Children's Service

Havurah has two types of children’s services: a Tot Shabbat for children ages 2 to 5 and a Children’s Service aimed at children from 6 to 12.  These services generally alternate, with a Tot Shabbat one month followed by a Children’s Service the next month.  See the Calendar for upcoming service dates.

Click on the links below to learn more:

Tot Shabbat.  For children ages 2 to 5.

Children’s Service: Aimed at children ages 6 to 12, but younger children and other community members are also welcome.

Tot Shabbat

Designed for pre-schoolers ages 2-5, this first introduction to Shabbat morning services includes a MUCH abbreviated morning service with singing of the most familiar tunes and basic Hebrew words, focusing on lots of repetition and use of movement, rhythm, instruments, and dance to fully engage young learners.  

After approximately 15-20 minutes, children will participate in a storytelling activity (either a book reading, puppet show, or other format) that relates to one of the parshot from that Jewish month's Torah readings.  In the third section, children will be able to creative a multi-media art project to express their own personal reaction to some aspect of the service or the parshot.  For example, we may make and decorate our own crowns after we have recited the morning blessings about "Crowning Israel with Splendor," or looked at the crowns on the Hebrew letter shin in the Torah; we may use fabric paints to decorate our own kippot.  

Because of the young ages of the children, a caregiver is expected to attend and to participate fully (this is not a chance to socialize with other adults, as it would distract from the children's attention to the activities), and ideas and suggestions for different parts of this three-part design will be incorporated.  We are especially interested in rotating responsibility for the stories that correspond to the Jewish month's Torah readings and for leading the creative activities. 

The last fifteen or so minutes will be devoted to our own "shabbat kiddush" with bagels and cream cheese, juice and fruit, kid play time and grown-up shmooze/networking time.  The entire Tot Shabbat is envisioned to be one hour long.

If you have any questions about Tot Shabbat, please contact Rebecca Reimers at vermontrebecca@verizon.net .

Children's Service

Havurah’s children's services are intended to provide children with a positive introduction to the Shabbat morning service, with an emphasis on simple but compelling Shabbat melodies, Shabbat stories and child-friendly English readings.  The services are geared to children of reading age, but younger children are welcome as well.  Parental participation is strongly encouraged.  All community members are welcome!

Here are five reasons to come:

1. It will be fun! We will sing songs, read a story or two, and maybe even work in some spontaneous dancing.

2. No prior experience necessary! We’ll be teaching all melodies and words during the service. If you want to practice ahead of time, we’ve posted the words and recordings of all songs below.

3. It will be educational! We’ll discuss the meaning of the prayers we sing in terms understandable to children but meaningful to adults as well.

4. It will be short! No more than one hour.

5. Your friends will be there! Or at least they will be if you bring them!

For children, parents or community members that wish to practice the melodies ahead of time, we have posted below a song sheet with the words in Hebrew, English and transliteration, along with MP3 files with recordings of each melody.

Click on each file below to listen (left-click) or download it to your computer (right-click). 

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