A celebration of Sephardi & Mizrahi heritage for Brooklyn families with Shabbat rituals, crafts, songs, and a delicious community dinner.

Join The Senesh School, The Neighborhood, Fig Tree, American Sephardi Federation, B'nai Brooklyn, Kanisse and the Sephardic Mizrahi Q Network for Sephardi/Mizrahi Family Shabbat on Friday, November 22.

This Shabbat dinner for families with kids will celebrate Sephardi and Mizrahi heritage with live musical performances, hands-on crafts and activities, and lots of opportunities for fun, learning, and connection along the way. We will also celebrate Friday night with Shabbat blessings and a kosher, vegetarian meal.

Inspired by Mizrahi Heritage Month, we will explore cultural traditions from around the Jewish world in an inclusive community space, sharing the songs, stories, and flavors of our families' diverse backgrounds. This program is open to Sephardi and Mizrahi families with children, as well as families who wish to learn about and uplift this community.

This Shabbat will feature:

Hands-on cooking demonstration - prepare your own Syrian Date Crescents (Adjwah) with Sarina Roffe
Henna station and beading
Option to join a Mizrahi-style Kabbalat Shabbat service led by Dr. Sam Torjman Thomas, ethnomusicologist, multi-instrumentalist, and Director of Musical Arts at the Sephardic Community Center
Vegetarian Kosher Dinner from local Mizrahi caterer
A performance from Panamaian-Syrian-Jewish pop singer Arian Abadi
Convergence: Arabic, Hebrew and Persian Calligraphy in Conversation - a special exhibit featuring the multilingual art of Mizrahi artist, Ruben Shimonov
Zones for play-based activity, including blocks, magnetic tiles, books, and other materials to keep some of our younger kiddos engaged!

EVENT BASICS

Cost*: $18 for adults; $10 for children

RSVPs received by end-of-day Wednesday, November 20th are helpful to ensure we plenty of food for all! But if you RSVP later (including walk-in), we will still be happy to have you join us!

Note: Security will be on premises.

Questions? Email Jamie Maxner, Strategic Partnerships & Community Engagement Director, at jmaxner@hannahsenesh.org

Travel Tip: The Senesh School is easily accessible via public transit, located directly above the Carroll Street F/G subway station.

*If cost is an obstacle to your participation in this event, please email jmaxner@hannahsenesh.org.

ABOUT OUR PARTNERS

The American Sephardi Federation preserves and promotes the history, traditions, and rich mosaic culture of Greater Sephardic communities as an integral part of the Jewish experience.

B’nai Brooklyn is an inclusive Jewish community in North Brooklyn for young families and people of all ages.

Fig Tree is an independent Jewish education program for children ages 3 – 13. Our mission is to inspire a lifelong love of Judaism in every learner and our diverse and inclusive community warmly welcomes all families. We believe that accessible Jewish education empowers Jewish families, strengthens Jewish community, and leads to joyful Jewish practice. Our learners explore Jewish culture, values, ritual, holidays, and Hebrew language in a fun, relatable way. In small weekly classes led by experienced teachers, we incorporate elements of art, music, drama, and movement to foster a meaningful learning experience and deepened sense of Jewish identity for each student.

Kanisse is a modern Sephardic + Mizrahi Community that welcomes all to assemble, celebrate, and learn together, both for prayer services, as well as for cultural programming.

The Neighborhood: An Urban Center for Jewish Life is an inclusive and welcoming community and cultural hub in Brooklyn. We produce programs to fill gaps, raise up underrepresented perspectives, and welcome the thousands of Brooklynites that have not yet found their Jewish connection point. We have created a welcoming space that reflects the spirit of Brooklyn–future-thinking and deeply historical, iconoclastic and sacred.

The Sephardic Mizrahi Q Network is a grassroots movement committed to building a vibrant and supportive community for LGBTQ+ Sephardic & Mizrahi Jews.

The Senesh School is an open and inclusive Jewish day school, where K-8 students from all different backgrounds grow into ever more curious, kind, and confident people. Senesh cultivates intellectual curiosity in a rigorous academic environment that teaches the whole child, guiding our students with Jewish values and challenging them to be agents of change toward a more just world. Together, students, parents, and staff create a welcoming and vibrant home, offering a place of belonging for diverse Jewish families.

This event is part of a special Family Shabbat Series that we will be hosting throughout the year. Stay tuned for upcoming family Shabbat programming coming soon!