Challah Foundation

THE CHALLAH BREAD FUND FOOD FOR THE SOULS OF CANCER PATIENTS FOUNDED IN 1994 BY MICHAEL J. NISSENBLATT, M.D. CHALLAH FUND VOLUNTEERS: MISSION STATEMENT The mission of the Challah Fund is to create a sense of spirit, human compassion, resilience, and motivation. Through the anonymous gift of Challah – a symbol of life – given by volunteers to patients with cancer, we wish to acknowledge the preciousness of life. The Challah Fund formed to increase mutual respect between patients and volunteers, and to magnify the human spirit of both recipients and donors through the currency of Challah – a resource for life and strength. The Fund is dedicated to maintain the integrity of relationships between people of all faiths, acknowledging a common central bond so that cancer – a disease which often divides people and families – may instead become a fulcrum for healing. The Challah Fund is created to allow patients, families, donors, contributors, and volunteers to communicate with one another, a sense of hope, restoration, and resilience. FOOD FOR THE SOUL Challah, a traditional twisted loaf that symbolizes the bread of life to Jews the world over, is the modern iteration of the “manna from heaven” which sustained the Israelites in the desert when searching for the promised land. Cancer survivors of all religious convictions have found this gift of love can raise their spirits and help them cope more effectively. In his own words Dr. Michael J. Nissenblatt, founder of The Challah Bread Fund, recounts the origin and purpose of the fund. “Ten years ago, I visited a 70-year-old woman with multiple myeloma at our local hospital. She was experiencing bone pain and had been confined to bed for several weeks. Emotionally demoralized, she feared that her life was coming to a close and that she would soon experience even greater suffering. Recognizing that she was a practicing Jew and recalling that I had an extra challah in my car, I brought it to her. Her surprise turned to tears when she realized the small gift was indeed a measure of hope, that she really did have a reason to continue her fight. Her self-worth had been restored, and it fueled her desire to live The next day the woman asked to go to physical therapy, and she eventually learned to walk again and to become independent. She returned to her own home and lived for a few more years, enjoying a higher quality of life than she had expected. This reinforced my belief that the most powerful medicine is the power of the mind. As a result of this experience, I began bringing extra challahs to other Jewish cancer survivors in our hospitals. After a few weeks, a non-Jewish survivor asked about the bread. I explained its significance and gave her an extra loaf. This woman was willing to accept any effort which could help to harness her energy to cope with and overcome her cancer. I well remember the happiness the challah brought her and the love which permeated her room, and I soon began giving challahs to non-Jewish survivors. About three months later, a Catholic woman fighting breast and liver cancer gave me $3. She had been diagnosed in 1989, suffered a recurrence in 1995, and had been through all available treatment programs, but to no avail. When I asked the purpose of her gift, she said that she could imagine no goal more worthy than to marshal a person’s hope to aid his or her own recovery. She believed that challahs could help survivors do this and wanted to share that message with the next person who would occupy the bed in which she resided. This, in essence, would enable one generation of survivors to help the next generation lighten their load and rally their hope so that their experience with cancer would be a more benevolent one. From that day on, I worked to create the Challah Foundation, which, through the gift of a bread of life, helps bring individuals and families coping with cancer closer together during their time of crisis. Over the last five years, the foundation has distributed more than 40,000 challahs to cancer survivors at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and St. Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J. we distribute more than 130 loaves each week. A challah is given to each survivor, regardless of race, culture, or religious conviction. The express purpose of these gifts is to help people harness the power of their minds in exceeding limits to recovery which are often artificially imposed by concerned, yet unknowing, physicians. My small effort has blossomed. Two wonderful men, widowers because of cancer, have made the project successful. Early every Friday morning, Leon Kartzmer and Wally Milbrod began their hejira of hope when they picked up 50 challahs at a local bakery. That was in 1999. Now, with eight volunteers, more than 130 Challahs are purchased. The Challah Team then drives to RWJUH where they give each resident on the oncology floor a warm, succulent challah and the most blessed gift of all: They give of themselves, communicating hope, love, and resilient support. After their visit, they offer challah to sustain their message. There is perhaps no greater example of the passion this effort has engendered than a meeting I had with a Colombian woman, a devout Catholic, in August, 1997. She was receiving chemotherapy as part of her bone marrow transplantation for breast cancer. I sat at her bedside and explained the meaning of challah and why I was giving one to her. When this beautiful woman understood the message, her tears of joy provided a literal translation of the moving experience which the bread of life has given to so many who are coping with cancer.” Copyright 2005 The Challah Foundation To return to Home Page click here