Challah for Hunger

By Rachel Hamburg
Pomona College

As I have grown up, I have come to understand Judaism as a dynamic, creative, religion and culture. "Jewishness" can be conceived of and expressed in a plethora of ways. It can be about God, temple and prayer, but it doesn’t have to be. It can be about holidays, Hebrew school and Bar Mitzvah parties but it doesn’t have to be.  Or, in the words of Rabbi Sharon Brous, Judaism can be about "working doggedly to bridge the chasm between what is and what could be…about the stubborn insistence that all people should live in dignity."

This is where I have found my deepest connection to Judaism, in a deeply spiritual commitment to social justice and community action. And it is through Challah for Hunger that I have found an outlet for this passion. When I joined Challah for Hunger in my first year of college, I gained a new understanding of how I could address global issues and work towards positive change. Through an action so simple—braiding pieces of dough into challah—I am able to inspire and inform my community, and to aid the victims of the genocide in Darfur.

Challah for Hunger is a recipe for change in which each volunteer, patron and supporter is a crucial ingredient. Small steps create a big movement. The atrocities of the genocide in Darfur are painful and frustrating to confront. I see photographs of starving children, read rape accounts, watch as the death count grows; helplessness overcomes me. How do we combat such hate? Cure hunger? Stop wars? When I make challah each week, I do not find definitive answers to these questions, but, as I work side by side with the members of my challah team, I find a renewed faith in the power of community action. When passionate, committed people come together, we make an impact and the sense of possibility that I garner from our collective energy is inspiring, invigorating and spiritual. That Challah for Hunger provides a forum for such action through so simple a model reifies for me how meaningful each act of tzedakah can be.

Human rights issues are connected. They share one end of a rope in a tug-of-war against injustice. Coming from a family that has experienced genocide—that has pledged "never again"—I understand the dangers of inaction, and also how important it is to cherish our cultures, our traditions and our communities. Challah for Hunger reminds me that the passion of a few can save the lives of many. That I, not a diplomat, or a millionaire, or the head of an NGO, but a young college student, can be at the forefront of change.

Rachel Hamburg is a junior at Pomona College, where she is the chapter founder and co-president of Challah for Hunger. She is majoring in Politics, with an emphasis in disability rights.  Rachel hails from Berkeley, California, where her passion for social justice was cultivated.

[Posted 4/23/09]