Shabbat Project spirit shines
The Melbourne and Sydney Jewish communities are getting into the Shabbat Project spirit, with lots of events in store on November 11 and 12.
The Melbourne and Sydney Jewish communities are getting into the Shabbat Project spirit.
It started with a bang in Melbourne on Sunday (November 6), as hundreds of junior challah bakers converged on Chadstone Shopping Centre for the Kids’ Challah Bake.
Shabbat Project director Rabbi Moshe Kahn described the event as “brilliant”, with all 14 sessions throughout the day sold out.
“It was amazing; very, very special,” Rabbi Kahn said.
The Kids’ Challah Bake was one of three major challah bakes staged as part of this year’s Shabbat Project in Melbourne.
A teen challah bake took place last night (Wednesday) with 600 participants at the St Kilda Town Hall, while tonight 800 women are expected at the Great Glick’s Challah Bake.
But the challah bakes are only the beginning, with approximately 80 events planned around the Melbourne community over this Friday night and Saturday.
As well as meals and activities run by various shuls and communal organisations, Rabbi Kahn encouraged people to mark Shabbat in their own ways. Although only two days out, he said it’s not too late to take part.
“For sure get involved. Go to your local community event, do something at home. A lot of real highlights [are] people organising their own events at home,” Rabbi Kahn enthused.
“Grassroots initiatives … That’s really critical for the continuity and success of the project.”
The Shabbat Project will culminate with a communal havdalah concert at Caulfield Hebrew Congregation on Saturday night at 9pm, which will include entertainment from an Israeli singer.
Launched in South Africa in 2013, the Shabbat Project aims to unite Jews from all walks of life in experiencing one Shabbat together.
In Sydney, the Shabbat Project festivities officially kick off on Friday (November 11) on Bondi Beach. The “extraordinary” communal Kabbalat Shabbat on the sand will include a chorus of musicians and will be live-streamed around the world.
“The Shabbat Project is promising to once again bring harmony to a divisive world by creating unity and involvement among the Jewish people,” said project leader Rabbi Benji Levy.
There will be more than 90 events happening across Sydney, from challah bakes to kids’ carnivals and cholent cook-offs. Rabbi Levy said that the Shabbat Project has “overwhelmed all of us this year” with a huge increase in participation both in Australia and worldwide.
“The Shabbat Project, in all its manifestations … is a vision, a dream, a thought and a belief, as old as creation itself,” Rabbi Levy said. “ No-one else can play our part – every little thing that each of us does strengthens a thread in the fabric of our shared identity.
“Join us as we keep Shabbat and allow Shabbat to keep us, connecting to our past to build a brighter future and making the ordinary extraordinary.”
For more information about events in Melbourne and Sydney, visit www.theshabbatproject.org, or contact your shul.
PHOEBE ROTH AND YAEL BRENDER
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