MARCH 21 • 2024 | 27
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atyah and Yehudah Hertz of 
Huntington Woods look for-
ward to Shabbat with their kids 
Avi, 6, Shayna, 4, and Yonah, 2, every 
week. It’s a time when they don’t take 
out their phones or use electronics, and 
they don’t cook. They have rules around 
what they can carry and where. 
This kind of Shabbat practice is 
something they’ve incorporated into 
their lives as adults, says Batyah 
Hertz, explaining that it all started at a 
Simchat Torah auction at The Shul in 
West Bloomfield. They pledged to keep 
Shabbat for 25 hours one week, and that 
February, fulfilled their pledge, starting 
by lighting candles before sunset.
“We decided to keep Shabbos with 
Rabbi Pinson and his family. We had 
Shabbos; it was great,” she says. “Then 
that week, we were talking. We said, 
‘Why don’t we keep Shabbos again?’ 
and that was the catalyst. We’ve kept 
Shabbos ever since, and it’s been 10 
years.”
Before COVID, they’d have compa-
ny for Shabbat more often, but during 
the pandemic decided to isolate more 
strictly. Then, as the days all blended 
together and there was so much uncer-
tainty, she says, they again found com-
fort in Shabbat. 
“Shabbos became a real beacon in our 
week, something to look forward to,” 
she explains. “I know that on Shabbat, it 
will just be our family. We have no dis-
tractions from listening to the news or 
the next horrible thing that’s happening. 
There’s kind of this peace and tranquil-
ity that it’s coming and that there’ll be 
this reprieve.” 
Having the placeholder in the week 
is important for her family’s well-being, 
she says. “Not only for our physical and 
our spiritual health, but also for our 
family and our marriage, so it’s been a 
real blessing for us,” she explains. 

At the same time, it can be hard, she 
adds. “With all the good, it can be real-
ly stressful not knowing what email is 
going to be in my inbox when Shabbos 
is over or what world event is happen-
ing.”
On Fridays, the kids get home early 
from school and clean up their toys, 
putting their noisy battery-operated 
books and electronics away. She cooks 
in the afternoon and focuses on helping 
her family have a peaceful entry into 
Shabbat.
“In the beginning, I felt very stressed 
all the time, ‘Oh, my gosh, Shabbos is 
comingr — run, run, run.’ The last year 
or so, I’ve really tried to focus on what’s 
really important about Shabbos, and 
having a perfectly clean house and per-
fectly clean children is maybe not the 
most important thing.” 
Hertz says she likes to cook tradi-
tional food such as soup, gefilte fish 
and herring. Her 6-year-old also helps 
prepare the herring, which he loves. 
When she makes challah, the kids get 
to decorate the extra dough for challahs 
for their plates, too. “That’s special for 

them,” she says.
Overall, Hertz explains, she likes 
that they can sit around as a family 
after lighting candles. Then they’ll sing 
songs, make Kiddush and have challah. 
Even when they have guests over, it’s 
a priority to make sure the kids have a 
place at the Shabbos table, she explains. 
“They participate, and they share about 
what they learned at school that week, 
and they’re part of the conversation, so 
that’s really important to me.” 
Hertz adds that she hopes her kids 
also learn to value Shabbat as a time 
of connection and rest, and to see the 
many gifts it offers, including lessons 
about inner resources and healthy 
boundaries. “I have the same issues. I 
want to look this thing up on Shabbos. I 
can’t Google whatever idea I have in my 
head this minute. I have to wait,” she 
says. “It’s hard to delay gratification.”
Ultimately, she says that she’s grate-
ful for the chance to slow down and 
connect. “Shabbos gives us a frame-
work for our week and our life,” she 
says. “And to have that rhythm is really 
important.” 

10 years later, Shabbat is a treasured family tradition.
It Started with a Pledge

KAREN SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

CELEBRATING SHABBAT

The Hertz 
Family

