The Kosher Cooking Club was an idea that came from the local Cteen board, a steering group affiliated with the Cteen house near Nicolet High School. Cteen is affiliated with Chabad of Wisconsin.
Club President Golan, 15, remembers that the idea came from a fellow student.
Golan worked with the school to officially create the club. “We went around and recruited people,” Golan said. The result on Jan. 11 was dozens of students chatting and chopping, with Israeli music in the background.
The Jan. 11 session was the third food-making session. Prior sessions featured babka and rugelach.
To keep the shawarma kosher, it was cooked at the Chabad-operated Cteen house, then brought over to school to be paired with chopped vegetables. The Cteen house also provided knives, a blender and other items needed for the project.
“Nicolet High School has the largest population of Jewish teens of any school in the state,” said Rabbi Avremi Schapiro, director of Cteen Milwaukee, “We can give the kids the chance to be in public school and say, I’m a proud Jewish teen.”
Nicolet High School Hebrew teacher Yael Gal said food is a great way to connect students with culture. She was glad to see some students in the club who are not taking Hebrew.
The members of the Cteen board and Golan, board co-president, spread the word and went through official school channels to get the club approved. You might not think a club like this could be possible at Nicolet, a public school, but hard work got it done, Golan said.
“Nothing like this had ever been done.”
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