Erev Shabbat Revisted

Some of you have kindly expressed interest in what we do on Saturday evenings and asked to know more. I'm happy to take you through step by step, but should explain some important things first.

We are not Jewish nor are we Messianic Christians. I have never observed an Erev Shabbat in either of those homes. All the things I know and use come from British author Margot Hodson's A Feast of Seasons and various internet sites, mostly Israeli. I may well be getting them wrong! UKBookworm assures me I've been speaking Hebrew with an American accent, which is quite funny! For a more authentic description, I am eagerly awaiting her promised blogging on the subject. If and when she does, I will link it from here. {g}

There are some constant, necessary elements. In the photo below, you can see a) two white candles b) a small bowl of salt c) a bottle of red wine. The table is set as prettily as I have time for. It is traditional in Israel for the husbands to come home with flowers for the wife on Friday evening. I like this idea and Jamie does sometimes do that!

Here are the two loaves of chollah. A plaited, sweet, egg bread. The double portion reminds us of God's provision of the double portion of manna which the Israelites were permitted to gather on the day before the sabbath. Practically speaking, this much bread sees us right through Sunday and the whole family love it. I will post a recipe next.The chollah is covered with an embroidered white cloth until the blessing is given. A bowl, a jug of water and a white cloth for hand washing. Mother lights the candles. If we were a Jewish household this would happen before sunset, remembering that in biblical times a 'day' started at sundown the night before. No fire may be lit after sundown. As we are not Jewish and our traditions are not a law to us, I just light them at the start of the meal. If I were Jewish, I would have my head covered.

The family gathers. A moment of silence and I say:

Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheynu, Melech ha Olam, asher Kidshanu b'mitzvah tov vitsavanu l'hadlich ner shel shabbat.
We praise you, OLord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us by Your commandments, and enjoined us to kindle the Sabbath lights.

I make a beckoing motion over the flames with my hands as I finish praying.There is a response for everyone,

May the Lord bless us with Sabbath joy
May the Lord bless us with Sabbath holiness,
May the Lord bless us with Sabbath peace.

The family members greet eachother with 'Shabbat Shalom!'

Shabbat is welcomed 'as a bride'.

The Father blesses the children. Jamie uses the words, 'The Lord Bless you and keep you. The Lord makes His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. TheLord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.' Specific prayers may be made for each individual child at this point.

The father/husband traditionally praises his wife now. In biblical times, or so I read, the whole of Proverbs 31 would have been read. I love the thought that Joseph may have praised Jesus' mother every sabbath eve like this. Jamie never seems to run out of nice things to say about me. I find it very encouraging and it's good for the kids to hear how Dad values Mum! When we have a visiting family we will pre-warn the husband that there is a time he will be called upon to say something praiseworthy about his wife. {g} We love hearing what people will say!

Jamie then blesses the wine:

Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheynu, Melech ha Olam borey pri hagafen.Blessed art though O Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.

We give the children a half glass of wine each and this is the one glass of wine Jamie and I are likely to drink all week! {g} We know that some christians do not drink wine, so we keep grape juice for them, but we prefer to model sensible drinking for our children.

Everyone washes their hands. Jamie pours the water on our hands and then I pour it on his, into the bowl and we wipe our hands on the white cloth. This is a symbolic act, naturally, as our hands are already clean. When we have visitors and we are wedged into our places in the small dining room (which doubles as a 'school-room'), we will usually pass around a small finger bowl.

Jamie blesses the bread:
Baruch Ata Adonai, Eloheynu, Melech ha Olam hamotzi lechem min ha aretz.
Blessed art thou O Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.

He cuts up the chollah and each person dips it lightly in the salt and eats.

Grace dipping her bread in the salt, below.

I think the reason those three foods are used (salt, bread and wine) is that they were so vital to the life of the people and they have always given thanks to God for them. I love the idea of continuing this tradition in our home and so do my family!

That is the symbolic part of the meal over. And now we eat! Some notes I read say that,

'The family enjoys a leisurely meal, talk and meditation and maybe some songs [any excuse for us to break into song is usually taken up!] and the children are enocuraged to ask questions. This is the central part of their upbringing in the faith. (Affairs of the world are avoided!)' {g}

We try to preserve this meal as a time when we talk about God, the Bible, where God is leading us, what we've been learning lately etc etc.


Hopefully, you can see how this weekly (unless we are out of town or visiting friends) meal is special for us and how treasured it has become. It is an oasis amid busy family life. We are fortunate in that we usually have Dad at home for dinner each night and most meals are taken at the table togther, so it's not as though we are a 'grab something and run' family. But somehow, each of us has learned to treasure our family's version of Erev Shabbat and we find it sets us up beautifully for Sunday the next day.