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Tefilah Service Guide

This outline by Liora Brosbe is adapted from the outline on p. 23 of the Leader’s Guide Siddur Shabbat B’Yachad – A Siddur for Young Children. I have added scans of the siddur in both color and black and white. The illustrator, Lee Bearson, recommends that you print these out in black and white as his intention was for the siddur to double as a coloring book. Please refer to this page for additional background information and options for each of the prayers and sections of the service (it is really helpful!).

 

The Leader’s Guide also comes with a CD which contains the words and melodies for all of the prayers. In lew of not having that available, I will link youtube videos to the prayers where I can find them. We use the same melodies each time so that the children recognize and can learn them.

 

 A copy of the Leader’s Guide is in the "Juvenile" section of the NS library (the room straight ahead at the top of the back stairs). It can also be purchased from EKS Publishing 510.558.9200 or orders@ekspublishing.com. All underlined items listed below are core parts of the service and should a part of each SBY Shabbat service. 

 

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  1. Advance planning

  • Read through this service outline or the Leader’s Guide Siddur Shabbat B’Yachad.

  • It can be helpful to write short notes to yourself about how you’d like to introduce each section of the service and each prayer. This might include a sentence of two – which are understandable to young children – about why we do this prayer or how we are acting or what we are thinking about when we say the prayer. There are several suggestions in the Leader’s Guide Siddur. Try to keep your remarks to a minimum.

2. Preparation for the service

Before the service starts, make sure all of the following items are out:

  • Shabbat items - candle sticks, challah, flowers, kiddush cup, etc

  • Siddurim, tallitot, kippot, scarves if you have

  • Ark with “Ner Tamid” on top - be creative making your own Aron Kodesh and torah. 

  • Tallit (for the “Mah Tovu” prayer) - the larger the better

 

3. Welcome/Introductory Songs

Lead your choice of Welcome/Introductory songs including There is Always Room for One More, Hine Mah Tov, Shabbat is here, Bruchim Habaim. Then ask what new activity or thought your child(ren) want to share and sing shehecheyanu together. You may also want to give a brief summary of the parshat and what concepts you will be learning during storytime.

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Bruchim Habaim song - see Josh play it below!

"There is always room for one more

Maybe, two or three or four

There's always space for another face

In our Shabbat Circle"

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For tune to Shabbat is Here: https://youtu.be/3aV1Wy_sJoI

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Example of a homemade Aron Kodesh and stuffy torah. Don't have a stuffy? Make a torah from Paper and Popsicle sticks!

Sung by Wilderness Torah: https://youtu.be/Foi1_qWTkgc

4.  Psukei d’Zimra and Shacaharit

Please look in the Leader’s Guide for additional information on each prayer.  Page numbers noted correspond to page numbers in the actual Children’s Siddur.

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        Start with “When we wake up we pray” or sing it to the tune of “you are my sunshine” or just sing it with stretches.

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When we wake up we pray

When we wake up we pray

When we wake up we sing, grateful for the morning

When we wake up we pray

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        Ask children to face towards the ark (east towards Jerusalem). Kids stand under tallit held by parents while prayer is sung.

        Possible introductions -

God dwells right here with us, all around us, protecting us like this tallit, like a tent.

This prayer reminds us that long ago the Jews lived in tents.

This prayer speaks about how good it is to be together, as Jews, praying in this holy place.

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        It's time for a dance party. Use scarves, act out the instruments on the page, see how much you can spin before falling over.

       

  • Barchu ( p. 10, Song 6 on CD)

        Ask children and parents to stand up, face the ark, bend their knees and sing the prayer

        Possible introductions - 

Let’s pretend we are flying to Jerusalem and we arrive there at a great palace, a beautiful temple. Now we are ready to bow to God’s presence at the Temple in Jerusalem.

Let’s look East towards Jerusalem, past the Berkeley Hills, past Yosemite, Past New York, across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe and then to Israel.

This prayer says we’re really starting to pray together, praising Adonai forever and ever.

Pretend that you are greeting a special king or queen. Stand up tall. Face the East. You even get a chance to bow.

