What is Rekindle Shabbat?  Rekindle Shabbat is an experiential Jewish learning program that makes it easy for Jewish and interfaith households to celebrate Shabbat.  Through intimate at-home catered Shabbat dinners and festive community-wide events, Rekindle Shabbat offers households with school-aged children the opportunity to learn about the Shabbat tradition, connect with others in the local Pioneer Valley Jewish community, and develop a stronger connection to their Jewish identity.  See below for this year's meal dates.

Sign Up for Home-Based Shabbat Meals -- Winter 2011-2012

This year's program offerings include:

• Two kosher catered dinners -- January 20 and March 2 -- to share with one or more other families on those Friday evenings
• Shabbat toolkit for first year participants (candles, candlesticks, wine cup, challah cover and blessings card)
• E-newsletter with program reminders, event announcements, resources, and inspiration

Who can participate?  Jewish and interfaith households with school-aged children; couples and singles as space allows.  No previous Jewish knowledge necessary!

Two Ways to Participate  Join with 1 or more buddy households you already know; or have us match you with others in your area.

Free For New Participants  Rekindle Shabbat is FREE for first year households and $36 for returning households.  The meals and toolkit alone are valued at more than $150 for a family of 4!

Note to Returning Households  Your registration will not be complete until we receive your participation fee!  Please make check payable to Rekindle Shabbat for $36 and send it to:

Rekindle Shabbat
c/o HGF
380 Union Street
West Springfield, MA 01089 

How to Sign Up  Click here to fill out your meal registration form.  Your buddy household(s) must ALSO sign up so we know everyone's meal selections and dietary restrictions.  Each household, whether hosting or a guest, must sign up!  Deadline to sign up is Monday, November 28.

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What Rekindle participants have said

"Before Rekindle Shabbat, I had no idea how to do Shabbat.  Now, it is a part of our lives."

"We really use the program as a way to stop, take a breath, get together with friends and connect.  It is a huge gift."

"When I joined the Rekindle Shabbat program, I thought it would be a program for the children.  When I look back, I see I have learned as much as everyone else."

"We had an impromptu Shabbat after I got the Shabbat kit and my kids were so happy.  I didn't realize what an impact it would have on them until we actually did it.  They knew all the songs and all the prayers.  It was wonderful."

"Shabbat is the Jewish version of stopping to smell the roses.  We get so caught up in the daily grind that it is so easy to forget that all of creation is a gift to humanity.  Our daily grind is nothing if we cannot take a step back and think about what it is all for."
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Program Coordinators:
Jenna Parzivand and Dyan Wiley
Rekindle Shabbat Program Coordinator
rekindle@jewishwesternmass.org
(413) 439-1954 or 439-1941

Rekindle Shabbat is a partnership of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation and the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts with the generous support of William and Lynn Foggle.