This Kendall bakery is serving fresh challah and friendship for Rosh Hashanah

At Friendship Bakery in Kendall, bakers are hard at work rolling and braiding challah dough a week before Rosh Hashanah. Standing nearby is a kosher supervisor called a mashgiach whose job is to ensure the kitchen abides by Jewish dietary rules. The pleasant aroma of freshly-baked bread fills the air while bakers form the braided dough into a circle — the traditional shape for Rosh Hashanah.

But this bakery isn’t your typical kosher kitchen.

At Friendship Bakery, all baked goods, from challah bread to chocolate babkas, are handmade by adults with special needs. And for the first time, the small community bakery is selling its kosher goods to the community — just in time for Rosh Hashanah, which begins at sundown on Friday and marks the new year on the Hebrew Calendar.

Friendship Bakery is more than just an adult culinary arts program, according to co-founder Nechama Harlig. Operating out of the Friendship Circle Miami — a program established in 2004 to create an inclusive thriving community for individuals with disabilities — the bakery is a way to give adults with special needs camaraderie and life skills.

“The special thing about this was that they would feel like they have meaning and purpose,” said Nechama Harlig, who founded the Friendship Circle with her husband, Rabbi Yossi Harlig. “Not only are they making something to enjoy to eat themselves, but they’re providing something meaningful to our community.”

The Friendship Circle gives individuals with special needs an opportunity to develop genuine friendships and community — two things that don’t come easily to people with disabilities, Nechama Harlig said.

“One of the things that most people take for granted is that we have friends. You can buy your kids therapy, you can buy them toys, but you can’t buy them friendship. That’s priceless,” she said.

Finding a purpose

When the Harligs first moved to South Miami-Dade 30 years ago, the couple established the Chabad of Kendall and Pinecrest, a Jewish institution aiming to deepen one’s faith and celebrate all aspects of Jewish life. The Harligs decided to establish the Friendship Circle several years later, offering a host of programs designed for people with special needs, including music therapy, karate, dance, arts and crafts and even horseback riding. The program partners children and adults with special needs with volunteers to establish a one-on-one connection that sometimes continues for years after the program wraps.

“The volunteers are already out of college, already professionals, and they’re still visiting their friend, not because they have to but because they want to. They built a friendship already,” Nechama Harlig said.

Since the program began, the Friendship Circle has had more than 1,400 volunteers and serves hundreds of special needs individuals each year.

The Friendship Circle campus is a safe haven for people with disabilities. The hallways in the educational building are lined with sensory games reminiscent of a science museum. There’s a music and arts room, an area for people to practice life skills like folding laundry, a room dedicated to play with a rock wall, trampoline and a foam pit. There’s even a dimly-lit calm room meant for people dealing with overstimulation with light-up ropes, a water installation and soft mats for decompressing.

Nechama Harlig said the goal of Friendship Circle connects to the Judaism’s larger teaching of being responsible for every member of your community — regardless of someone’s background or ability level.

“All of this is very Jewish. The idea that every person has a soul and something to contribute. The idea that we are responsible for our community. We can’t just turn our back on these people and say, ‘Hey, well, we’re good. I don’t have a child with special needs. What do you want from me?’” she said.

The program has participants with Fragile X, Down syndrome, autism, intellectual disabilities and genetic syndromes. It’s also welcome to individuals regardless of their faith, despite the fact that the campus doubles as a Chabad.

It wasn’t until after the Friendship Circle was established that the Harligs found out their own child had autism. Nechama Harlig said raising a child with a disability gave her a unique window into what other parents in her program were dealing with every day.

“Very soon, he’s going to be an adult. And honestly, I don’t know what he’s going to do every day. It’s something obviously that every parent of an adult with special needs worries about it,” she said. “How are they going to find meaning in the world? How are they going to keep busy? How are they going to find purpose?”

‘I’m so happy I brought him here’

Last year, the Friendship Circle moved to a new 20,000-square-foot campus which includes the new commercial kitchen that is the heart of Friendship Bakery, but also doubles as a cooking space for the Mitzvah Kitchen, a Jewish nonprofit that aims to combat food insecurity by providing Kosher meals to those in need.

At the bakery on a day in early September, a certified pastry chef modeled for the participants how to roll out dough which the aspiring bakers will later braid into the familiar challah bread shape.

“Remember, guys, how to do it? We’re rolling one each slowly. We’re not in a rush,” said the chef, Ana Lisa Rasmussen.

The bakers will eventually fill orders for bread and pastries from families ahead of Rosh Hashanah — $11 for a loaf or the Rosh Hashanah special, two for $20. The holiday is a holy time for Jews, and is believed to be the birthday of the universe or the day God created Adam and Eve. Typically, Jewish families will go to synagogue to pray and hear the traditional sounds of the shofar horn, followed by a festive meal with family and friends.

Participants talked about their favorite bakery creations and their favorite activities as they worked with the dough. Amanda Lopez, 24, likes making cupcakes in culinary class, but is active in several other programs.

“I love all of the above,” Lopez said about all the activities she participates in at Friendship Circle. “I love karate. I’m a good fighter.”

Lisa Courtright, 28, said she prefers brownies. Robert Hampton said he is particularly fond of the dance program and is learning to play ukulele. After he finishes braiding, he wraps the challah into a perfect circle.

“Good job, Robert,” Rasmussen said. “Beautiful.”

Sebastian Alvarez, 21, who wore noise-cancelling headphones that help him prevent overstimulation is able to participate with the help of his aid, who said he loves cooking class and even tries cooking at home.

Down the hall, the parents of the bakers with special needs were sitting in a lounge drinking coffee and catching up. Rabbi Harlig said the lounge was built as an intentional space for parents to go and take a much-needed break. Many of the parents said that the programs at the Friendship Circle are a good fit for their children, who are now adults who have aged out of school programs.

“I was trying to figure out what I was gonna do with this child,” said Michele Hampton, Robert’s mom. “He’s 35, and there was nothing at the high school. But now, I’m so happy that I brought him here. It’s so welcoming.”

Maria Courtright said she has seen her daughter Lisa grow socially since attending Friendship Circle programs.

“As a parent of a special needs [child], you know your child very well. But you’re always afraid for your child, and I think that’s what everybody has in common, and we feel very comfortable as parents.”

Sonia Lopez said she’s noticed her daughter Amanda is more independent and wants to show her skills in their kitchen at home since she started the culinary program.

“Like this morning, she woke up early with me, it was like ‘let’s make breakfast.’ Sure, let’s go,” she said, noting how skilled her daughter is at cutting and chopping now.

Lopez said she appreciates the fact that her daughter can be herself at the Friendship Circle while findings ways to have “a normal life,” she said.

“Here it’s a safe place. They are accepted,” Lopez said. “And that acceptance they get from here is priceless.”

This story was produced with financial support from Trish and Dan Bell and donors in South Florida’s Jewish and Muslim communities, including Khalid and Diana Mirza and the Mohsin and Fauzia Jaffer Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.