We’ve come together and sung about that. Now we are getting ready to talk to God.

        Say Shema broken up into "Sh", "Mmm""Ahhh" three times then cover eyes with the shin created with 3 fingers. Touch one                  finger to each other to be "one" ​Make a heart with your joined hands, talk about love. 

        Possible introductions - 

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (shmma...Shema)

This prayer is about listening. We can listen with our ears and our whole bodies. Let’s try, let’s open up and let our whole bodies be ears, and we will listen.

Sometimes when I am listening my hardest, I close my eyes and ask everyone around me to SHHHHH so I can really concentrate on what I hear.

What are we hearing? That there is one God.

This prayer says the most important thing we believe about God­- that there is one God.

Let’s look around the room and see all the love  here- all the children sitting in laps and close to their parents. And all the love in all these smiles and togetherness. In this prayer, we sing about all the love all around us and for God.

Parents: what do we want to teach our children when we are at home, and out on the way, when we lay down at night and rise up in the morning?

 

  • Emet (p. 14, Song 10 on CD)
    Introduce with question about what “emet”(truth) means and how G-d is first and last and one.  Leader can use fingers to count number of times “emet” is said and can vary speed of song, slow as molasses or fast as lighting. Have kids stand like superheros. 

 

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                                 Emet - sung by Josh                                                                                         Mi Chamocha - sung by Josh 

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  • Mi Chamocha (p. 16, Song 11 on CD)
    Introduce as a song of thanks to G-d for our freedom. Bring out the scarves again and dance. 

         Possible Introductions-​

Let’s dance as we sing about how great it is to be free!

Let’s imagine our ancestors crossing the Red Sea and how happy they must have felt to finally be free from slavery.

 

  • Amidah ( p. 18)
    Create a way for the children to reflect upon what they may feel thankful for.  You can conclude the Amidah silent time with “Sim Shalom (Song 12 on CD)” or “Oseh Shalom (Song 13 on CD)”. 

        Possible Introductions - ​

We’ve said a lot of prayers in other people’s words. This is a time to say to God what we are thankful for in our own words.

You can whisper into your hand or into your parent’s ear something you are especially grateful to God for.

We can all say thank you to God quietly for the blessings in life.

This prayer is for peace. No fighting.

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5.  Torah Service (p. 20)

  • Open the ark (p. 20)
    You can do this or ask two older children to do it.  Help hand out Torahs to all the children

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  • Ki Mi’tzion (p. 20)
    Have children rise and face the ark and singing the prayer.

        Possible Introductions-​

This is the prayer we sing when we take out the Torahs.

We feel grateful to God for the Torah as we sing this prayer.

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  • Torah Parade (p. 22)

        Have the children form a Torah parade and march as they sing “:Torah Tzivah Lanu Moshe” (Song 15 on CD).  When they return          to the room, have them put the Torahs back in the ark.  You can sing a quiet version of “Etz Chaim Hi” to help children regroup            before the story.

 

  • Torah Story

        Find a book that parallels with the themes in the parshat or about Shabbat. Or get creative - do a puppet show, make up an                    imaginary fairy tale, create a game. See storytelling section for suggestions. 

6.  Concluding Prayers

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  • Aleinu (p. 26, Song 19 on CD)

        Possible Introductions-​

This prayer is about our special relationship to God.

We bow during this prayer to show our love for God.

  1. Maintain good eye contact with the children.

  2. Don’t speak too fast!

  3. Keep your remarks to a minimum. We want the children’s focus to be on the prayers.

  4. Pay attention to the general mood of the group. If the children are very restless, skip the non-essential prayers.

  5. Tell the children when to stand up, sit back down, face Jerusalem, etc.

  6. When appropriate to the upcoming prayer, have the children do something (dance to Mi Chamocha, pretend to put on special glasses to “see” Jerusalem, step across the Red Sea, etc.).

  7. Prepare first. Don’t just wing it unless you have done it before and are very comfortable with the service.

  8. If you are unsure of a melody, check out the links on this cite or reach out to Alex. 

  9. Pick one thing to really focus on and develop and spend less time talking about other things.

  10. Have fun!

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