28 | DECEMBER 7 • 2023 J
N

O

n Nov. 19, 600 Jewish 
women gathered at 
the Nancy Grosfeld 
Campus of the Yeshiva Beth 
Yehudah in Oak Park to knead 
and braid challah, pray, dance 
and sing. At a difficult time for 
many Jewish women impacted 
by the ongoing Israel-Hamas 
war and rising antisemitism, 
many are seeking out the 
company and support of other 
Jewish community members.

RISE Challah Bake offered 
that sense of community for 
local Jewish women. The 
sold-out event put on by 
the Partners Detroit team 
generated a “tremendous 
sense of belonging,” explains 
Partners educator Racheli 
Indig.
“I think now because of 
what’s going on in Israel, 
women want to be around 
each other and feel more 

Jewish pride,” she says. “We 
connected with our Jewish 
sisters, and you could sense 
that there was a charged 
energy in the room.”
Participants from more than 
20 Jewish organizations in 
Metro Detroit joined the event. 
The multi-generational event 
saw grandparents, parents and 
children join in on the rituals. 
A table was filled by women 
served by JARC, who braided 
and baked challah as part of 
one community.
Described as a “morning of 
unity” for Jewish women from 
across Michigan to “join hands 
and hearts to bake challah,” 
RISE Challah Bake tapped into 
shared Jewish traditions that 
Indig says many attendees may 
have experienced for the very 
first time.
“We’re talking about this 
powerful moment of prayer,” 
Indig says. “We as a people 
will forever persevere. We’re 
strong, and to be around 
people that feel the same 
way is so empowering and 
inspiring to everyone who 

attended.”
Jill Menuck, a longtime 
participant of Partners, was 
moved when community 
shlicha Lior Zisser-Yogev, 
who lost her brother Eli, a 
commander of an elite IDF 
unit, the morning 
of Oct. 7, said the 
blessing of the 
challah
“It was the 
first time she had 
partcipated in this 
mitzvah,” Menuck 
says. “Everyone in the room 
was moved.”
 Participants who attended 
left with not only fresh challah, 
but a renewed sense of pride 
in their Jewish community and 
faith, fellow Partners Detroit 
team member Dassie Bausk 
says.
So far, the organization has 
received “tremendous positive 
feedback” about the event.
“Everybody felt a sense of 
belonging,” Bausk says. “They 
loved to be with their Jewish 
sisters.”
While the event was planned 

OUR COMMUNITY

Building 
Community 
One Challah 
Braid at a Time

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

600 Jewish women attended 
Partners Detroit’s RISE Challah 
Bake.

Lior Zisser-
Yogev

