It seems like Jews and food are synonymous. For every holiday there are special foods such as Challah for Shabbat, Latkes for Chanukah and Hamantashen for Purim, to name a few. Sharing food with family and friends heightens the enjoyment of a delicious meal and holiday and brings people closer together. Each week we choose to take in the sanctity of Shabbat with all the beauty of the davening, the delicious foods and traditions, connecting with people in our community and enjoying a day of rest. This all revolves around foods….challah, kiddush, cholent, l'chaim, gefilte fish, soups, hummus, Seudah Shlishit, etc.
To enhance our kiddushes and increase our schmoozing time, we are trying to revamp our kiddushes at SOI. Estelle Lerner will be helping to clean out and organize the kitchen. Dan Malamud will be our kitchen coordinator and Dan Drabkin will be doing the all-important shopping. We are hoping to steam clean the kitchen and bring it to the highest level of safety and kashrus. There will be a booklet of standard operating procedures (SOP) so we can work more efficiently together. Having Rabbi Davies involvement and input has been enlightening.
Trying to do creative and delicious kiddushes weekly is exhausting. Kudos to the Sisterhood for having taken this on for so many years. As we start fresh, we are looking for at least 4 teams to work independently once a month as a "Kiddush Krew". Each team with have the opportunity to create their own menu by following the suggestions in the SOP. We are looking for four team leaders to help coordinate each week's team who will be taught Kashrut standards and kitchen protocols. We currently have 3 volunteer cholent chefs for sponsored kiddushes: Heshy Chaitoff, Yaffa Fuchs and Yoni Panitch. There are 3 levels of kiddushes presently:
$180 Standard Kiddush
Assorted pastries, vegetable platters, hummus or other dip, candies and snacks with an abundance of cold water bottles.
$360 Intermediate Kiddush
A step up from our Basic Kiddush, this kiddush includes all of the elements of a Standard Kiddush plus your choice of either Potato Kugel or Cholent, both served in individual portion sizes, along with your choice of one Salad.
$540 Enhanced Kiddush
This sponsorship level includes all of the elements of a Standard Kiddush plus Potato Kugel and Cholent and choice of 2 salads.
We are looking for "Kiddush Krew" teams - groups of 4-5 people to prepare and serve kiddush approximately once a month. For example, a crew could be, but not limited to, Sisterhood, NCSY, Men’s Softball Team, Executive Committee, Youth, Jamaica Drive families, Hashkama or Sephardic Minyan, Middle Schoolers, Fundraising Committee, Knollwood, Estates, Forrest Park, apartments. Explore your inner chef and sign up as part of the Kiddush Krew as an individual or gather a team for kiddush prep or sponsor a kiddush. Prep, with a team of 4, takes approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour either on Shabbat or Thursday night. You can coordinate with your team.
At all of our family simchas, “הִנֵּה מַה טוֹב וּמַה נָּעִים שֶׁבֶת אָחִים גַּם יַחַד” was written and placed prominently at the entrance. Not only did I hate doing seating charts, but I felt very strongly that it is great to come together as a community, meet new friends and re-connect with old. Make new friends or work closely with ones you have to enhance our kiddushes and also our community. As a reminder, you do NOT need to be on the Board to be involved.
Follow this link to volunteer or sponsor:
Kiddush Volunteer:
Kiddush sponsor : https://www.soicherryhill.org/form/kiddush.html
Shabbat Shalom,
Donna Moskowitz
