Mega Challah Bake Sets Record
Approximately 400 young girls and women joined together for a massive baking project in Northern New Jersey that organizers asserted could be the largest such event in the world.
The Thursday night “Mega Challah Bake” at the Alex Aidekman Jewish Community Campus in Whippany, N.J., officially celebrated the Bat Mitzvah of Chaya Grossbaum, daughter of Chabad-Lubavitch of Livingston directors Rabbi Zalman and Toba Grossbaum. Although no records are kept on similar feats, attendees noted that the output of 800 loaves of the traditional Jewish bread was quite an accomplishment, especially considering that half of the bread was given away to others.
Grossbaum, who turned 12 in August, said that she wanted a meaningful Bat Mitzvah celebration that would give her peers and area women a chance to share in a meaningful project.
“There is no better way to celebrate a Bat Mitzvah than by doing actual mitzvahs,” she exclaimed.
Open to the entire Jewish community, the Oct. 14 event drew women and girls aged 10 and up from all segments of the community. People with special needs took part in the bakeoff, and a sign language interpreter was on hand for deaf participants. Each person created her own two “Loaves of Love,” one to keep and the other to give to someone in need.