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PALM DESERT, Calif. — Roberta Mahler was skeptical. Celebrating Shabbat at a Wendy’s restaurant? Candles, blessings and challah mixed with burgers, fries and Frostys?

It would be an unorthodox way to usher in the Jewish day of rest, to say the least. But Ms. Mahler, a retiree from Long Island, reserved judgment when a neighbor proposed the idea a few years ago. Perhaps forging a new Sabbath tradition would ease her loneliness.

“After my husband passed away,” she said, “I needed something to look forward to.”

As many as 40 people now participate in the weekly ritual at the Wendy’s on Country Club Drive here in Palm Desert — with Ms. Mahler, 88, at the group’s center. She is the main figure in a documentary short, “Wendy’s Shabbat,” that will make its New York debut on Saturday at the Tribeca Film Festival.

The 10-minute film was executive produced by Ms. Mahler’s daughter, Abby Myers, 67, and directed by her granddaughter, Rachel Myers, 37. Tribeca selected it as one of 55 shorts to showcase. There were 4,754 submissions.