Shabbaton

Shabbaton is a weekly family learning experience that takes place on Saturday afternoon and provides Jewish education and community-building for both children and adults together through worship, study and experiential programs.  

Each weekly session will begin with parents joining their children in the classroom for Hebrew language study.  There will be teacher instruction as well as “chevrutah” style learning in which students learn together in pairs or small groups.  This will help with Hebrew decoding, reading and conversation as well as strengthen our relationship with Israel’s living language and each other.

Next, we join together in an interactive, lively, uplifting and spirited prayer service complete with siddur, song and Torah stories.  We conclude our parent/child time by sharing snack together.

The students will spend their second session in the classroom learning in three-to-four-week blocks on one topic such as Shabbat, holidays, Torah and Jewish ethics.  Each block unit will incorporate music, art, or cooking as it relates to the subject. The parents will remain in the Hartzmark room to study with either clergy or guest lecturers on a variety of subjects.

The afternoon concludes with a warm and spiritual Havdalah as we bid farewell to Shabbat with wine, spices, candlelight and song.  Together, we will create a “kehilla kedosha”, a holy community that unites all of us here and with the Jewish community around the world.  I look forward to a captivating and educational journey with all of you.