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Rebecca Bar
In 2020, Bar, who has worked in the
Jewish community for her entire pro-
fessional career, took on her next chal-
lenge as executive director of Nazun,
a student leadership organization that
aims to alleviate food insecurity for
college students. The organization was
founded in 2004 at Scripps College in
California by Eli Winkelman as Challah
for Hunger. Last year, the organization
rebranded itself, changing its name to
Nazun (which means “we will nourish”
in Hebrew) as a result of feedback from
the organization’s student members.

Nazun’s headquarters have been in
Philadelphia since 2014.

For Bar, her work at Nazun ties
directly to her Jewish identity.

they don’t know where their next meal
is coming from or don’t have access to
nutritious meal options,” Bar said, cit-
ing a statistic that came from a 2019 sur-
vey conducted by Temple University’s
Hope Center for College, Community
and Justice. “No student should have to
choose between food and their educa-
tion. We know that there are so many
challenges in college with getting an
education and then to have food or
access to nutritious food be a barrier
to success? I just don’t think anybody
should go through that.”
Bar’s next plans with Nazun involve
meeting more of the community to wit-
ness the impact of its work firsthand and
to continue to grow the organization.

It’s really special to me to give back
to the Jewish community and to
represent the Jewish community
in the broader world.

HEATHER ROSS | STAFF WRITER
Courtesy of Nazun
R ebecca Bar was born in Milwaukee, but her mission has taken
her across the country and abroad.

Bar, 40, moved to Philadelphia with her family right
before starting high school. She spent her freshman year of college
at Syracuse University before returning to Philadelphia to finish at
the University of Pennsylvania. Bar spent a year in Israel and worked
with the American Jewish Committee when she again returned to
Philadelphia. Bar lived at the Moishe House for four years while working at AJC,
then worked with the Moishe House for another four years, holding
regional and national positions. After that, she became the vice pres-
ident of community partnerships for Honeymoon Israel, where she
managed its city directors, focused on alumni initiatives and coor-
dinated with national partnerships to help young committed couples
experience Israel with other young couples to build a community.

“It’s really special to me to give back to
the Jewish community and to represent
the Jewish community in the broader
world. Living on Jewish time and living
out Jewish values in my work is very
meaningful to me,” she said.

Even in the face of the pandemic, Bar
held tight at Nazun; the organization
didn’t lose a chapter — instead growing
to include five more.

“I started in January of 2020; I had
worked at Nazun for exactly 50 days
before we sent everyone home for the
pandemic,” Bar said.

Nazun pivoted to selling challah
bake kits and hosting bake sessions on
Zoom to continue selling challah to
fund its philanthropic efforts.

So far, Nazun has donated more
than $2 million from challah sales.

Each chapter gives 50% of its profits to
local philanthropic efforts and 50% to
Nazun’s national partner, Swipe Out
Hunger. According to Bar, they still have a
long way to go.

“Thirty-nine percent of four-year stu-
dents are food insecure. That means
“While we have chapters on 65 col-
lege campuses, we also have 13 com-
munity sites around the country, and
we’re always open to new chapters and
initiatives,” Bar said.

Bar’s work at Nazun resonates with
the Jewish values she strives to portray
in her everyday life.

“Judaism has really strong values
around not putting stumbling blocks in
front of the blind or embarrassing any-
one when they are in need — the value
of repairing the world and leaving it a
better place than you found it. These
values play out in my work,” Bar said.

Even though her career keeps her
on her toes, Bar does it all with the
support of her husband, Matthew, and
their two young sons.

To refresh, she bakes challah (of
course), takes walks with her family,
works out and entertains friends.

Bar swears by Nazun’s challah rec-
ipe, which can be found on its website
at nazun.org. The recipe can be modi-
fied to be vegan. JE
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