Yeast may not be your typical building material, but it was the key ingredient in community building this week at eight UJA-supported challah bakes across New York.

All this baking is part of UJA’s CommUnity Shabbat Weekend on February 10th and 11th. Over Shabbat, 6,500 community members will gather in homes, synagogues, and community centers with guest speakers. The goal: bringing together diverse segments of the New York Jewish community around shared values, connecting people to one another and UJA.

This included those who don’t usually hang together. In Queens, Conservative and Orthodox congregations and families from Solomon Schechter School turned out to make challah at the Hillcrest Jewish Center.

“It’s a beautiful thing that we may observe Judaism in different ways and pray differently, and through other activities like this, we are able to come together,” said Ora, a member of Young Israel of Jamaica Estates, who came to the challah bake at Hillcrest Jewish Center.

For some women, the challah bake was a chance to both learn and mingle.

“I’ve never baked challah and always wanted to learn,” said Joan, a Hillcrest Jewish Center member. “It’s profoundly cool to be making challah with 160 women. I had no idea there’d be this many women. It’s a good community event, and it’s nice that congregations are sharing this together.”

The mingling wasn’t just at the tables set with colorful bowls. And the dough wasn’t the only thing to rise. When the music started playing, the room quickly filled with women leaving their seats to join in joyous dancing.

Mothers danced with daughters, friends with friends they just met, and ones they knew, all dancing in circles until the music stopped and it was time to braid their challahs.

For Angela, whose family is Bukharian, the challah bake held special meaning as she shared the experience with her young daughter.

“This challah bake is important because I’m a young mom and my kids are growing up here,” Angela said. “I want them to know and feel their identity, and I can’t think of a better way than to build a strong bond with the community.”