Year 2 are learning about Judaism in RE at the moment and have been exploring the Jewish holiday of Shabbat, which is Judaism’s day of rest on the seventh day of the week. Shabbat begins at sundown on Friday and ends at sundown on Saturday.
We re-created the Shabbat and began by lighting the Sabbath candles. We also tried some wine and were quick to identify top notes of Summer Fruits! Miss Shackford made Challah bread for us, which is a traditional soft bread in the shape of a FOUR strand plait. We thought it was delicious and all requested some more!
We then explored activities that we might like to do on the Saturday of Shabbat. Jewish people see Shabbat as God’s gift to his people and as a day when you take time out from everyday things to feel special, rest and be still. After the initial shock of no electronics during Shabbat, Year 2 had some lovely ideas about what they could do during the Saturday of Shabbat.
We ended our re-creation with Havdalah, the blowing out of the braided Havdalah candle which marks the end of Shabbat. We had some more wine and smelled a dish of beautiful spices which represented the Havdalah box.
