OCTOBER 12 • 2023 | 13
J
N
“WE SPEND A LOT OF
TIME THINKING ABOUT
HOW TO PUT THE
GROUP TOGETHER
AND MAKING SURE
THAT FAMILIES ARE
GROUPED WITH
PEOPLE THEY WILL
CLICK WITH.”
— SHOSHANA FAIN
continued on page 14
says the blessings on Friday night
at home, but liked the idea of
having Shabbat dinner with other
families that have young kids,
she says. “We’re excited to share
Shabbat with other families in
our neighborhood and in our
community.”
Knowing others who had
participated in the program and
having a friend ask her to join
were good motivators to get
involved and think about how to
incorporate Shabbat more into
their schedules, she says.
“Life can get very chaotic with
children, and it can be hard
to schedule this type of time
with our family because we’re
both working parents,” she says.
“These are things we try to do to
be closer.”
She and Eric took part in a
rotating Shabbat dinner group
before the pandemic with The
Well, and now they’re looking
forward to reintroducing it with
kids.
“We celebrate Shabbat in our
own way, but we don’t necessarily
have a formal, sit-down dinner
every Friday, so it’ll be nice to
make some time for that,” she
says. “We’re really hoping we can
create our own family traditions
together, and our kids can feel
ownership of that.”
The Berlins will host their
cohort in February. “Because
Friday evening can be a little
challenging, we might introduce
Havdalah as well, which isn’t
something we do, but I think
something that could be fun for
Talia and Jack,” she says.
Sharing Shabbat left an
impression on Jamie Panzer,
her husband, Jonathan Panzer,
and son Ovadia Tuman, 9, of
Madison Heights. They took part
in the program last year after
hearing about it on Facebook
and got involved to meet other
families interested in having and
sharing Jewish experiences. “I
definitely think we got a lot out
of it,” Jamie Panzer says.
Her cohort had families from
Madison Heights, Huntington
Woods and West Bloomfield.
They had Shabbat meals together
and also got involved in challah
baking. “My son got a chance
to make challah by himself,” she
says of one of the mega events.
“He was so proud of it. He
brought it to his grandma’s house
and was really excited — and
everyone ate his challah,” she
says.
MAKING CONNECTIONS
Panzer says she enjoyed having
the accountability of hosting
Shabbat dinner with a bunch
of other families and going to
others’ homes as well. “It was
an opportunity to connect on a
deeper level than if you just saw
somebody in passing, because
going to somebody’s gathering
for dinners four times, you really
get to know them on a deeper
level,” she says.
Meanwhile, she says they built
relationships that lasted well
beyond the program. “We’ve
made real friends. They live in
West Bloomfield, and we live in
Madison Heights so it’s quite far,
but we still like getting together
with them when we can,” she
explains.
For Taylor Weintraub of
Bloomfield Hills, Sharing Shabbat
has been a way to meet new
friends who have similar beliefs
and share similar traditions.
She, her husband, Ross, and son
Madden moved to Metro Detroit
Taylor and Ross
Weintraub and
Madden are
excited to take
part in Sharing
Shabbat.