Shabath Dinner
The Israeli family is not an ordinary American family no matter how Americanized the kids feel. In most American families, with a teenager involved a Friday night is a detached night from the family. You ask just about any teenager what they do on a Friday night and they will say, "Party" or "Hang out with friends". On the other hand the family-dinner that my parents and I went to was at our friend's house and like most Israeli families they to spend Friday nights as a family; no one leaves the house until dinner is over. (Unless they go to a synagogue together and then come home to have dinner, or go to a friend's house together) Dinner is a whole separate ritual, there are certain things that have to be on the table, certain things they say and sing, before the meal, and the way that it is considered a special family gathering day. This really amazes me, because my family has never done anything like that before. The Shabbat dinner started at 5:30 PM, when we got there, they greeted us, and we chitchatted for a while, and then sat down at the table. The table had a beautiful white tablecloth on it, and antique plates at each seating spot, and really shiny silverware. Each person had one glass filled a
When we got to the table everyone was silent, and still until, everyone sat down, the father stood up and made a blessing over the bread. Then you heard the movement in the seats, as each person reached for the bread, breaking off a little piece from the braided roll of bread. Then we started singing songs, (Because everyone was singing them,). We sang 2 songs, which sounded really fun, and up beat "Hinei Mah Tov" and "Shabbat Shalom". After which everyone kissed each other as they said "Shabbat Shalom". Then the lady of the house went into the kitchen and started bringing out plates of chicken soup and matzo balls. It was mysterious for me why only the father said the prayer and at the end of each prayer everyone said "amen", so I asked. The man of the house said that it means, "so be it," I guess they are saying that they agree with what ever the prayer says. Then, while he was answering my question the lady of the house brought everyone a plate with soup, and we began to eat. After we were done with the desert, we (The women) helped the lady of the house clean off the table as the men went to talk about business stuff. We cleaned off everything and put everything away, except the candles, she didn't blow them out or anything. She put them next to the sink and turned the light off in the kitchen. I asked her if the candles should get blown out, but she said, "no they symbolize the beginning of Shabbat, and if you blow them out, it would constitute the end, and we don't want that to happen". This Shabbat ceremony symbolizes the seventh day when god rested, which is sun down to sun down (Friday-Saturday). A Shabbat dinner evolved from a day of rest (a religious tradition) to a bonding night for the whole family (a cultural tradition). The cultural tradition is more significant for the family, because it strengthens their bond, as for the religious tradition, the people just rest and pray and don't do anything that requires work
Some common words found in the essay are:
Shabbat Shalom, Mourner's Kiddush, Party Hang, Braided Bread, Friday-Saturday Shabbat, DINNER Israeli, Shabbat Seder, Sosnick Company, That's Jewish, lady house, head table, shabbat dinner, closer head table, 2 hallot, cultural tradition, religious tradition, friend's house, house dinner, 2 candles, wineglass 2 hallot, metal wineglass 2, table table,
Approximate Word count = 1311
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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