Front
Shabbat's Veil
The Jewish News wants to spotlight your SIMCHA
A workshop sees the sentiments of the Sabbath
expressing the wholeness of Jewish life.
for our new Mazel Tov section.
If you're celebrating your
engagement, wedding,
bar/bat mitzvah, brit, baby naming,
special annoversary, or 100th for older) birthday,
LET US KNOW!
Send us a short description of your special event,
including your name, phone number, and a
photograph of the person(s). If JN chooses you, you
will be contacted for more information. Submissions
LYNNE MEREDITH COHN
Staff Writer
I
n Sylvia Barack Fishman's fami-
ly, the Shabbat trend when her
children were young was to pile
everyone into the parents' bed
and read together. "Shabbat has really
been the nucleus of what we call Jew-
ish family values," Fishman said. Part
of the genius of Judaism is that rituals
begin and end Shabbat observance,
she said. "People need structure."
They also need social interaction,
contemplative time alone, time to rest
Jewish life and the sociology of Ameri- 7/
can Jews, has been celebrating Shabbat
her entire life. But she noted the
specifics of how, and how much,
Shabbat observance can be molded
and created by each family.
Judaism places an "enormous
emphasis on marriage," which should
be celebrated and developed on Shab-
bat, Fishman said. "The husband and
wife were supposed to like each other <
a lot and were supposed to have sexual
relations frequently. In Jewish tradi-
tion, Friday night was a perfect time
for sexuality, which was seen as
should be no more than two weeks before or after
your simcha, and will run alongside your JN
announcement!
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"Serving the community for over 40 years"
and time to develop relationships.
Shabbat attends to all of these needs,
she said.
The Jewish family values exempli-
fied by Shabbat are not exclusive to a
particular denomination — a point
Dr. Fishman made at a Jan. 27 lunch-
and-learn. The program was sponsored
by the Jewish Federation Women's
Division, under the umbrella of Feder-
ation's Rekindling Shabbat program.
"What makes Shabbat special is
something that can be incorporated
into every Jewish household, if you
want to do it," Fishman said.
Fishman, a Brandeis University
assistant professor of contemporary
sacred."
A lot of the Shabbat preparations
lean toward the intimate — donning
nice clothes, lighting candles, drinking
wine.
Shabbat also emphasizes the
importance of study, she said. "In
the United States, we think of Jewish
education for children, not adults.
[We have] abandoned the pattern of -4
adult study for life, and children
study because adults do. It sends a
message that Judaism is a pediatric
religion, not worthy of adult behav-
ior.''
Shabbat, then, should be a day
when children and adults alike study,
-4