On Friday, on the eve of the holy Shabbat, the “Beit Tzindlicht” Children’s Educational Center—the main preschool institution of the Jewish community of Dnipro—hosted its weekly yet always uniquely touching event: the children’s Kabbalat Shabbat. During this special time, the youngest members of the community, filled with excited anticipation, reenacted all the essential elements of this deeply sacred and profoundly identity-forming day for the Jewish people.
“Each time we divide the children into groups and assign roles—‘father,’ ‘mother,’ and the lady of the house—while the rest play family members,” says Malka Averbukh, a teacher at the kindergarten. “In this way, every child eventually has the chance not just to observe but to actively participate, learning who does what and how during Kabbalat Shabbat. And for us, this is far more than a game—it is a real education in conscious Jewish attitudes toward time, space, and tradition. Kabbalat Shabbat is not merely a reenactment of the Shabbat meal, not just a ritual with challah, wine, and candle lighting. It is a whole world that opens before a child’s heart, where the first understanding of Shabbat’s holiness and beauty takes root.”
This activity includes all the main elements of preparing for and welcoming Shabbat: baking challah, fulfilling the mitzvah of tzedakah, reciting blessings, and, of course, joyfully receiving the peace and light that Shabbat brings into the world. And though the children are still very young, their sincerity, spontaneity, and delight turn this weekly experience into a true highlight of the week—vivid, complete, inspiring, and joyful.
Thus, in the children’s Kabbalat Shabbat, learning and celebration, tradition and play, discipline and heartfulness intertwine—planting in these young souls a deep inner rhythm, a spiritual melody that will accompany them throughout their lives.
