VIP Shabbat

Addy has been at Bertha Alyce since she was 6 months old, but this is the first year she has been there on Fridays and the first year she has regulary attended Shabbat celebrations. 

What is Shabbat you ask?  I'm not 100% sure, but my expert source, Wikipedia, has this to say about the Friday celebration (think technically Shabbat is Saturday, a day of rest, equivalent to Sunday for us), "According to Jewish law, Shabbat starts a few minutes before sunset. Candles are lit at this time. The Kabbalat Shabbat service is a prayer service welcoming the arrival of Shabbat. Before Friday night dinner, it is customary to sing two songs, one "greeting" the Shabbat angels into the house and the other thanking the woman of the house for all the work she has done over the past week. After blessings over the wine and challah, a festive meal is served. Singing is traditional at Sabbath meals."  I like the whole thanking the woman for all her work - think we might need to start our own Shabbat celebrations! 

So, every Friday the preschool does a pint-size version of the typical Friday ritual, with lots of singing and eating challah and grape juice (kind of like communion).  But on VIP Shabbat, the whole school comes together with their "VIPs".  Not quite what was in store, we headed over and it was really nice.  Granted I didn't know any of the songs they sang, Addy did of course, but it was really cute. Ella got a bit squiggly, but she certainly wasn't the only one!