Benzi's visit

So in Seth’s classroom, there is a tradition called Kabbalat Shabbat. On each Kabbalat Shabbat, a parent or pair of parents comes in to help celebrate Shabbat. The child gets to sit at the Shabbat table, dole out Shabbat implements, and help light the candles/say the blessing.

One of the bonuses of Kabbalat Shabbat is that the star of the show also gets to bring home a stuffed animal named Benzi, a giant turtle born Israel and thus who speaks only Hebrew. The goal (other than speaking Hebrew at home) is for the child/parent pair to document Benzi doing Jewish things around the house during the weekend – lighting the candles, for instance, or saying nightly prayers. Benzi travels with a book in which different families have documented Benzi’s activities; so far this year, Benzi’s been to the park 21 times, slept with the star of the show 19 times, been strapped into a carseat for travel twice (very clever!) and visited the zoo once.

This blog post explains what Benzi did on his weekend with us. I didn’t think other parents would want to really know about these activities, so I’m posting them here, just so there’s a permanent, non-sanitized record of Benzi’s activities.

First Benzi comforted Seth while he suffered from a 102 degree fever:

 Next, Benzi snuggled with Nathan while he got his hair lice-picked:

Then Benzi commiserated with Nana over her "motion sickness" (note Delta airsick bag). 

     

The best part: on our way out the door from Kabbalat Shabbat, Seth’s teacher warned us of something along the lines of “Benzi no se ducha” – or “Benzi can’t take a shower.” So I’m assuming that Benzi’s weekend activities in our house will soon be bringing joy to other children in Seth’s class.