With help from a Jewish Federation of Ottawa Microgrant, the Ottawa Torah Centre’s Mega Challah Bake brought together women from their 20s to their 80s for an evening of challah, music and community ahead of Rosh Hashanah.

“We’ve been doing these for many years,” said Shterna Blum, who helped organize the event. “It has been a long time since we began doing special programming like this for women to get together and have a nice night out with friends and the wider Jewish community.”

For Blum, challah was a particularly fitting focus for an event held shortly before Rosh Hashanah. Baking challah is traditionally associated with family gatherings, and the round challah made for the High Holidays gave participants an opportunity to take part in a familiar Jewish ritual together.

“We felt it was a good opportunity leading up to the Jewish New Year to bring people together to have this positive experience,” she explained.

The Microgrant helped organizers add entertainment while participants waited for their dough to rise and subsidize participation for young adults and others who may otherwise not have been able to attend.

“Thanks to the Microgrant, we were able to make the event accessible to a broad cross-section of the community,” Blum said. “This is so important when creating opportunities for Jewish connection.”

And that cross-section spanned generations. Women in their 20s baked alongside women in their 80s. Some came with friends and family, while others arrived without knowing many people in the room.

“There were a lot of people, which is what we were hoping for,” Blum said. “It was really a lot of diverse age groups, diverse stages in life.”

At one point in the evening, participants put their arms around one another and sang together. Blum described it as a beautiful example of community coming together. Music, decor and activities were incorporated throughout the evening to make the gathering more than simply a baking class.

Blum also sees Jewish women’s programming as having an impact beyond those who attend.

“We know women are the foundation of a Jewish home,” she said. “When a woman is empowered and inspired, she will have a ripple effect on her whole family.”

For Blum, the Mega Challah Bake brought several elements together: a beloved Jewish tradition, an opportunity to socialize, music and the chance for women at very different stages of life to connect.