More than 220 women representing 25 area churches, synagogues, and faith groups attended the 13th annual Women’s Interfaith Forum at Temple B’nai Abraham in Livingston Jan. 17.

The women broke bread, swapped stories, and listened intently as Nina Mitchell Wells, New Jersey’s secretary of state, talked about mentoring and its ability to empower young women to become future leaders.

Organizers of the event said it was a fitting way to celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King, whose federal holiday was the Monday before.

The event was planned as “a program that would embody [King’s] ideals, belief, and vision,” said Deborah Prinz, B’nai Abraham vice president.

Prinz and Natalie Mauskopf, a member of the synagogue sisterhood, said they also planned the event to dissolve boundaries between women who may live and work in communities that are near each other but whose paths may never cross because of differences in their backgrounds.

“We live very isolated lives and don’t interact much with people from all socioeconomic groups,” Prinz said. “We wanted to present a program for women who normally wouldn’t meet each other, women from all over Essex County.”

Prinz said it was only natural that food would be included in the program.

“Sharing a meal with someone is having an experience together,” Prinz said. “It engenders socialization, interaction, exchange of ideas, and conversation — so we thought the meal part was very important, and as the hosts, we wanted to make the meal ourselves and share the meal.”

Mauskopf — who recently relocated to California and flew in for the event — said the forum has become an opportunity for women from diverse economic, social, religious, and ethnic backgrounds to share common concerns.

This year’s forum was planned in part by Caren Ford, chair of the temple’s social action committee, and Diana Daniels, sisterhood president.

Camille Tyson, who lives in South Orange and is a member of Blessed Sacrament, a Roman Catholic church in Newark, attended the event for the first time this year. “The women are wonderful,” she said. “One even asked me if I was thinking about joining [the temple]. I said, ‘I’ll think about it.’ You never know; anything’s possible.”