On March 7, the Jewish Community Relations Council for Tucson & Southern Arizona, the Weintraub Israel Center, the Tucson J, Tucson Hebrew Academy (THA) and Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center (TJMHC) will host Idan Chabasov, professionally known as the Challah Prince, at THA. A wildly popular social media personality with followers from all over the world, Chabasov will lead participants in a workshop and discuss his story as part of the Weintraub Center’s 70 Faces of Israel.
Participants will learn creative dough-braiding techniques while they listen to the Challah Prince discuss his artistic background – dance, video production, art – and how it plays into his culinary practice. Chabasov is a born & bred Israeli, though he left for Berlin for several years, and sees his challah-baking practice as an act of community and spirituality.
Chabasov’s approach to challah-making reflects TJMHC’s approach of Intimate Histories, an attempt to humanize and personify grand historical narratives. Though originating in our pedagogical approach to Holocaust education, this has come up prominently in the Judaism: An Intimate Perspective exhibit installed last summer.
An Intimate Perspective sources community artifacts to showcase various modalities and entry points to being Jewish or engaging Judaism and Jewish identity. Currently, there are 30 or so artifacts on display, running the gamut from very ‘cultural’ and palatable to a general audience, such as Jewish humor vinyl records, to more religious and internal, like a wig-making kit for Orthodox Jewish women who may choose to wear wigs in respect of tzniut (modesty).
To register for the workshop, or for more information, click here.
