Photos added to Thursday night's Challah Bake at Timomium Fairgrounds include: One set of Concert photos (more concert photos to come)  / Challah Bake at Peregrine's Landing at Tudor Heights -

Photos added Oct. 31, 2015 8:15 PM More Concert photos (more to come)

Baltimore, MD - Oct. 26 - My own, personal, uplifting Shabbat Project experience began last Wednesday, when I covered the grandfather-father-son kickoff themed Magic of Shabbat event, which featured world-renowned magician, Arnie Kolodner, in addition to four Shabbos themed crafts and activities, at the Rosenbloom J.C.C. in Owings Mills. As Rabbi Nitzan Bergman, co-chair of the Baltimore Shabbos Project was kibbutzing with the hundreds of men and boys as they entered the event, I had the pleasure of speaking with Aaron Polun, one of the Steering Committee members of the Magic of Shabbat.

“One of the things that this Shabbos is about is unifying the Jewish community,” noted Mr. Polun. “The Steering Committee was comprised of people representing a cross-section of our community--from Yeshiva Lane to Baltimore Hebrew and everything in between. Through this whole process, the most encouraging thing was the amount of respectful dialogue that went on in the planning of this weekend. It was really extraordinary and a testament to what we can do if we try to see our similarities instead of our differences. This is why I would call it a success, regardless of how many people come, just because it is the beginning of a dialogue: we have more in common than we have apart and Shabbat is something that can unify us all. I hope that this committee, this group of people, can continue the dialogue to find other ways to unify our community. It doesn’t have to be under such grand circumstances. It can be greeting someone you see walking down the street on Shabbos who is not wearing a yarmalke or wearing a different yarmalke. That’s all it really takes.”

Mr. Polun’s observations set the tone for my magical Shabbos Project experience. On Thursday evening, as some of my friends were baking challah with seniors at Peregrine’s Landing at Tudor Heights, I joined the estimated 4000 women and girls at the Great Challah Bake at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium. As I walked up and down the floury aisles between the hundreds of tables in the huge Cow Palace, observing the several participants kneading their dough to the rhythm of (and later, dancing to) everything from Am Yisrael Chai to the latest Israeli tunes, there was a female energy that was quite palpable. And as I watched the bonding of strangers-turned-friends, of all ages, stages, stripes, and walks of life, as they braided their individual challahs, I felt that I was witnessing a symbol intertwining of Jewish unity--both on a local level, and as part of the International Shabbos Project celebrated by a million plus Jews in hundreds of cities across the world, thanks to the extraordinary efforts of Rabbi Warren Goldstein, Chief Rabbi of South Africa, who started the initiative in 2013. Last year, the Shabbos Project went global, partnering with 1,800 organizations and individuals in 465 cities in 65 countries. This year, 5,000 partners were on board in 560 cities involving over 1,000,000 Jews worldwide.

Reena Roshgadol, who volunteered at the Challah Bake registration table shared, “It was amazing to see the people that walked through the door at the Challah Bake from every walk of Jewish life--every age, from little kids to elderly grandmother matriarchs--generations coming together. It was really an incredible thing.”

DSC_6134 from BaltimoreJewishLife.com on Vimeo.

I had the pleasure of speaking to just some of the thousands of Challah Bake participants. Kudos to the organizers for allocating tables for the deaf, with a sign language interpreter, as well as a Russian-speaking table and Hebrew-speaking table, in addition to vegan-free and gluten-free tables, and tables for those bound to wheelchairs.  Many of my interviewees were first-time participants that either heard about the event through family, friends, coworkers, or social media. Just one disclaimer: due to the high decibel level in the Cow Palace, I apologize for any misquotes, mistaken names, and omissions.

Danielle Sarah Storch, Baltimore: “Wow, this is unbelievable. Hashem is smiling down at us.” Her daughter, Bnos seventh grader, Shulamis Tova Storch: “It’s so much bigger and nicer than last year. I can’t believe they did all this in such a small amount of time.”

Rochel Schnur, Baltimore: “It’s awesome to be in the holy Cow Palace.”

Beverly Hirsch, Baltimore: “I was wondering if this is the equivalent of the men’s big learning siyums.”

Saralee Bernstein, Randallstown: “I wanted to do something together with my daughter, Jessica [who traveled all the way from New Freedom, PA to join the Challah Bake], that we have never done before. We are starting a new tradition.”

