Whitney Rappaport prepares bagels for the Jewish Bagel Club at AC Flora High School.

Kafilta fish and Challah don’t sound like typical bake sale items. But for Gracie Faulkenberry and Whitney Rappaport, co–presidents of the Jewish Bagel Club at AC Flora High School, they’re what’s on the menu for the next fundraiser.

“Ooh, we can’t sell kafilta fish!” exclaimed Gracie. “That is so disgusting.”

I stared blankly as they debated between Challah, kafilta fish, and falafels. A flood of questions from some of the club members indicated the others were about as clueless as I was. As the two students patiently explained these were traditional Jewish foods, I realized just how little I knew about Jewish culture or customs.

According to Rappaport that is exactly why she and Faulkenberry started the Jewish Bagel Club. The club, also known as Bagel Eaters Anonymous (BEA), was founded to teach other students about minority religions, particularly Judaism.

“There’s FCA for the Christians at AC Flora, but they don’t have a club for minority religions,” said Rappaport.

The group plans to acknowledge minority religions by selling ethnic food at lunchtime, discussing issues that concern Israel, and drawing attention to Jewish holidays.

The club meets every other week during the student’s lunch time. This week’s meeting was a BYOB day, that is, Bring Your Own Bagel. The students discussed upcoming holidays, such as Yom Kippur.

“This holiday is really big. It’s like as big as Christmas,” said Whitney. “We want to make it more recognizable by making an-nouncements about it. It’s not even on the school calendar!”

The club also talked about upcoming fundraisers. They plan to sell bagel bites at the school’s fundraiser hut as an alternative to pizza and hold a car wash. They say the money will go towards an organization that plants trees in Israel.

Sydney Kornegay is a senior at A. C. Flora High School.