For two weeks, June 30 and July 7, Chana’la Rubenfeld, co-director of Chabad of Chesterfield, will offer her fresh challah for pre-order. 

Rubenfeld’s love for making and sharing with others how to make challah through Chabad of Chesterifeld’s Loaves of Love Workshops started more than 18 years ago when she moved back to St. Louis with her husband, Rabbi Avi Rubenfeld, and 1-year-old son, Mendel. As a new mom, she wanted to recreate her childhood memories and the Friday afternoon aroma of freshly baked challah that her mother, Shiffy Landa, co-director of Chabad of Greater St. Louis, used to bake every week. 

The challenge was that the recipe that her mom used called for a 5-pound bag of flour. That made six challahs, which was way more than her small family could eat. So, every week she would share her challahs with her new neighbors and friends. Before long she began to receive several requests to share her techniques and tips of how to make challah. And that is how the Loaves of Love workshops came to be. 

“To me, food is a way to connect Jewishly. I make a lot of Jewish foods because it feels powerful to use food as a means to connect to my grandparents, great grandparents and to my Jewish identity” Rubenfeld explained. “It makes me so happy to be able to share that with others and encourage them to connect, explore and taste their Jewish heritage as well.” 

Rubenfeld’s challahs will be available for preorder for two weeks only, on June 30 and July 7, at a challah pop-up. She will offer a variety of flavors to choose from such as: plain, everything bagel, sesame seed, zaatar, cinnamon and sugar and sweet crumble. All proceeds will benefit Chabad of Chesterfield’s Bowl of Love program, sending bowls of chicken soup to those that are in need of a dose of a physical or emotional boost. 

Pick up will be on June 30 and July 7 between 4 and 6 p.m. at Chabad of Chesterfield’s temporary location in Chesterfield Mall (use the Cheesecake Factory main entrance).  Pre-order is required. The cost is $7/challah and there is a limit of three challahs per person. Place orders at online.