She taught us tons of different ways to shape our Challah and even demonstrated each one of these various techniques.

In fact, each girl got her own piece of dough and got to practice all the beautiful different ways to make their own unique Challah. All the girls really got to demonstrate their creativity, and we all did a great job!! Indeed, Mrs. Chernin told us that she was very impressed with what we all came up with. After the activity, we all talked about how much we look forward to being able to share these techniques and recipes with our friends, family, and loved ones when we soon return home. Best of all, as it was Wednesday, we had our freshly baked Challah just in time for Shabbos, where we could show off our wonderful creation!!

As usual, the conversation was comfortable and homey, all of us enjoying each other’s company. Going along with our Bayit Cham custom, we heard 2 wonderful and inspiring Divrei Torah, courtesy of Chavi Radinsky and Sharon Franko. After we got our fill of Torah, we moved on to get our fill of dessert- Chocolate Chip Icecream Pie! Perfect for a warm Jersualem night! We like to take our time with our meals since we are serious shmoozers in our group. But the night must move on. Anomia anyone? In case you don’t know what Anomia is (no, it’s not a sleep disorder), it’s actually fun, fast-paced, competitive game (perfect for our group!) that involves naming things in different categories. Needless to say, we all had an awesome time playing! It’s so fun to see everyone’s personalities shining through! We ended the night shmoozing an hanging out, savoring our last few weeks with our Bayit Cham family!

We were divided into two teams and each team was given a bag with exactly the same materials and a mission: Use all of the materials to present the most beautiful Queen Esther!!! Our models, Shaina Katz and Sara Rochel Jaffe were great sports as toilet paper, aluminum foil, costume makeup, ribbon etc were used to dress them up!!! Once our beauty pageant was finished, the hamantashen were ready and we enjoyed them warm – straight out of the oven!!!

The evening was devoted to the festivities of the month, getting us in the true spirit of Purim. Our Chonechet revealed to us her secret, age-old family recipe for hamentashen, which we obviously can’t reveal outside her home. We got to work, eagerly combining the ingredients, and formed delicious, professional looking hamentashen. We chose from a variety of fillings including strawberry jelly, white and brown chocolate, and peanut butter. We meant to save them for Shabbos at the least, but we couldn’t help ourselves, as the super enticing scent wafting out of the kitchen, got the better of us. Our favorite was of course the “Reese’s” flavored hamentashen (a perfect blend of chocolate and peanut butter)-they were out of this world! We capped of the evening by designing for ourselves the first contribution to our Purim costume. Using feathers, sequins, glitter, and a variety of other supplies, we were able to create and decorate our very own super sparkly and funky face masks. They looked absolutely adorable! We ended the evening by curling up on the couch and shmoozing the night away talking about what we had learned from Rabbi Green and Rabbi Kahane to just our plans for Pesach. Thank you so much for an unforgettable Bayit Cham- looking forward to next time!

What’s more, we started our Bayit Cham Supper with fresh and warm whole wheat bread from the oven. Then we had cream of butternut squash soup and a wonderful salad bar where everyone chose from any type of vegetable. Plus, girls could choose tuna, corn, croutons, grilled sweet potato, and balsamic thousand island and Italian dressing! After that we had fresh and tasty lasagna that our Chonechet brought right out of the oven!

We also heard great Divrei Torah from our fellow students! A good time was had by all as we all had a great time simply hanging out and getting to bond until finally the evening came to a close.

At that point, the same thought had started to dawn on each one of us. We came with a plan to eat enough to carry us through the next day’s fast, but by this point, we were so full that we’d have to fast for TWO days before we saw any sign of any appetite returning. However, the kettle cooked popcorn that somehow found its way from the oven straight to the table could only mean one thing. It was time for business. And by business, I mean fun and games. But by fun and games, I mean BUSINESS! We divided up into teams, and launched into a friendly war of Pictionary (Friendly being defined as friendly, War being defined as competitive). It was incredible to see how someone else could have a totally different imagined perception of what a certain object looks like (I still stand by my original assumption that Humpty Dumpty had a moustache). We finished off with a few rounds of Balderdash, a game that brought out much of the creative side of our personalities. All in all, it was a night to remember. We can’t wait ‘till next time! Have an easy and meaningful Fast!!

