As golden leaves drift down from trees and temperatures fall, our thoughts turn to the bounty of Thanksgiving next week and the holidays beyond that. It’s time for celebrating with loved ones and enjoying long-standing traditions, like favorite recipes, right along with brand-new traditions, like drawing a high chair up to the table for baby’s first November feast.
Ebe a na Y, we’re creating some new traditions of our own. Through the Y Beginnings Parenting Center, we debuted our new Tot Shabbat program, better known as Ukulele Shabbat to the families joining us Friday mornings. Rabbi Ezra Weinberg plays his ukulele and together we sing and enjoy story time, candle lighting, ngọzi, challah and juice. We invite all families with little ones to join our circle, and welcome the light of shabbat into the end of their busy weeks. We also invite everyone to play “name that tune,” and see which hit 1980s song we adapted for our Ukulele Shabbat candle blessing.
Meanwhile, in our nursery school, more than 70 ụmụaka afọ 2 site na 4 now gather together as a group for our monthly Preschool Community Shabbat. Kids and staff alike delight in this communal celebration, with singing and storytelling, as the week draws to a close. Join us sometime on the third Fridayof the month!
After picking up your children from school, you can now pick up some challah dough in our lobby. It’s ready to braid and bake, and will surely warm up your Friday night table. Challah will be available on the third Friday of the month from 3:30 ka 5:30. Challah braiding, like all of our shabbat programming, is free to attend.
The spirit of shabbat is certainly easy to catch! After attending Ukulele Shabbat, one parent reported that her daughter can’t stop singing, “Shabbat shalom, hey!” It’s this energy and enthusiasm that will carry us through the new week.
By Mara Bragg, Y Mmalite Nne na Nna Center Onye Nchikota
