BY SAFIJA SHATKU
On May 14, the Jewish Student Union held their second annual Challah Bake, an event where students took on the challenge of making challah, a traditional Jewish bread. Around 30 students and faculty gathered to learn about challah and the steps it takes to bake challah.
JSU used this event to educate attendees about challah and how it is used during the Sabbath and other Jewish holidays. “[The purpose of the event was] to educate people about the importance of something as simple as challah in the Jewish world,” explained JSU Senior Representative Nathan Chumash.
The high school’s JSU made this event possible with the help of the National JSU organization. “It was a very exciting process because we were able to have the JSU organization help plan with us,” said Social Media Coordinator Jessica Orloff. “The OBHS JSU planned everything in the school, but the organization helped supply all of the material we used to bake the challah.”
In order to make challah, attendees had to combine the right amount of ingredients, knead the bread, braid it, and more. “The most difficult part was getting the dough to be the right consistency by kneading and adding the flour and oil,” explained Chumash.
Regardless of the difficulty of making challah, attendees still had a blast accepting the challenge. “My favorite part was actually making the challah. It was really messy but so much fun,” said JSU Treasurer Isabella Lazerson.
Despite it being only the second year of the annual Challah Bake event, the number of participants and support for JSU significantly increased. “It was very fun,” stated JSU President Lila Feldman. “We had pressure to get this event in as there was high demand for it to come back this year.”
Posted on 6/6/25
Photos by Safija Shatku
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