Word Prompt – HAVDALAH – Shira Boshnack

How do you make Havdalah?

For us it’s a whole procedure.

My husband comes home from shul, and calls everyone (who is home) down for Havdalah. I’m not always ready, sometimes I’m reading something, and ask them to wait. Then we’ll all sing the beginning of Havdalah together. Why do we do this? It makes what usually can be a 30 second procedure take five whole minutes. The dishes can wait. The pizza and ice cream will still be there.

Seriously though, I’ll tell you, I grew up going to sleepaway camps. Every Havdalah was with the whole camp. It was an experience, not just the fast 20 second deal which many people have. Singing Havdalah was one of my favorite parts of camp. After all, my name is Shira.

When my husband and I started to work for JLIC, and host our weekly Shalosh Seudos, we’d always conclude with a group Havdalah. Anywhere between 30-60 people in my living room. Sometimes we were on key, sometimes off, sometimes with instruments, sometimes acapella. Havdalah was an event again. Week in and week out for 15 years.

Now life’s a little different. Sometimes we have our children home. Sometimes it’s just me and my husband. I’m still getting used to the fact that there aren’t at least 40 people here, it's anticlimactic and kind of weird. So, we’ll sing together, sometimes myself and my husband or sometimes our children. As corny as it is for my teenagers, I think they find it meaningful too.