Temple Israel Thank Goodness It's Shabbat!

Wayne leads Thank Goodness It's Shabbat (TGIS) on the first and third Saturday of each month from 10:00 am to 11:00 am at Temple Israel at 477 Longwood Avenue in Boston.  TGIS  is a service for very young children. Everyone is welcome to attend, regardless of your background, knowledge, and experience. You need not be a member of the temple to join us. Most of our children are one through five years old, but we love to see older children too.

Our service is in English and Wayne translates all the Hebrew songs and prayers we do into English so no one feels left out.  We try to make everything understandable, accessible, and fun for even the youngest children with lots of songs and movement. One of our wonderful Temple Israel rabbis usually attend our service and bring a special Shabbat Box with a surprise inside for the children to see. We conclude our services with blessings over juice and challah, and there is always fruit, bagels, and other goodies.

Please feel free to email Wayne if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. We really appreciate your input! Wayne's email is wayne@waynepotash.com.
Wayne is also the music and movement teacher at Temple Israel's Frances Jacobson Early Childhood Center every Tuesday morning.

Our Shabbat Service follows this basic outline.  The middle of our service is determined by current holidays and the weekly Torah portions, also known as Parshas.  
  • Welcome
  • Song - Shalom Chaverim
  • Song - Zum Gali Gali
  • Name Song - Paw Paw Patch (we sing every child's name)
  • One of our Rabbis reveal what's inside the Shabbat Box at Temple Israel. It's always a surprise!
  • Song -Thank You God by Peri Smilow (We have the children share things they're thankful for each  week)
  • Holiday and/or Parsha (weekly portion of the torah) stories, songs, and activities
  • Song - Ki Mitsiyon Tetse Torah (taking out the Torah)
  • Marching around the room with our Torah and toy Torahs
  • Song : Torah Torah Torah
  • Blessing over Children
  • Song: Hinei Mah Tov (dancing together)
  • Hamotzi:  Prayer over juice, Washing  hands, Blessing for the challah
  • Snacktime
  • Song: Shabbat Shalom (Bim Bom) closes our service
  • Song requests: Time permitting Wayne takes song requests from the children
Shabbat Blessings Link  Hebrew, English and audio
Tot Shabbat website has lots of audio songs including Hinei Mah Tov
Chanukah song lyrics
Practice Seder outline

Special thanks to Meryl Goldwag, Susan Glickman, the Rabbis, Librarians, and staff at Temple Israel for helping me prepare a wonderful Shabbat program.