Eileen Baylin, Randallstown: “I like the camaraderie of all the women. Just bringing all these women together. It was a tradition that my grandmother and my mother did. I never made challah myself.”

Sharon Bloom, Owings Mills: “I’m having so much fun, I want to go to another table and make another challah!”

Nicole Rothouse, Reisterstown: “The turnout is amazing. I saw it on Facebook and it said there was like 600 people. Then, I walked in and I heard there was about 4400. I had never heard of it and it is really a great event.”

Heather Lev, Reisterstown,  JWRP madricha, who was there with her 12-year-old daughter, Bethany: “This is the most amazing thing, to get friends together that we haven’t seen for a long time--from Owings Mills and Pikesville. It‘s fun. We all got together to do this together. Two of the people at my table are from the JWRP. We went to Israel together. All these different events have really gotten us together even closer and closer. It’s amazing!”

11-year-old Lauren Cohen (a Pikesville Middle School student who was there with her mother, JWRP madricha, Sherri Cohen, and her grandmother, Helene Newman): “I think it is a great opportunity for all female members of the family to come together and have a good time.”

Becca Friedman, Cheswolde: “It’s really beautiful. I’m here with my sister, Ariel. It’s a really nice experience on two different levels--it is a very intimate connection between sisters, sharing the experience together, and on a greater scale, to see all of the Jewish women from various walks of life and various backgrounds-- it is really nice to see all the Jewish women coming together as a whole.”

Ariel Levy, downtown Baltimore: “I came last year. This is much more open, a lot bigger turnout giving an opportunity for more women to come.”

Dr. DeeDee Shiller, Pikesville: “It was amazing last year and this year it is on a much grander scale. I love the fact that it is multi-denominational and multi-generational and inspirational.”

Oshrit Solow who moved to Baltimore three weeks ago from Kiryat Gan (and was enjoying the evening with her new friend, Helen Altman, who recently moved to town from Atlanta): “A lot of power. A lot of excitement. Jews together. Everyone dancing. It is a good atmosphere. You feel the ruach. There is something in the air.” 

Merrie Guyton, Randallstown: “I feel happy. I feel a feeling of togetherness. I feel one large neshama.”

Dr. Shari Cohen, Stevenson: “This is my first Challah Bake and it is absolutely worth the trip. Just being with all these people together is amazing. I just met two people at our table that I had never met, and I saw people I knew that I didn’t even know were coming. It’s incredible!”

7-year-old Beth Tfiloh student Leah Warschawski, came with her mother, Rachel, her bubby, Mrs. Eve Kresin Steinberg, and her aunt and cousin: “It’s really fun! We had to reschedule my piano lesson so I wouldn’t be late to come here.”

6-year-old Ohr Chadash student Layla Lasson: “It’s fun baking with Chana, mommy,  my cousins and my aunt. I got to come because tomorrow is my birthday.”

Marcia Wagner, Pikesville: “I think it is a wonderful experience. We are celebrating as Jewish women together and baking challah--something that Jewish women do that distinguishes us as Jewish women. It’s a wonderful thing to do with a lot of women. I’ve also been thinking about my mother-in-law, a”h, who did a lot of programs for Jewish women in Los Angeles, devoting her life to the Jewish community. She was my role model. I know that she would have loved this; she would have been very excited.”

Rebbetzin Toby Kaplowitz, of Netivot Shalom: “It’s amazing. At our table we made new friends, talked to old friends, made new connections. It was a great experience.”

Rebbetzin Sarah Dinin, of Moses Montefiore Anshe Emunah Hebrew Congregation: “I think that this is an incredible event. It is amazing to look around and see all different types of Jews at different places in their lives, at different places in their Judaism, all connected for a common cause. All doing this together for a mitzvah. It is really beautiful.”

Shirley Gordon, Pikesville: “Fantastic! It’s a wonderful experience for Jewish mothers, children, grandmothers, and grandchildren to be together and make something. I think it’s great. I love it!”

Toni Brafa-Fooksman, Owings Mills: “I had a great time. It’s a really nice feeling to be together with a bunch of other Jewish women--even if I don’t know them.”

Julie Klein: “I think it was a Kiddush Hashem, and I think for the girls and women it was a great venue to have self-expression in their simcha of avodas Hashem….There was this whole energy that was so positive and it was all about feeling connected to each other and connected to Hashem. I told the women at my table, this is exactly what we need to be doing to help the situation in Eretz Yisrael, because being unified is what Hashem wants us to be doing, and hopefully this is a major merit for Klal Yisrael.”

