AJC's Shabbat Table

Taking a break from our busy lives to rest and recharge has always been important. In these days when many of us are spending much of our time at home, in a time when technology has become even more critical to our ability to stay in touch with the world out there, taking some time to consciously “unplug” feels more critical than ever before. One of the greatest blessings of Jewish tradition is Shabbat, the day of rest on which we are commanded to do just that! For thousands of years, Shabbat dinner has been a time that Jewish families sit together to enjoy a leisurely and festive meal. We take the time to really enjoy each other’s undistracted company. 

We hope that AJC’s Shabbat Table will enrich your Shabbat table. Whether you are a Shabbat dinner “regular” or whether you’ve never had shabbat dinner as a family before, we hope AJC’s Shabbat Table will give you interesting and inspirational material to spur lively and meaningful conversations around your family’s dinner table.

Shabbat shalom!

AJC Shabbat Table
Shabbat Parshat Lech Lecha - AJC Shabbat Table
In this week's Shabbat Table, we ponder some of the most powerful verses in the Torah where God tells Abraham to leave his birthplace and become the father of a great nation. What can we learn from Abraham’s lonely and courageous journey? Then we pay tribute to a poet and a peacemaker. 137 years ago, Jewish poet Emma Lazarus composed “The New Colossus,” the verse inscribed on the Statute of Liberty that welcomed millions of immigrants seeking refuge in America. Then we recall the tragic circumstances behind the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, one of the architects of the controversial Oslo Accords, who was murdered 25 years ago this week. Lastly, we provide some talking points for discussing the rise of antisemitism in America.
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AJC Shabbat Table
Shabbat Parshat Noach - AJC Shabbat Table
In this week's Shabbat Table, we discuss what lessons we can apply in 2020 from the Biblical story of Noah and the flood. We are, in many ways, different people than we were back in February before the pandemic. Can we, like Noah, accept that this experience has changed us and constructively consider what changes should be permanent and which should be overcome? We also provide some resources for discussing fault lines in the American Jewish community regarding politics and connection to Israel. Finally, we recall the day Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian Prime Minister Anwar el-Sadat won the Nobel Peace Prize for reaching the first peace agreement between Israel and an Arab nation and the day in 1939 when the Dominican Republic stepped up to accept Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany when no other nation would.
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AJC Shabbat Table
Shabbat Parshat Breishit - AJC Shabbat Table
In this week's Shabbat Table, we discuss the two creation stories in the Book of Genesis and what they can teach us about valuing different perspectives. We also provide some resources for discussing Holocaust denial in light of this week’s decisions by Facebook and Twitter to ban content that denies or distorts the systemic murder of six million Jews during World War II. In addition, we share the story of how one man revived the Hebrew language as a spoken mother tongue and the historic moment when the first ordained woman rabbi became the first woman ever to offer the opening prayer before the U.S. House of Representatives.
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AJC Shabbat Table
Shabbat Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah - AJC Shabbat Table
In this week's Shabbat Table, we ponder the significance of praying for rain on the holiday of Shemini Atzeret which falls out this Shabbat. Could the prayer for rain also serve as a symbolic call for equality and justice? We also provide some resources for discussing the unrest in Brooklyn neighborhoods with large Haredi Jewish populations who now face additional regulations to control an alarming spike in Covid cases. And lastly, we go back in time to meet Mr. Biggott, the main character in a series of cartoons created by AJC in the 1930s to combat anti-immigrant sentiment.
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AJC Shabbat Table
Shabbat Sukkot - AJC Shabbat Table
In this week's Shabbat Table, we discuss the deeper meaning of decorating a sukkah for the holiday of Sukkot and share the amazing history of Raoul Wallenberg, a Righteous Gentile who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews in the Holocaust. We also provide some tools for discussing politicians' decisions regarding who they will or will not associate with and who they will or will not disavow, and much more. Chag sameach!
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AJC Shabbat Table
Shabbat Shuva - AJC Shabbat Table
In this week's Shabbat Table, we discuss the powerful link between the Jewish concept of repentance and helping humankind make it through hard times, we share the amazing story of a group of brave young men in British Mandatory Palestine who blew the Shofar at the Kotel at the end of Yom Kippur each year, and, in memory of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, we provide some tools for discussing different methods of making societal change.
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AJC Shabbat Table
Shabbat Rosh Hashanah 5781 - AJC Shabbat Table
In this week's Shabbat Table, we discuss what we can learn from Abraham's trials in the Torah readings for Rosh Hashanah, the fast day that commemorates the assassination of the ancient Jewish leader Gedaliah, how to talk to your kids about taking stock of the year that was, and much more.
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AJC Shabbat Table
Shabbat Parshat Netzavim Vayelech - AJC Shabbat Table
In this week's Shabbat Table, we discuss our responsibility to transmit Jewish peoplehood to generations to come, the anniversary of the infamous Dreyfus Affair, the beautiful music of Israeli singer Idan Raichel, how to translate our idealism about Black-Jewish relations into action, and much more.
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AJC Shabbat Table
Shabbat Parshat Ki Tavo - AJC Shabbat Table
In this week's Shabbat Table, we discuss the commandment in the Torah reading to sacrifice the first fruits of a harvest, the 75th anniversary of Bess Myerson becoming the first (and only) Jewish Miss America, how to talk to your kids about Black-Jewish relations, and much more.
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AJC Shabbat Table
Shabbat Parshat Ki Teitzei - AJC Shabbat Table
In this week's Shabbat Table, we discuss the biblical commandment to remember Amalek, the 123rd anniversary of the First Zionist Congress, how to talk to your kids about being an informed and engaged American Jewish voter, and much more.
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AJC Shabbat Table
Shabbat Parshat Shoftim - AJC Shabbat Table
In this week's Shabbat Table, we discuss the Jewish imperative to pursue justice, the 70th anniversary of the historic Blaustein-Ben Gurion Agreement, how to talk with your kids about last week's historic announcement about the normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, and much more.
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AJC Shabbat Table
Shabbat Parshat Re'eh - AJC Shabbat Table
In this week's Shabbat Table, we discuss welcoming the upcoming Jewish month of Elul, remembering Menachem Begin on the 107th anniversary of his birth, how to talk to your kids about antisemitic tropes about Jews and power, and much more.
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AJC Shabbat Table
Shabbat Parshat Eikev - AJC Shabbat Table
In this week's Shabbat Table, we discuss modern lessons to be learned from the story of the Golden Calf, the anniversary of Ruth Bader Ginsburg being sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice, comedian Seth Rogen's recent controversial comments about Israel, and much more.
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2 candlesticks on a light purple background with the words AJC Shabbat Table
Introducing AJC’s Shabbat Table
Taking a break from our busy lives to rest and recharge has always been important. In these days when many of us are spending much of our time at home, in a time when technology has become even more critical to our ability to stay in touch with the world out there, taking some time to consciously “unplug” feels more critical than ever before. We hope AJC’s Shabbat Table will give you interesting and inspirational material to spur lively and meaningful conversations around your family’s dinner table.
Read More
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