah … ‘ ”
It turned out that the rabbi had reached Dani, a young Jewish woman who had moved to San Francisco four months earlier and knew all about challah-baking, having long watched her mother shape the special loaves served at meals on the Jewish Sabbath.
The rabbi asked if she had a meal to go to locally where she could enjoy some Shabbat challah, and when Dani replied “no,” he connected her to Rabbi Peretz and Miryum Mochkin, co-directors of North Beach Chabad in San Francisco.
The two then continued to sort out the technicalities of the app program. But the call ended with a bit of a different twist—with a cheery: “Thank you for calling Poll Everywhere. Shabbat Shalom!”
At the event itself, many more women connected with the theme of Shabbat.
“Challah brings blessings and protection to our homes, in addition to the amazing aroma and addictive taste,” said Mrs. Feigie Ceitlin, Program Director of Chabad Tucson.
“Baking challah was one of the commandments given specifically to women, dating back to our matriarch Sarah,” Ceitlin said while leading participants in the kneading, mixing and braiding.
Another practice introduced by Sarah was lighting candles. Each woman left home with a candle lighting blessing card in addition to their unbaked challahs, an apron and baking instructions.
Waiting for the dough to rise, participants enjoyed a buffet of a variety of homemade challahs and dips prepared by Mrs. Chanie Shemtov. Later, women from different age groups were invited on stage to share what Shabbat means to them.
“The profound purpose of Shabbat is to rejuvenate and take a break from life’s daily occurrences,” wrote Julie Zorn, Jewish Culture Specialist at the JCC. “Last night, the Jewish ladies of Tucson got a small taste of it, and quite a delicious taste at that!”
BH
Looks beautiful