“A Shabbat Table and a Christmas Feast—Joined in Song”

Six Stories from my Sabbath Table 

Shared by Rabbi Dov Gartenberg 

2025 End of Year Campaign in Support of Shabbat with Friends NM 

A First Story from my Sabbath Table.  

Thursday Night, December 25, 2025 

We became friends with a Christian family in our Seattle neighborhood whose young children were close in age to ours. They graciously invited us to join them for Christmas Eve, which that year fell on a Saturday night. Knowing they were enthusiastic carolers, I made a suggestion that delighted them: I invited them to join us for our Third Shabbat meal (in Hebrew, Seudah Shleesheet) at our home that afternoon. After concluding Shabbat with Havdalah, we would walk together to their home to celebrate Christmas Eve. 

We worked out the details of both gatherings. I explained our dietary restrictions, and we agreed on vegetarian meals. What made the experience truly special was our decision to share beloved songs from our respective traditions. At our Shabbat table, I taught them the 23rd Psalm in Hebrew (Mizmor L’David), and at their table, they taught us “Noel.” We sang many more songs from both Jewish and Christian traditions. It was a beautiful, unforgettable celebration of Shabbat and Christmas in harmony. 

One of my favorite reflections on sharing faith comes from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (z”l): “There is all the difference in the world between the attempt to impose your faith on others and the willingness to share it with others. Our faiths are different… Yet when we bring our respective heritages of wisdom to the public domain, we have no need to wish to convert others. Instead, we are tacitly saying: if this speaks to you, then please take it as our gift… The willingness non-coercively to share our several traditions of moral insight is, in a religiously plural culture, an essential part of the democratic conversation, indeed of societal beatitude.” 

In these times of rising religious triumphalism, we must preserve this beautiful teaching about sharing our faith traditions. Shabbat with Friends NM is committed to fostering this spirit—sharing Jewish traditions in meaningful ways and cultivating a community rooted in tolerance, curiosity, love, and respect. 

Rabbi Dov Gartenberg 

Convener, Shabbat with Friends NM