Challah, traditional Jewish egg bread eaten on the Sabbath, is quite the delicious basis for a gourmet batch of French toast. But one nationwide student group is taking challah beyond its not-so-basic breakfasting purposes.
Challah for Hunger, a non-profit organization, sells freshly baked challahs each week in order to raise awareness of and money for hunger and disaster relief."" Through the sale of this tasty braided egg bread, money is donated to disaster relief in Darfur in order to help the oppressed Muslim communities living there in extreme poverty. The proceeds also go toward educating campuses about the genocide in Sudan and ways that they can help the cause.
Eli Winkelman, a Jewish student attending Scripps College in California, founded Challah for Hunger in October 2004. When Eli and her friends realized the bread they baked for fun could actually become a sellable product, the student group set up shop once a week in the Scripps cafeteria's kitchen.
Based on the Jewish commandment of Tzedakah, loosely translated as charity and justice, Challah for Hunger is carrying out an ancient Jewish practice of giving food to the poor. Since the biblical process is a little outdated - save a corner of your crops to give to the impoverished - CfH has updated the process.
Since the organization's founding, chapters across the country have met weekly to bake bread and then sell it to their communities. Challahs are available in a variety of yummy flavors, including plain, chocolate chip, peanut butter chocolate chip, parsley sage rosemary thyme, and cinnamon sugar, depending on the chapter.
Challah for Hunger was even given a nod from Bill Clinton in his book ""Giving."" An organization of Jewish students working together to help an endangered Muslim society is both ""touching and relevant,"" according to our former president.
There are chapters of Challah for Hunger at 19 universities across the United States, including one at UW-Madison. Co-founders Sarah Weil and Emily Albun started the UW-Madison chapter this past school year.
""It seemed like a lot of fun and something that would work really well at Wisconsin,"" Weil said. After teaming up with Albun and working to get student-organization status in the fall, the two recruited volunteers and started baking challah at the beginning of spring semester.
More than simply collecting coins, ""I think that Challah for Hunger is a great organization because it allows you to become involved in a good cause while also meeting people and making something delicious,"" Wiel said. ""Instead of just donating money, you are engaging in activities and people get something back.""
The Hillel Center for Jewish Life on Campus co-sponsors Challah for Hunger. ""We meet at the Towers kitchen on Tuesday nights to make dough, allow it to rise overnight and go back Wednesday night to braid and bake it,"" Weil said. ""We usually have 5-10 volunteers and make anywhere from 15-40 challahs depending on our orders."" As of right now, only plain and raisin-flavored challahs are available, but look out for more flavors coming soon.
Ordering the challahs is easy. Orders can be placed on the Hillel website, $3.25 for regular and $4.25 for raisin, or extras can be bought directly at Hillel on Thursdays between 11 and 4. If placing an order online, be aware that registration closes weekly Wednesdays at 3 p.m. Orders registered after 3 p.m. will be considered for the following week.
According to their website, ""Challah for Hunger envisions young people all over the country - our future community and business leaders - who are aware of and sensitive to human suffering and committed to relieving that suffering and changing the systems responsible for such conditions, through the integration of business and social justice practices.""
""I hope that we have started a base that will grow in future years and become a large presence on campus,"" Weil said.
To find out how you can get involved, go to challahforhunger.org or contact Hillel.
