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"Shabbat on Shabbat"January 9, 2008
One idea that was raised at Biennial, with regards to invigorating congregational Shabbat, was the idea of moving religious school classes to Saturday morning. This idea has generated much conversation and debate. Here are some comments generated by the iWorship Listserve.
"Services and Religious School on the same day creates a Shabbat environment that is inspiring and motivating for everyone. That is why we no longer have Sunday School at my shul. We have Shabbat on Shabbat. The kids begin in the service with us, and leave at different points, based on what their age group can handle. The little ones have more Tot Shabbat and fun Torah activities in their classes, early elementary grades have Torah learning and a little alef bet. Older kids stay for the whole deal. Starting in around third (it's flexible and based on individual needs,) kids come to Hebrew School mid-week." "Moving Religious School or other activities to Shabbat makes sense. But not for all congregations? If you have a congregation in a large urban area, there are too many competing forces at work. The beauty of Rabbi Yoffie's call to action on Shabbat is that is leaves room for many alternatives on Shabbat that fit a specific congregation." What do you think? 
2 CommentsLeave a comment |
I love the idea of moving religious school to Shabbat as described above! I was able to experience this personally at a bar mitzvah of one of our Orthodox relatives. The kids participated with us for about a half hour then went to their classes/child care. We were able to enjoy the rest of the service and picked the kids up at the end. The kids were able to do fun things with other kids and it was win/win! Even at age 5 and 7 my kids get bored and figidy at our one hour family service on Friday night. I don't get to enjoy the services as I am trying to get them to sit still, behave etc. More parents may actually enjoy shabbat and experience the peace we are supposed to with this type of change!
After more than 30 years of having Religious School on Shabbat, we moved to a Sunday this year. Our building cannot house our religious school on-site, and so the benefit of enabling families to worship together for part of the morning and then go their separate ways for more worship or study did not apply to us. However, the move to Sundays has allowed the Rabbi to have more school involvement, and gives families the option of worshipping together on Shabbat.