Shabbat Girl
Today Kaija was Shabbat Child in her pre-school class.
(For a little background – Kaija and Nazeriah go to a Jewish Community Center pre-school. On Friday’s they celebrate the coming of the Jewish Sabbath with Shabbat.)
She was so excited about it! All week she had been asking Nazeriah to come to her shabbat. 🙂
That and having blueberries and watermelon for her Shabbat snack. I brought along some strawberries, too, since Nazeriah was going to be there.
So, some things work out, and some things don’t. Nazeriah only wanted to stay for a few minutes of Kaija’s Shabbat – she was worried about missing her class’ Shabbat. so one of Nazeriah’s teachers came to get her. But Kaija didn’t seem to mind at that point – she was too busy with her Shabbat duties!
But the big moment of the day – was when Daddy walked in! Kaija didn’t think he was going to be able to come, but some things work out. 🙂 So Nazeriah was there for a little bit, Daddy was there for a little bit, and our friends Karen and Auntie Alisa were there for a little bit.
So what did Kaija get to do today?
Well, she got to walk around the circle and wish her friends Shabbat Shalom when we sang the song (Shabbat Shalom to Miki, Shabbat Shalom to Bret, Shabbat Shalom to Marli, Shabbat Shalom to Molly. Shabbat is here, Shabbat is here. I’m so glad Shabbat is here. It’s Friday night, the candles are bright. I’m so glad Shabbat is here. Shabbat Shalom to ….).
Then there were more songs, all leading up to the big moment of Kaija being traced on a huge sheet of paper by her teacher Roni.
(Later that day, her friends would help color her in.)
After being traced – Kaija wrote on her paper:
Shabbat Shalom Kaija March 10 2006 JCC
She is getting so good at writing! I was very impressed, even under pressure she got all her letters right. I love that she still makes her “J” backwards … I’ll be sad to see that go away.
Her lifesized portrait is now hanging up on her bedroom door. I’ll try to get a photo of it tomorrow so you can see the before and after.
Next was the actual rituals of Shabbat – the prayers and of course juice (for the wine) and Challah bread (and the watermelon and blueberries).
After everyone was done eating, I got to read two stories to the class with Kaija (The Lorax and Green Eggs and Ham – must be turkey ham, otherwise it wouldn’t be Kosher!).
Then it was time for me to go. I had a great time being there with Kaija!
