New York is getting a challah festival this November

Jake Cohen is heading to William Greenberg Desserts, and challah is the occasion. The cookbook author and host of Jake Makes It Easy will appear at the New York bakery for a meet and greet kicking off ChallahFest, an international festival giving the Shabbat staple a calendar of its own.

Organized by FOODISH, the culinary initiative founded at ANU–Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, the festival runs from November 6 to 29 across seven cities, including New York. Its broader program ranges from bakery tours to a DJ-led Challah Rave, treating the loaf as a subject worthy of contemporary art and a reason to go out.

For New Yorkers, the William Greenberg collaboration is the clearest local detail announced so far. The bakery is the festival’s primary partner, according to organizers, and Cohen brings a particular fluency in making Jewish food feel both familiar and thoroughly his own. His books include Jew-ish and I Could Nosh, titles that suggest he understands the appetite for tradition with room to improvise.

“We’ve watched challah bring New York families together for generations,” William Greenberg Desserts owner Carol Becker said in the announcement. “We’re thrilled to be part of ChallahFest and to share that joy with young New Yorkers. It’s an invitation to celebrate and start traditions they’ll carry for years to come.”

The festival also announces a Q&A with cookbook author Joan Nathan and a Kabbalat Shabbat gathering involving chef and restaurateur Einat Admony, chef and DJ Falmer and OneTable. Seed + Mill is slated to present a challah-based pop-up. The release does not specify the city for each of those programs, however, so their inclusion should not yet be read as a New York itinerary.

The ambition is to give younger Jews a role in shaping the culture they inherit. “You can’t build a living Jewish culture by asking the next generation to simply remember it. You have to give them something they want to be part of,” FOODISH founder Merav Oren said in the release.

For readers who keep kosher, an important practical question remains unresolved. Asked by Pretty Kosher which events would be kosher, a publicist responded: “There are a lot of events with different aspects and activities, so just confirming the kashrut standards for each one. I believe almost all will be kosher, though.”

That is a preliminary response, with event-specific standards and supervision still to come. Readers should confirm those details for any food event they plan to attend.

The announcement also leaves the exact date, time and participating William Greenberg location for Cohen’s appearance unspecified. For now, New York has a confirmed place in the festival and a bakery kickoff worth watching for as the November schedule takes shape.