KITCHEN PLAYGROUND
Bedtime getting in the way of your Shabbat? Kitchen Playground is a group of parents with kids five and under, coming together to build community and grow Jewishly.
Feel free to come before services, hang out with other Kitchen parents and families, and get some shabbat in before your kids turn into pumpkins. Don’t forget to bring food for your early diners. Together we'll support, eat, and maybe tap into some Jew-ified parental wisdom that goes way beyond the healing powers of good matzah ball soup.
Also? We have a lot of great programming coming your way this fall. Check it all out:
SIMCHAT TORAH: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10TH
Dance Party + Havdallah
Saturday, October 10th @ 6:30pm
Though the High(er) Holidays have passed, the season is still lingering - and we'll close out this season with a raucous Simchat Torah Dance Off + Havdallah, this Saturday, October 10th at 6:30pm. It's the after-party you won't want to miss (and it's pre-bedtime). Bring a very, very special object - and a Torah (book, scroll, plush) if you have. Register Here!
SUKKOT: OCTOBER 2nd-9th
CELEBRATE IN COMMUNITY: While we can't do our usual giant Playground sukkah party, we're most happy to connect you with a Kitchen-ite family who's building one (just no eating, no singing and keep masks on, k?), or drive sukkah making materials to your house (really). And if you would like to host a very few people and sit together outside in the sukkah, boy do we want to talk to you. Get in touch with Joel.
CELEBRATE AT HOME: Shaking the Lulav (palm, myrtle, and willow) and Etrog (citron) every day during the holiday can really make the holiday come alive. You can easily get your own set through some local partners: Dayeinu at the JCC, Chabad of Noe Valley, Beth Sholom in the Inner Richmond, or Afikomen in Berkeley. Or, go plush. Or, for the really adventurous among you, make your own hyper-local version.
UPCOMING ON SHABBAT
Family Havdallah
Saturday, October 17th @ 7:00pm
Join other Kitchen families and Joel for the most special time of the week: havdallah, where we say goodbye to Shabbat through stories, songs, and connecting with other families. Register here.
Shabbat Groups
You pick the time + place
You've been having lots of good family time. We want to help you have Jewish time with other families - maybe in a backyard, a park, or in each others homes over zoom - that's up to you! Let us connect you with other families and build small shabbat groups that can help us remember how powerful a shabbat meal with other families can be.
More? Click here for our facebook page.
ANTI-RACISM RESOURCES
Over the last month, we've begun a national reckoning around race, racism, privilege, and white supremacy. Whether talking about these topics is already a part of your home life or you don't even know where to begin, here are some Kitchen-Playground-approved resources to help:
Grown-Up Articles
for post-bedtime reading
Against Analogy - powerful essay in Jewish Currents magazine
America, This is Your Chance (Op-Ed by Michelle Alexander)
Believe Us: Black Jews Respond to George Floyd Protests in Their Own Words
Jews of Color, Covid-19, Civil Unrest — An Argument for Inclusion
Resources for Your Littles
to help you have the conversations
100 Race Conscious Things to Say to your Child to Advance Racial Justice
Talking Race With Young Children (Life Kit podcast)
These Books Can Help You Explain Racism and Protest to Your Kids (NY Times)
If you've been using others you'd like to share or you want to talk about how to talk about your kids, be in touch with Joel
A SONG FOR YOUR FAMILY ON SHABBAT
הִנֵּה מַה טוֹב וּמַה נָּעִים שֶׁבֶת אָחִים גַּם יַחַד
Hine ma tov u’ma na-im shevet achim gam ya-chad
How good and how pleasing for people to be together.
Kids love The Kitchen. Check out Mendel rockin' Lecha Dodi.