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.

