Shabbat Shalom! As part of our orientation week, or our first week in Israel, the staff at N.Y.U. decided to host a Shabbat dinner for all the students. You might be wondering, "What is Shabbat?" Shabbat is a holy day in Israel that is held every week from Friday, just before sunset, until an hour after sunset on Saturday. Shabbat is a day of rest. In Israel, Friday and Saturday are the days off for Israelis and are like the weekend here in America.
Before we could begin eating, several traditions were observed as a way to honor Shabbat. First, a prayer, or blessing, was recited to begin the Shabbat dinner. Afterward, a person in the dinner blessed the wine and the bread. A single glass of wine was poured into a glass and then passed around the table, with each person taking a small sip of wine before passing it on to the next person. A similar process was done with the bread, or specifically, Challah bread. The same person who poured the wine cut the bread into many pieces before passing the plate around the table. Each person would take a piece of the bread and then pass it on to the next person.
