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June 7, 2002/Sivan 27 5762, Vol. 54, No. 38
Teens share a special Shabbat
BARRY COHEN
Editor
From left, Keshet member Jessie Lefco and Jess Schwartz Jewish Community High School students Ruthie Storch, Maria Restivo and Sara Loeb light Shabbat candles at the start of the "Kabblat Shabbat Experience."
Photo by Barry Cohen
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Last Friday afternoon, four high-school students led their peers in the lighting of Shabbat candles, uttering the same blessing recited at synagogues and at dinner tables throughout the world.
What made this ritual unique was that one of the students was from Keshet (Hebrew for "Rainbow"), the high school program of the Council for Jews with Special Needs, and the other three were from the Jess Schwartz Jewish Community High School. For the first time, these two groups gathered to celebrate Shabbat together.
"I've been involved with Jews with Special Needs a lot this year," says Ruthie Storch, a ninth grader at the high school. "I wanted to bring Keshet members and students of Jess Schwartz together."
Storch devised a plan, working with her classmates; CJSN leaders; Tina Sheinbein, director of Institutional Advancement at the Jess Schwartz High School; Cantor Sharona Feller of Temple Chai; and Rabbi Elana Kanter of Beth El Congregation to create the "Kabblat Shabbat Experience." The event included a Shabbat worship service, followed by a meal and an arts and crafts project.
Three Keshet members participated in the worship service and each was paired with a Jess Schwartz High School student, says Storch.
"This is going to be really, really fun," remarks Keshet member Steven Kurtz before the service. Kurtz, who says he has been to Temple Chai worship services twice before with his family, sang with Feller and recited the kiddush.
Becca Hornstein, CJSN executive director, notes that Storch and other Jess Schwartz High School students have been helping out on weekends with Keshet programs. This led to CJSN's conducting a "lengthy disability awareness program" with the Jess Schwartz High School, she says.
When the two groups meet, Jess Schwartz High School students "share their enthusiasm and their rachmanis (compassion), and our kids with special needs share a certain sweetness and commitment to their Judaism," remarks Hornstein.
The Friday afternoon Shabbat experience shows the Jess Schwartz High School's dedication to pluralism, notes Headmaster Jay Schechter.
He says his students welcome everyone, "including our brothers and sisters who are not as fortunate as we are."
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