Guest Post by:

Devorah Garfinkel, graduate of Sha’arie Bina Torah Academy for Girls, North Miami Beach, Florida

We just returned from the best time at Chaya Fish’s house! One of the great things about it is that she lives literally minutes away from Sharfman’s! Anyways, when we arrived we were greeted with an overwhelming sense of Chanukah! The smell of latkes frying and the colorful decorations were more than enough to get us into the fun holiday spirit. We sat down at a table decorated with Chanukah themed napkins and plates with chocolate gelt scattered on the table. Festive Chanukah music played in the background and we played with the dreidle at the table. Then we went into the kitchen and started frying our own latkes!! Chaya also served us a tasty holiday Dinner which included: French Onion Soup, as well as latkes with applesauce. After we were all full with our delicious food, Chaya brought out a surprise! We were going to be making Menorah’s!! We had all the supplies that we needed; wood for the base, sandpaper to even the wood, markers and puff paint to decorate, small metal candle holders, and a hot glue gun.

Our creative and artistic juices really flowed and we each made a very unique and individual Menorah! They were all very different and they showed off our different personalities beautifully!! We had such a blast coloring, sanding, and gluing our Menorah’s together. It was such a great night and a perfect way for us to celebrate Chanukah!!

We entered the apartment, and peered around into the dining room…..hey, is that Chinese noodles we see?? Nori?? Chopsticks?? No way! All out Oriental Night!! The table was decorated with all the ingredients any professional Oriental chef would need……(sushi rice, wasabi, soy sauce, hot mayo, bamboo mats, an assortment of vegetables, etc.). Little Bamboo shoots stood proudly at the center of the table, welcoming us with true National flavor. We all dove into the Jasmine tea… wow!… so refreshing! Of course the feeling wouldn’t be complete without sushi on the menu. Our Chonechet set about teaching us to make sushi, and to be honest, considering we were all amateurs at this, we were shocked to see how professional they ended up looking! It’s time to open up a new Kosher Sushi joint!

After devouring our delicious sushi rolls and noodles, we celebrated the birthday of Tehilla Marks and Michelle Sabag! And what’s a birthday party without a cake and candles? Yum! Out came a gorgeous cake, absolutely dripping in delicious icing! Even more yum! As the ultimate ending to an awesome night, we each got to make our very own fortune cookie! We each attempted to come up with a smart but humorous fortune, which we artfully inserted into our cookie. After baking and carefully forming them, we divided them up so that each girl received a cookie, each of us curious as to which fortune was contained within. I guess we hadn’t anticipated the level of creativity in our group-they were so funny that on occasion we struggled to get the words out! Wow what a night! And you heard it here first-“Sharfman’s Sushi Spectacular”-coming soon to a restaurant near you!!

And one second, what was that you said?? The night’s not over yet?? Our Chonechet informed us it was time for “Cinnabon” production! Yuuuuuuuum! We rolled up our sleeves, smoothed out the dough and formed the buns. You better believe it…Sharfman’s girls were world class chefs! Before we knew it the entire house was filled with that tantalizing smell of fresh warm cinnamon buns! As we sat waiting for the Cinnabons to bake, we took time to discuss and write down personal goals that we each wanted to achieve this year. We thought long and hard, and sealed our goals in an envelope (to be opened later on in the year). Finally, the Cinnabons were ready. We glazed them with a delicious icing, and sat back and admired our handywork. Well, not for long actually. That unbelievable smell became too much for us, and we devoured our scrumptious cinnabons. We finished off with a hilariously entertaining game called ‘Fee Fi Fo Fum’. Wow!! This one truly raised the bar! Thank you Rachel Rose and everyone at Sharfmans for giving us such a special night we won’t forget!!