Eastside Jewish Commons and Congregation Shir Tikvah Present Bread and Torah: an interactive workshop with Rabbis Linda Motzkin and Jonathan Rubenstein. This workshop offers a unique hands-on opportunity to participate in the making of a Torah scroll –through the rare experience of sewing together Torah panels made from handmade deerskin parchment – as well as the making of challah while engaging with Jewish teachings about Torah as physical and spiritual sustenance.

Each participant will take home delicious challah or you can bake it and nosh at the Commons! This is an event for adults and their kiddo cohorts, or anyone who wants to deepen their knowledge about baking and torah. Come for the entire event from mix to rise (with sacred sewing in-between) or join us for whatever stage of the project suits you! Participants will have the option of taking challah dough or braided loaves to bake at home before the program ends. Challah from this program will also be donated to MealsOnUsPDX.

All Ages

$6-$12 Sliding Scale/Person no more than $20/Family. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Schedule:

1 PM Mixing of the challah dough (for those that want to start from scratch!)

2-3 PM Intros and presentation: Making of a Torah Scroll

3-3:30 PM Shaping the Challah, teaching on hafrashat challah, and the second rise3:30-4 PM Community sewing of the Torah Panels

3:15- 3:45 PM – Baking the challah

4 PM Conclusion and challah eating

Rabbis Linda Motzkin and Jonathan Rubenstein are Rabbis Emeriti of Temple Sinai in Saratoga Springs, NY. Rabbi Linda is a trained soferet (Torah scribe), parchment maker, Judaic artist, and author of Hebrew textbooks. She is currently writing a Torah scroll and leading the Community Torah Project, a long-term undertaking designed to involve a wide range of participants in various steps in the hands-on process of making a Torah scroll, from the processing of deerskins into parchment panels to the proofreading of the completed text to sewing the panels together.

Rabbi Jonathan is a bread maker, baking teacher, and mental health chaplain. He founded and operated a non-profit, charitable bakery, Slice of Heaven Breads, out of the Temple Sinai kitchen, which continues with a dedicated group of volunteers following the retirement of the rabbis in January, 2023.

Rabbis Linda and Jonathan founded the Bread and Torah Project in 2004, through which they offer interactive educational programs based on their scribal arts and bakery activities.

MealsOnUsPDX is a BIPOC 501(c)3 Nonprofit Organization based in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 2020 to provide nutritious meals, at no cost, to individuals experiencing hunger and food insecurity within our community as a response to the global pandemic.