Susan Heneson Kornblatt: “At the Challah Bake I found it challenging to make the challah and to roll and braid it… When I got home I redid the challah and put raisins in it and I had fun doing it…it really inspired me. I also made a point of not turning on my computer, because I would normally use it over Shabbos. Everyone is talking about next year. What will we all do next year? What will the program be? It would be great to have something even before next year.”

The Challah Bake was the perfect segue into the Shabbos night joint Suburban Orthodox-Baltimore Hebrew Congregation dinner I attended at Suburban Orthodox. It was just one of over 50 shuls and organizations across Baltimore hosting Shabbat activities for the Baltimore Shabbat Project. Other large formal meals included: The joint Temple Emanuel-Beth Israel dinner, the Ner Tamid luncheon, Beth Tfiloh dinners and a lunch, the Moses Montifiore, Chizuk Amuno and Beth El dinners, the Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion lunch, and the Har Sinai Shabbat Rock.

There was hardly an empty seat in Suburban Orthodox during the lively, inspirational Kabalas Shabbos davening. The congregants couldn’t help but sing, sway, and clap while the baal tefilah inspired them with his heartfelt singing; some men even danced, briefly, around the bima, in expressing their excitement over the arrival of Shabbos.

The beautifully set up dinner hall hosted 347 guests--primarily Baltimore Hebrew Congregation and Suburban Orthodox members, in addition to those affiliated with Beth El, Chizuk Amuno, Ohel Yakov, Darchei Tzedek, Ner Tamid, Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion, Shomrei Emunah, and Beth Tfiloh, among other shuls. Several new bonds were formed and some old ones were even rekindled--like when two former Talmudical Academy students, Dr. Aaron Goldberg and Craig Neuman, had a surprise reunion with their kindergarten arts and crafts teacher, Mrs. Beser. Dr. Goldberg was “randomly” seated with Mrs. Beser and her family, who are members of Baltimore Hebrew Congregation, at the dinner.    

“It was nice to see Mrs. Beser after 53 years; I was totally floored,” shared Dr. Goldberg. “We need to do that [have communal get-togethers] more often. It was really a great experience.”

City Councilwoman Rochelle “Rikki” Spector was in attendance, as well, and remarked:

“To be able to participate in this memorable event as a member of the Baltimore Jewish community was truly inspirational. “I give great thankfulness to the organizers and the beneficiaries in our Jewish community for making this wonderful purposeful happening and know it will be celebrated for many, many years to come--Lech Lecha, all together as Hashem promised Abraham. Am Yisroel Chai!”

Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer, a Democratic Central Committee member who is campaigning for the position of Council in Baltimore City’s fifth district, was also in attendance.  “The tremendous outpouring of the community to join together for a unity Shabbos dinner was very inspiring,” mentioned Mr. Schleifer. “It was a truly unique opportunity for two seemingly diverse synagogues to bring together people whose paths may not cross that often, to experience Judaism and celebrate Shabbos in a meaningful spiritual and social event. Hopefully it will be the start of a community trend to expand collaboration between synagogues that come from different religious spectrums, and the new friendships that were created should blossom and benefit the broad Baltimore Jewish community.”

There were some tents pitched around town, to accommodate some of the approximately 150 lay-led Shabbat dinners and luncheons held. As I passed those pitched at Yeshivas Lev Shlomo and at the home of Dr. Michael and Mrs. Linda Elman (who hosted Shabbat dinner for about 80 people connected to the Acharai leadership program with participation of NCSY student leaders, and Shabbat lunch for about 80 members of the CJE board.), on my way to and from Suburban Orthodox, I couldn’t help but think how appropriate it was that the Shabbat Project was held on Parshas Lech Lecha. Avraham Avinu’s hospitality has certainly been carried down the generations, down to the tent! The lay-led dinners and luncheons have been an initiative for community members to invite people that they don’t ordinarily invite, for example, from their synagogue, neighborhood, place of employment, etc.

I was fortunate to spend one of my most wonderful Shabbos lunches, ever, in the warm, welcoming Hal Circle community tent (MC‘ed by Avi Greenlinger), together with about 100 people. I enjoyed sitting with Yaakov and Rachel Neuberger and their son, Yissocher. Mrs. Neuberger was just one of the many gracious neighborhood hostesses.

