Palm Beach Synagogue hosts first ‘Mega Challah Bake’ for children
Landon McCoy (center), 8, lifts a cup of ingredients while making challah, Sunday, February 21, 2016 at Palm Beach Synagogue, along with Elad Friedman (left), 8, and Michael Liberty (right), 8. The event was billed as the First Ever Palm Beach Community Mini Mega Challah Bake, and organizers estimated that around 100 young people came out to participate. Damon Higgins / Daily News
Bread this good makes you want to challah.
OK, our apologies for the pun.
About 100 children visited the Palm Beach Synagogue Sunday to make bread during the synagogue’s first “Mini Mega Challah Bake.”
The event is the brainchild of Dinie Scheiner, wife of Rabbi Moshe Scheiner.
“Children love to bake. Children love to get dirty and messy and get into it,” she said with a smile.
For three years, Scheiner has hosted a challah bake on the first Friday of the month for women at the couple’s Palm Beach home. Scheiner and others decided to host a challah bake at the synagogue to educate children about the Jewish tradition, she said.
“Challah is an integral part of Shabbat, the seventh day of the week,” Scheiner said. “God worked for six days and on the seventh day he rested. That day is Shabbat. Challah are the special loaves of bread that we eat on Shabbat — Friday night and Saturday.”
A piece of dough taken from a larger mass of dough to create a new loaf is called challah, she said.
Mega Challah Bakes have become popular across the globe, Scheiner said. They’ve been held in Montreal; Chicago; Norwalk, Conn.; Orlando; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Jerusalem, among other cities.
Mali Liberty, of Wellington, brought her 8 year-old son, Michael, to the Challah Bake.
“The Palm Beach Synagogue always has beautiful events,” Liberty said. “They really care about the kids.”