Shabbat Box

Dear Parents,

The gift of Shabbat comes to our home once every week. It brings with it a time for peace, joy and family celebration. For more than three thousand years sundown on Friday was welcomed in Jewish homes with the traditional Shabbat Candle Lighting and reciting of the Kiddush (a special prayer invoking holiness) over wine and challah. On Saturday night at nightfall, the Shabbat was brought to an end with the Havdalah ceremony.

At The Gan, we strive to enable your child to appreciate and enjoy our wonderful traditions. We join with you in giving them the opportunity to bring the joys of Shabbat into their world. Each week one of the children in The Gan will be given “The Shabbat Box” to take home for the weekend. Our beautiful box includes a silver Kiddush cup, 2 candle stick and candles, a home baked challah, a challah cover, the blessings and a journal.

We invite you and your child to enhance your Shabbat experience by using the contents of the box, and after Shabbat sit down, together with your child, to write something in the journal ––describing his/her feelings and experiences with “The Shabbat Box.”

The box is to be returned to school on Monday (or Friday for the Mommy & Me participants) and your child will have a chance to share his/her journal entry with the entire class.