Karen Singer primarily works as a commercial real estate lawyer at KMS Partners, but outside of work, she has been involved in many charitable causes. Some of these have been more secular nonprofits and local organizations, but in the wake of Oct. 7, she’s gotten more involved with Jewish fundraising through her Challah Hugs for Israel initiative.

Singer, 60, lives in Lutherville with her husband, John. They are members of Baltimore Hebrew Congregation.

Singer grew up on Greenspring Avenue in Pikesville, where her parents still live. Her mother was on the board of the local chapter of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, which focused on helping Jewish immigrants who had been displaced from the Soviet Union when Singer was a child.

“My parents welcomed people to Baltimore and helped them get acclimated. People would come to our house for dinner with virtually no English capacity,” she recalled.

For his part, her father was very involved with The Zanvyl and Isabelle Krieger Fund, which provides grants to Baltimore- and Israel-based advocacy groups that focus on affordable housing and environmental justice, among other things.

Singer says that her parents and their involvement in charitable causes played a key role in developing what she calls her “three-legged stool of life.”

“The three legs are home life, work life and civic life,” she explained. “It’s not complete if any of the legs are missing or aren’t equal.”

Singer has held many leadership positions. She’s served on the board of the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland and Art With a Heart, as well as being part of The Associated’s chapter of Dignity Grows.

In 2014, she founded her first volunteer initiative, Something Good. Organized through the former Jewish Volunteer Connection — now the Jewish Connection Network — Something Good organized and promoted hands-on volunteer opportunities. The initiative grew to over 700 members before it was retired due to the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning that there were always plenty of volunteers available to help out.

“[Through Something Good], I made a lot of new friends that I didn’t know before. A friend would bring one of their friends, and that person would become a friend,” she said. “It was wonderfully thrilling.”

In 2019, Singer read “Braided: A Journey of a Thousand Challahs” by Beth Ricanati, an award-winning book that chronicles the author’s journey trying to make challah for Shabbat every week and how it improved her mindfulness and changed her outlook on life. While Singer notes that she wasn’t much of a baker beforehand, she found the story to be inspiring and started to make challah every week herself.

Since she always had challah on hand, she started giving loaves away to people as a show of goodwill.

“I was like the grim reaper, because whenever people were having a hard time or had just had a loss, they got a challah from me,” Singer quipped. “And if they had a birthday, they got a challah from me. My parents have an old friend in Florida, and I made him challah for his 102nd and 103rd birthdays.”

After the events of Oct. 7, Singer wanted to make a difference in the community, but wasn’t sure how. So she turned to her old hobby and founded Challah Hugs for Israel, an initiative where people can order handmade loaves of challah in exchange for a $36 donation to an Israel-related nonprofit organization of their choice.

Demand for this challah has been so high that Singer has sometimes baked up to 48 loaves during a single weekend.

“I was able to get my hands dirty in a way that worked for me, and that helped Israel. It brought the atrocities [of Oct. 7] to life, and gave people a way to offer support in a way that was manageable for them,” she said.

Singer has raised over $10,000 for Israel-related charities since October 2023, in part due to an initiative that lasted October through November and in part due to a recent flash sale she held. In total, 236 challahs have been sold, though some customers have donated over $36.

In addition to raising money for Israel, Challah Hugs for Israel also gives contributors a way to show they care about others in their community by allowing them to distribute challah to those in need or who are having a hard time.

“People’s help matters, and it doesn’t just have to be through writing a check,” Singer said. “People did all different things. People made bracelets and wrote cards. But to help save the world, you do what works for you. And there’s a whole world out there that needs our support.”