Last Friday night’s Family Shabbat Jam service was a party! We sang the words of our tradition, accompanied by jingle bells and shaker eggs. Everyone – from our very youngest Tuvia preschoolers to our congregants in their 80s and 90s – sang and clapped along. There were even some spontaneous dance numbers happening in the aisles of the sanctuary! The timing of this particular Shabbat seemed perfect: in the tense election season of a rather fraught political climate, the Family Shabbat Jam was just the kind of release and celebration we needed. It truly was an example of how we can come together in joy.
There were candles. There was grape juice and challah.
There was pizza. There were art projects and a bouncy house and cookie decorating. There were fist bumps, handshakes, and hugs all around. And it was all wonderful. But I want to tell you about my favorite few moments of the evening.
After services, three preschool friends asked me if they could go up on the bimah. Not only did I approve their going up (aliyah!), but I asked if they wanted to see the Torah scrolls. I opened the Ark; their little eyes grew round as the sanctuary lights glinted off the silver breastplates of our five beautiful scrolls.
I invited them to touch the Torah, asking them to give “gentle touches” to the soft velvet covers. They did just that, experiencing the softness of the velvet soothing their tiny fingertips.
“Say Hi to the Torah?”, I said. “Hi, Torah!,” three little voices dutifully replied.
After another moment, I asked if any of them wanted to say anything else to the Torah. One little voice, truly like the voice of the Shechinah itself, said: “Shabbat Shalom, Torah.”
What more was there to say? That little spirit added his light to ours without even knowing that he could. We all said “L’hitra-ot” to the Torahs and shut the Ark. There was, after all, pizza awaiting on the other side of the wall.
In case you’ve been wondering if being here really makes a difference in our children’s lives, it does. In your own life? It does.
Be. Here.
