My Shabbat

My fondest memories growing up were of my family dinners. I had all four of my grandparents in my life till I was about 25 and I still have one grandmother left. I’m beyond grateful for this I can’t even tell you. Adam got to know all four of them and I took my children to Toronto every 6-8 weeks every year of their life (up until covid) so they could connect with Boobie (grandma) Frieda. How lucky are we?! As a kid, every Friday night we would have Shabbat dinner and would rotate between grandparents houses for this dinner. So one week was at my mom’s Mom’s house and one week at my Dads. Each of my parents had two siblings so I got to spend these Friday nights with my cousins and because of these dinners I have become very bonded to many of these cousins and to this day we spend so much of our time together. There is nothing in the world more important to me than my family and it’s because we did such a diligent job growing up of always getting together. How special is that?

The traditional menu was always served at both houses but each Grandma had their own way of cooking these dishes and that’s the beauty of food right? Everyone has their own way of making it no matter what your background is. The stars of the show were:
Matzo ball soup
At Boobie Frieda’s we would have “Flatzy” chicken (which is like chicken schnitzel), her chicken hamburgers, mashed potatoes and either cucumber salad or potato salad. The taste of each one of these dishes is burned into my memory.
At my Bubbie’s house (Dad’s mom) we would have roast chicken, baked carrots and broccoli.
Now, though we are not surrounded by all of our family members, I am doing my very best to carry on these traditions with my little family of four. My boys go to Hebrew school every week and it’s important to me that they understand our history as Jewish people and learn all of the traditions.
One tradition I have created with the boys is baking fresh challah for Shabbat. It’s a long but easy recipe and it smells and tastes so good. The recipe is from a Jewish cookbook that every single woman in my family owns called Second Helpings, Please! Lucky for me, while growing up, Boobie Frieda taught me how to make her liquid gold, matzo ball soup. She used to make a pot of it every Friday. I make it when the family is sick or the Friday’s we are able to gather and enjoy family dinner together.

Before we eat, we say the prayer of the candles and the challah and the best part is sitting at the dinner table with my boys sharing stories and spending quality time together over a meal. As little children my kids made candle holders in their preschool class. That’s what’s on my table tonight filling my heart with so much joy and pride.

The memories of these dinners are sacred to me and I know that there are so many wonderful Jewish families out there who are just like mine so I thought it would be fun to create a Shabbat Party in a Box. This box is festive for a Friday night and makes clean up a breeze which is a beautiful thing after all that cooking!

What are your memories of Friday night, Shabbat dinner? Please tell me in the comments below!