“Two favorites in any Sephardic household are the bureka and the biscocho,” says Sharon Sonenshine, a member of Congregation Or VeShalom (OVS). “I remember baking homebaked goodies with my mother and my grandmother. I have continued this tradition with my children and grandchildren.”

Sephardic cuisine, which includes a wide variety of baked goods, is a way to express and preserve cultural identity. Baking together also serves as a way to pass down family recipes, stories, and memories through the generations, while creating food for the community. 

Congregants and their families meet throughout the year at OVS, one of the few remaining Sephardic Jewish synagogues in Atlanta. They bake Sephardic delicacies including biscochos - traditional ring-shaped tea cookies; and burekas – flavorful, savory, baked puffed pastry, filled with various fillings, such as: potato & cheese or spinach & eggplant.

The OVS volunteer bakers take orders and sell them year-round to families who cherish the connections to their Sephardic families who originally came from places such as Greece, Turkey, Spain, or Portugal.

The 30+ weekly volunteers are all preparing the dough and, either twist the biscocho cookie dough into circles before dipping them into cinnamon sugar and baking them, or they pinch the bureka dough and add a savory filling, before adding them to the tray to bake.

Baking together has been the way to stay connected to their Mediterranean and Middle Eastern ancestry, with the generations of their families and longtime friends.

OVS will host its 48th Annual Hanukkah Bazaar and Food Festival on December 8, 2024, 11 am-4 pm, where hundreds of people of all ages will eat, shop, and play. Homemade Mediterranean cuisine, including these hand baked burekas, biscochos, and other delicious sweets, will be available to purchase. Additional highlights include: gifts and jewelry from local vendors, raffle gift baskets, and a Kids Zone with many fun activities for the children.

For more information: orveshalom.org