A Taste of Shabbat: An Introduction to the Jewish Practice of the Sacred Feast

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

I have always invited people from other faiths and cultures to my Passover Seder. They come to the ritual with fresh eyes. They experience the surprises that are built into the traditional practices. Their reactions and questions enliven our Seder. It is almost always the case that these friends respond to the Seder with effusiveness and delight.  

I can say the same thing about guests, Jewish or otherwise, I have invited to my Sabbath table. While not as elaborate as a Passover Seder, the Shabbat table rituals lend a special air to a meal. They slow it down, turning the usual focus on the food to the sense of the day or the moment. The rituals turn the meal, from a daily necessity of sating hunger to an elevated moment of thanksgiving and conviviality with others.  

I am fashioning a Shabbat experience called the Taste of Shabbat: An Introduction to the Jewish Practice of the Sacred Feast. The first one will be on Shabbat lunch on Saturday, July 19th. It will be offered several times in the coming months.

The Taste of Shabbat is a guided and narrated Shabbat meal. I unpack the meaning of Sabbath table rituals. I also want to reveal the "habits of the heart” that make a great Sabbath meal memorable. What is the intentional act of inviting people to share your meal? How are we differentiating the Sabbath from other meals of the week?  What are the spiritual values and experiences in this ritual practice that are distinct from other spiritual behaviors or daily habits?   

I also want to spend some time reflecting on the objects and tools of the Sabbath meal. Candles, the Kiddush Cup, Wine, Two Challot, the Challah cover, and most of all the Bentscher-the stain filled book that is the libretto of the meal.  

Lastly, I pose these questions? What is the purpose of a Shabbat meal? How do you envision doing Shabbat in your home? Do you see it as a spiritual, religious, social, or cultural practice? In what way is the meal anchored in the Jewish experience, or would you want to universalize it as a humanistic practice?  What would it mean to adopt the Shabbat sacred meal as a regular practice in your life? 

I hope you can join us for a future Shabbat with Friends “Taste of Shabbat” and experience the illumination, inspiration, and satiation that a Shabbat meal can offer.  

Rabbi Dov Gartenberg