Shabbat Meal

After prayers we walked to the home of our host family.  Driving is not allowed on the sabbath, so most of the congregation live near the synagogue.

After greeting everyone we began the meal with the blessing of Wine, "Blessed are you Lord God for the fruit of our land....."The father of the home did this.

We passed the cup. 

The mother prayed, "Blessed are you Lord God for the grain of this land....."

She salted the bread and we broke and shared.

It is very clear how connected we are to our Jewish brothers and sisters through this ritual meal.

After this the parents and grandparents blessed all the children, toddlers, teens and those inbetween.

It was very touching to see them lean toward the children, embrace them while praying 

(For boys, the introductory line is:) 

May you be like Efraim and Menashe.

(For girls, the introductory line is:)

May you be like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah.

For both boys and girls, the rest of the blessing is:

May God bless you and guard you.

May God show you favor and be gracious to you.

May God show you kindness and grant you peace.

Most parents give each child a kiss after they are blessed.

In traditional homes, a husband may sing Eshet Chayil to his wife. Eshet Chayil is a poem from the book of proverbs extolling the virtues of a good wife and mother.

Then we ritually washed out hands and the meal began.

Below are two pictures of the family. Father, his son and parents.

Wife, sister and husband.  The little kids were dwonstairs by the time I took this and the teen-ager had gone on to another event.  It was a lovely evening.