On Friday evening, families gathered at Swaim Park in Montgomery for a Friday Night Shabbat event that felt more like a neighborhood picnic than a formal religious observance — and that’s exactly the point.
Kids raced across the newly renovated playground, their faces streaked with chocolate and rainbow sprinkles from the overflowing ice cream bar. Miraculously, the cicadas — normally dive-bombing every picnic in sight — were nowhere to be found. (A small mercy, considering my toddler has taken to chasing them with the zeal of an ancient Israelite gathering manna in the desert — his goal is to eat them.)
Everyone clustered around the shelter, except for the parents whose kids were clambering up slides or attempting something inevitably dangerous. Those brave souls carried their plates to the playground, trying to squeeze in bites of lasagna between issuing warnings like “Feet first down the slide!” or rescuing toddlers from the monkey bars. Trash cans overflowed with napkins and paper plates, while laughter and snippets of Hebrew floated on the breeze.
Swaim Park is the kind of place where birthday parties and upsherins blend into daily life. It’s quiet, walkable to downtown Montgomery, and rarely crowded — an easy, beloved neighborhood space that perfectly suited the vibe of the evening. With no formal candle lighting or speeches, the message was clear: come as you are, eat, play, connect.
That message is the heart of Friday Night Shabbat, a program launched to bring Cincinnati’s Jewish families together for Shabbat in the most welcoming and accessible way possible. Supported by the Mayerson JCC and PJ Library, the program offers free, catered Friday night dinners throughout the year, hosted by a rotating roster of local Jewish institutions, including Adath Israel Congregation, Chabad Jewish Center, Isaac M. Wise Temple, and the Mayerson JCC itself.
The vision behind Friday Night Shabbat came from people like Shelly Gerson and Jeff Zipkin; Jeff is a father of four whose own daughters regularly attend. For him, it was about creating the kind of Shabbat that felt doable for families like his — working parents, young kids, and a desire for connection without the logistical overwhelm.
Each event reflects its host institution, and the atmosphere often shifts according to the location. As one regular attendee observed, “The closer you get to Amberley, the more Orthodox families you’ll see.” Some gatherings have included structured children’s programming — like the magician who captivated kids at a recent Jewish Discovery Center event — while others lean more casual, letting the playground and bubble wands do the entertaining. What remains constant is the multi-generational nature of the crowd: grandparents, babies, teens, and tired parents all gather for the same reason — to eat, exhale, and be together.
From PJ Library’s perspective, that accessibility is exactly the point. “Friday Night Shabbat removes the stress and decision-making that can often come with planning family time,” said Marisa Phillips, director of PJ Library in Cincinnati. “We take care of everything — providing a warm, welcoming space to gather, a delicious dinner that’s already prepared, engaging activities to keep children entertained, and even all the cleanup afterward.”
Marisa also emphasized how hosting the event in a public park helped extend the welcome. “At 5 pm, the skies cleared and the sun came out,” she said. “The kids jumped, played, and ran around while the parents had the opportunity to catch up and connect. For those who wanted to hang around in the shelter, we had decks of cards, coloring books, and bubbles!”
The dinner was catered by Ifat Koriela, who lovingly prepared a dairy meal — trays of lasagna, roasted potatoes, flaky bourekas, and Moroccan sfenj — anchored the event. Ifat and her husband moved to Cincinnati from Israel and now run Koriela Kitchen, a local catering business known for fresh, vibrant Israeli and Moroccan-inspired cuisine. While she doesn’t cater every Friday Night Shabbat, her involvement on May 30th was a significant draw for the city’s Israeli families.
“For many Israeli families, this is the only way they’re marking Shabbat or a holiday,” Ifat said. “The food is a bridge — it’s my way of saying, ‘You’re welcome. You belong.’”
One demographic that has been especially drawn to the program is Cincinnati’s Israeli community. With no Sephardic or Mizrahi synagogue in town, Friday Night Shabbat has become an informal gathering place for families seeking the warmth, music, and flavors of home.
As one Israeli attendee put it: “The moment we saw you were behind the food, we knew it would be fresh, abundant, joyful — we knew it was an evening not to miss.”
Shabbat in Israel isn’t always a religious experience, but it is deeply cultural. Bakeries buzz with challah on Friday afternoons. Traffic slows. There’s a collective exhale as the weekend begins. And somehow, in a suburban Cincinnati park — with children shrieking under an awning and lasagna on plastic plates — that same feeling surfaced.
Shabbat doesn’t always have to start with candles or prayers. Sometimes it begins with sprinkles on your shirt, laughter at your table, and the simple gift of not doing it all yourself. That’s the beauty of Friday Night Shabbat. It invites us in—not to perform, but to belong.
Looking ahead, PJ Library hopes to build on this momentum with even more family-friendly Shabbat events across the city.
“We’re excited to host two upcoming Friday Night Shabbat gatherings — one to welcome in the High Holidays and another to celebrate Hanukkah,” said Phillips. “We look forward to continuing to grow this partnership and to welcoming both familiar faces and new families as we come together to celebrate Shabbat in a warm, inclusive community.”