“From the very first moments, the atmosphere was one of incredible warmth and openness to all,” recalls Mrs. Neuberger. “At one point during the meal a member of each family was invited to express a few words describing themselves and a sense of what Shabbos or this Shabbos meant to them.  Each comment was unique, meaningful, illuminating, movingly heartfelt, leaving all with a sense of great respect, closeness and deeper bonding to one another.”

I was thrilled that Past Levindale Auxiliary President Linda Hurwitz, who is the incoming Chair of the Board of the Associated, was among the many wonderful guests in the neighborhood tent who spoke from her heart. After Shabbat she shared, “Did you notice how instantly we all felt a connection, a family-like bond, a shared relationship? This feeling is similar to the defining moment I spoke about when I welcomed Natasha, the Russian teenager, from the plane to Israel. There is an innate love for a fellow Jew that is in each of our DNA and it is our responsibility as a people and a community to provide opportunities for every Jew to experience and discover this trait. One success story was at the neighborhood tent on Hal Circle/Court. Anyone lucky to share in this beautiful festival of Shabbat will grow from it, remember it and spread this warmth to others. It does not get better than October 24, 2015!

“Each Shabbat not only is a gift, but makes me feel one with our people: the only religion that celebrates this unique holiness for 25 hours Friday night through Saturday night,” continued Mrs. Hurwitz. “YET, this Shabbat was on steroids. Truly sharing, experiencing, embracing and loving Shabbat with so many literally and figuratively, locally and internationally, in shuls, tents, and homes. Each time I say the Shema, I get goose bumps knowing that my entire people are not only reciting it exactly like I am, but that we are one: one people with one purpose, one passion, one G-d and one past, present, and future. The Shabbat Project gave us a forum to live our unity, to celebrate our oneness and to partake in the joy of being Jewish. The success of The Shabbat Project indicates the desire for every Jew to embrace their Judaism, to celebrate what we have in common and to feel the joy and closeness of one Jew to another.”

I also had the pleasure of eating lunch at the same table with Saralee and Bobby Jacobson, who relocated to Greengate to be able to walk to their shul, Moses Montefiore. “It was such a moving experience celebrating Shabbat with different Jewish people in the community; celebrating Shabbos has changed our lives,” shared Mrs. Jacobson, who started to keep kosher at the age of 57. The Jacobsons’ religious journey took them from a Reform to a Conservative to an Orthodox lifestyle. Fourteen years ago, when the Jacobsons were members of a Conservative synagogue, Mrs. Jacobson shopped for a hat in Hats to Hose and hit it off with proprietor Sima Goldstein, whose Orthodox lifestyle she and her husband chose to emulate.

Phil and Sherrie Blank also joined the Hal Circle tent and really enjoyed all the “positive energy” during the meal. “My father [Albert David Blank, who was the first generation owner of the Blanks Dollar Stores--more recently known as Blanks Fabrics--founded by his father, Isaac, in 1904] would be so proud of the Jewish community coming together like this because the Jewish community was so important to him,” shared Mr. Blank. “When he came to Baltimore he lived in East Baltimore, in the Jewish community, and he liked the fact that we all lived together. There was nothing more important to him than his grandchildren and the Jewish community.”

The special Shabbat Project culminated with the motzei Shabbat outdoor One People One Heart Concert, starring the Moshav Band, on the lawn of the Rosenbloom Owings Mills J.C.C. An estimated 2000 community members attended, marking the end of a very special Shabbos, using the 600 Havdalah candles and 1200 spice bags that Hebrew school students and preschoolers throughout Baltimore made.

I was warmly welcomed into the concert by Randy Glassman, who participated in the Shabbat Project by taking part in the Challah Bake with her cousins, daughters, granddaughters, and sister-in-law,  enjoying Shabbos dinner with her family, as she does weekly, in addition to participating in a special Shabbos Project luncheon at her shul, Chizuk Amuno.

“I love seeing this diversity,” noted Randy. “If we all remember we are all Jews, we are all Hashem’s children, made in the image of G-d, the world would be a better place. It is just a wonderful thing to see, especially at the Challah Bake, all women from different types of Judaism were there. It was wonderful.”

Scheping nachas at the concert was Sora Wolasky, who was on the Steering Committee of the Baltimore Shabbat Project and the One People One Heart Concert co-chair. “This is a dream that I had after getting excerpts of the program from Rabbi Warren Goldstein in South Africa and hearing about how well their Shabbat program went,” shared Mrs. Wolasky. “I was so excited, I spoke to a couple of friends in the community and said, ‘We have to do this!’ Last year, I helped initiate the first Shabbat Project in Baltimore. We started a little bit late, but still we were able to have a fabulous Challah Bake, a little bit of Shabbos programming, and a small concert. We decided to up everything this year…Every program was planned for a year.”

