Congressman Lawler Celebrates 12,000 Challahs With Chabad of Suffern

by M.C. Millman 

Congressman Lawler paid a visit to Chabad of Suffern yesterday, Thursday, May 9, to join in the celebration of baking and sharing the Chabad Center's twelve thousandth challah.  

"The challah distribution began during COVID," Devorah Gancz, the Chabad Center's Rebbetzin, tells Rockland Daily, "when people were at home and lonely. We knew they could use a spiritual lift. We put together 1,500 Shabbat packages with challahs and Shabbos candles and gave them to one person in each area, who delivered the packages to every Jewish home on their block. It was really uplifting."

This week, the twelve thousandth challah was kneaded, braided, baked, and shared with the community with the help of the congressman. 

"The last time the congressman was here," says Devorah, "he came to speak to our teen club about his work advocating for Eretz Yisroel, and he made hamantashen with us."

The Chabad Center shares challahs with the community every week. Whether in honor of a birthday, yartzeit or if someone isn't feeling well. 

The delivery person was himself a recipient of the challah chesed when he was going through a difficult time and pledged that when he got better, he would give back. He now donates two to three hours of his time weekly to help deliver the challahs throughout Montebello.  

"These little things make such a difference," says Rebbetzin Devorah Gancz. "When people get a challah, they know how much we care about them."

"Mike Lawler has been such a friend of the Jewish people and a friend of Israel," Rabbi Shmuel Gancz, Rabbi and Director of Chabad of Suffern, shares with Rockland Daily."I can't thank him enough, and Israel can't thank him enough for the amount of activism he does to protect us, whether it's here with his new antisemitism bill which just passed or his unwavering support of Israel or the fact that he keeps speaking at events and to the president. He is such a dedicated person. Not only to his constituents but to the entire country. When I have a person who needs something, all I have to do is call, and his office picks up the phone and gets the job done. He is unbelievable. "