Kneading Community: Lessons from the Great Big Challah Bake

What would happen if the Pozez JCC and Chabad teamed up to invite Northern Virginia Jewish women across all denominations and observance levels to braid challah together as our foremothers have done for thousands of years? 

To start, 250 women would sign up in anticipation of one of the community’s largest social gatherings of the year. Some would bring their daughters or their mothers. Others would buy out tables to share with their friends. Others would come alone, knowing they’ll receive a warm welcome and plenty of introductions. 

They would dress in pink in support of October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month to honor the fighters, the survivors, and the loved ones lost to a disease that disproportionately impacts women of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. Because why do one mitzvah when you could do two? 

The event would start, as all good Jewish events do, with schmoozing. As guests peruse the sponsor fair and decorated Shabbat candles, they would run into friends they haven’t seen in months, meet social media acquaintances in real life, and make connections with sister attendees via the all-powerful web of Jewish geography.  

Moms would meet their daughters’ friends and friends’ mothers; daughters would see their mothers’ many connections across our Northern Virginia Jewish community. 

The decibel level in the room would not decrease once the mixing and kneading and rising began because conversation and laughter make the work go more quickly. Apron-clad women would be in constant motion, tending to their own bowls of dough but also hopping from table to table to help others.  

It wouldn’t matter that these women pray in different places or express their Jewishness in different ways. In this moment, they would all be unified by their connection to Judaism and the 3,000-year-old tradition of baking challah for Shabbat. 

When the challah dough rested, the women would not. They would join hands with their mothers, daughters, and sisters in community and sing and dance together. Young and young-at-heart. Reform, conservative, orthodox, unaffiliated. Long-time residents and first-time attendees. 

And at the end of the evening, there would be more than the promise of a delicious loaf of challah bread.  

“I was reminded of something incredibly important: Our Jewish identity is not defined by the people who hate us. It is defined by the traditions we cherish, the community we build, the friendships we nurture, and the joy we pass on to our children,” said Rebecca Geller, who attended the event with her daughter. “There is something so powerful about being in a room where you don’t have to explain who you are, where you belong, or why these traditions matter.” 

“It made me feel that I belong to a strong and supportive Jewish community. It made me think about our Jewish traditions. It made me do mitzvot, and we all shared happiness, fun, and spirituality,” said first-time participant Marta Kapusta. 

“I was overwhelmed by the feeling of belonging to a community held together by tradition,” said Sheryl Roth, a J Family Ambassador who volunteered to work the event and brought her mother and daughter. “I’ll never tire of seeing so many women laughing, sprinkled with flour and sugar, kneading dough, and celebrating the power of Jewish women and our tradition.” 

So…what would happen if the Jewish women of Northern Virginia came together for one night to bake challah together? We would forget our differences, find common ground, and make new friends. We would schmooze, dance, and get a little messy.  

And as the irresistible smell of baking challah filled our homes the following Shabbat, we would remember our commitments to our heritage and to our community and vow to keep those connections going throughout the year. 

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The Great Big Challah Bake happens once a year, but you don’t need to wait until next fall to join the community and get inspired! Check out our calendar and pick an event that sparks Jewish Joy for you.  

Don’t see anything that excites you? Book a time to chat with Zina Segal, senior director of community impact and engagement to find your place at the J.