I also met Rabbi David Finkelstein, director of Camp Shoresh, in Frederick, Maryland, at the concert, who had just returned from camp after hosting over 100 people there for a Shabbaton. “This is a tremendous Kiddush Hashem,” said Rabbi Finkelstein. “Remember: We’re not keeping the Shabbos; the Shabbos is keeping us--so, the Shabbos should still keep us all these years. It’s the only thing that keeps us going all these years as a Jewish people.”

On the way out of the concert I met Shabbat Project program manager, entrepreneur Nisa Felps, who worked with 1000 volunteers for nine months to create the 2015 Baltimore Shabbat Project. “I feel very gratified at this moment,” said Mrs. Phelps. “Last year, as successful as the Challah Bake was, I felt Baltimore could do better. I wanted to get involved because I wanted Shabbos to be the center part, because Shabbos is the most important part, and I feel that Baltimore stepped up in a big way this year with over 50 shuls and organizations having activities all around Baltimore and over 150 lay-led host meals. People took it and people were excited. I was at Ner Tamid, today, and there were 350 people there and 100 people on the waiting list. People were everywhere wanting to be a part of this project, wanting to be a part of something global, of something huge. Baltimore is an incredible community. I’m proud to be from Baltimore and I’m proud to be involved in this project with so many dedicated, incredible volunteers. I have a lot of hakaras hatov (gratitude) to Rabbi Goldstein. He started this. It is just not a project, it is a movement for Yiddishkeit--even for frum people. Frum people need to be ignited and this project is igniting people to become alive and to cherish what they have within their heart already. It‘s beautiful and I feel so honored. It is not kiruv (outreach), it‘s achdus (unity)!”

As Emma Michelsohn said, “I think those who are already affiliated are given a chance to have an extra elevation to what they normally celebrate. They celebrate every week, but they get an extra elevation, an extra shiur, a meal with new people, or a class, or divrei Torah, and a chance to meet some new people, and to see the vast diversity of our family--but we’re still family and that’s the beauty of it….I think the overall Shabbos point was unity, and I think that was definitely achieved.”

Shabbat Project co-chair Liora Hill, a member of Baltimore Hebrew Congregation and founder of Zoetic Workshops, best summed up the Shabbat Project event, perhaps, noting: “We have so many people who have just jumped up and said, ‘Yes, we really are one people and it really is important for us to dignify, honor and respect each other as who we are as one Jewish people.’ It’s important. We have different traditions; we have different practices, though we are all Jewish. So, here we are coming together to celebrate, rather than grieve or mourn or operate in fear or in horror, which we automatically do as a people, but now we get to get together to celebrate being Jews together, as one people. That is what this is about. That is what this is for, here and all over the world.”

Shabbat Project co-chair Rabbi Nitzan Bergman concurred: “King David said, “In the multitude of people is the king's glory.” (Proverbs 14:28). The Baltimore Shabbat Project has happened: Something so beautiful, almost surreal, transpired. The multitude of people who participated led to this project taking on a life of its own. No individual stood out because it was simply too big. Yet at the same time each individual meant everything, like the screw which keeps the airplane window closed tight – itself insignificant but in relation to the whole, vital. The energy created was due to each and every individual, bar none, who participated. This phenomenon could happen in other settings. Big sporting events often have this energy. This Shabbos was different though; it was about doing a Mitzvah. Whatever thoughts people had, the simple reality was that they came together to celebrate Shabbos and the Jewish people. G-d’s presence was plainly felt. The Glory of The King was palpable and that is the most awesome experience a human can have. We read in the Parsha about Abraham and how G-d told him to leave his family and travel to the Promised Land. He was sent on a mission. This Shabbos we got a glimpse of that mission -- to bring Glory to The King!” 

Concert Photos (more to come) added Oct. 31, 2015 8:15 PM

Challah Bake at Peregrine's Landing at Tudor Heights photos by Hindel Leiter

Concert photos by Hindel Leiter

URGENT NOTICE: Matchboxes displaying Hashem's name were inadvertently distributed to Baltimore Shabbos Project participants during its various events this past week. They are shaimos and should be treated with proper respect, as the matchbox cover says. Please properly disposed of by first double-wrapping in waterproof plastic. Please spread the word. Thank you!