Havdalah

Nursery children were introduced to the facets of Havdalah – the objects, rituals, blessings, and their own feelings – through sensory exploration that sparked children’s curiosity and captivated their imaginations. Children built connections slowly with the ritual by learning its choreography, turning their bodies into dancing flames, and sampling fragrances that captured feelings about closing one week and moving into a new one. To give voice to children’s fascination, we designed an immersive Havdalah mobile, setting into it nighttime fabrics, bright flame paintings, hanging spice satchels, and children’s own words of awe and connection with the ritual. The mobile was life-size, fully surrounding children and families with the sights, smells, textures, and sounds of Havdalah, imbuing them with a sensory memory of Havdalah to carry with them as they grow.

Havdalah (Separation) is a Jewish ritual for marking the end of Shabbat. Second and third grade children read a midrash (rabbinic story) about how Adam HaRishon (the first human) learned to make fire as darkness crept across the earth for the first time.

Children explored Adam’s fear and sadness at the end of his first Shabbat, and how Havdalah helped him feel better. It led this young child to see how separating time through rituals like Havdalah provides a safe space for humans to hold a mixture of emotions– allowing us to feel both happy AND sad at the end of Shabbat. The child’s insight led one parent to realize, “Havdalah cannot take away feelings, yet it can make you fully feel them.”

Children and families learned that Jewish ritual can be a way to help them fully feel and process the big emotions that come their way.