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HavdalART: Exploring Havdalah through Creative Practice  

By Adira Rosen, Jewish Life Specialist

Introduction: 

Whether you want a new framing for your traditional Havdalah ritual or you want to explore Havdalah through an entirely new practice, this program is for you! In this program residents choose from two different program options: one includes discussion prompts on creativity vs. rest to offer before the traditional Havdalah ritual which will then be followed by an evening of art making (with a menu of various different art options). Or option number two invites residents to offer a series of stations with creative practices inspired by the different elements of Havdalah. Pick one or try both, find the creative path that works for you! 

NOTE: Apply for the Shabbat Enhancement grant and/or the Jewish Culture and Holiday grant to cover program costs which may include: Havdalah candles, matches, tin foil, a kiddush cup, besamim (spices), wine/grape juice, art supplies, and printing costs. 

OPTION ONE:

Havdalah + Art Night  

Materials: 

Program Outline: (~90 minutes) 

  • Welcome and Creativity vs Rest Ice Breaker Discussion (10 minutes) 
  • Havdalah Ritual (20 minutes) 
  • Art Making Time (60 minutes) 

Welcome and Creativity vs Rest Ice Breaker Discussion (10 minutes) 

Havdalah Ritual (20 minutes)

  • Gather your community in a large central location in a circle. 
  • Pass out the MG Havdalah Blessing Printout (pages 5-6) 
  • Pass out/delegate the ritual items (to residents or community members). 
  • Below are a few options for how you might lead the Havdalah ritual. Choose which one works best for you/your community. For questions or support, reach out to your Jewish Life Specialist!

OPTION 1:

  • Sing through all of Havdalah using a melody familiar to you or your community. 
  • Consider sending a recording of the melody to your community members before the event so they are familiar with the melody. See a few links to Havdalah melodies in Option 3. 
  • Have a member of your house/community who plays guitar? Invite them to accompany you/your community for this ritual. 

OPTION 2:

  • Read through all of the Havdalah blessings. 
  • Consider reading both the Hebrew/transliteration and the English text. 
  • Delegate many people to read or go around in a circle so many voices in the community are heard. 

OPTION 3:

  • Listen to a recording of the Havdalah ritual and do each of the ritual movements/moments at their prescribed time. 
  • Here are a few links to recordings of the Havdalah service: 
    • Click HERE for a video from MH to teach you/your community the lyrics and Debbie Friedman melody for Havdalah 
    • Click HERE for the classic Debbie Friedman Havdalah melody (without introductory blessings). 
    • Click HERE for the classic Debbie Friedman Havdalah melody with the intro blessings (melody by Rav Shaul Yedidya Elazar). 
    • Click HERE for a new Havdalah melody from Jared Stein. 
    • Click HERE for the Max Helfman Havdalah (fun fact: this is the Havdalah melody that JLS, Adira, grew up singing! 
    • If none of these feel right, feel free to reach out to your JLS or do some googling to find a melody that works for you/your house! 

Art Making Time (60 minutes)

OPTION TWO:

Havdalah Through Creative Practice  

This option offers a few stations with creative practices connected to each of the blessings of Havdalah. For this option, residents can choose if they want to lead a more traditional Havdalah prior to these art making stations or if they want to use these stations as the event simply inspired by Havdalah.  

Materials:

  •  Art supplies as determined by which categories are chosen below 
  • Printed Havdalah Info Cards 
  • Optional:  
    • Havdalah candle 
    • Matches/lighter 
    • Tin foil 
    • Kiddush cup (or a cup that can have a candle extinguished in it) 
    • Besamim (Sweet-smelling spices like cinnamon sticks and cloves or fresh herbs like rosemary and mint or whatever smell you like!) 
    • Wine/grape juice 
    • Mem Global Havdalah Printout (Pages 5-6) 

Program Outline (~70-90 minutes):

  • Welcome and Framing (10 minutes) 
  • Optional: Havdalah Ritual (20 minutes) 
  • Havdalah Inspired Creative Practice Stations (60 minutes)

Welcome and Framing (10 minutes) 

  • Gather and welcome your community.  
  • Invite folks to get a snack or a drink. 

Optional: Havdalah Ritual (20 minutes) 

  • See above under Havdalah Ritual in Program Option 1 for details on how to lead Havdalah.  

Havdalah Inspired Creative Practice Stations (60 minutes)

  • Feel free to pick which option from each category works best for your community or use these as inspiration to come up with your own. 
  • Print out the following Havdalah Info Cards for Each Station to ground each station in the ritual of Havdalah. 
  • Wine 
    • Use wine like watercolor and paint with wine! Consider getting multiple types of inexpensive wine so folks can mix and match colors of “paint.” 
    • Make or paint your own kiddush cups! Buy premade cups or clay and paints and get creative! 
  • Spices 
    • Press flowers or herbs into beautiful prints or collages.  
    • Create beautiful, fragrant flower bouquets with a flower arranging station.  
  • Flame 
    • Make your own candles! Consider adapting this Jewish candle making program to make a Jewish ritual candle. Note: If making Havdalah candles, they need at least two wicks. 
    • Buy a few wood burning tools and have folks burn beautiful patterns and designs into pieces of wood.  
  • Separation 
    • Have a station with blank pieces of paper and creative materials available (pens, pencils, crayons, paint, markers, pastels, etc…). Invite guests to begin to create something on the pieces of paper and then leave it behind (ie. Separate themselves from it). The next person to arrive at that station can pick any of the papers that have been used and continue to create on/with it.  
      • Alternative option: Have a large canvas that guests can add to in this collaborate way all night long. Consider writing Shavua Tov or Kodesh L’Hol (Holy to Mundane—the last line of the Havdalah ritual) on the canvas and having people decorate around that so it can be a piece you hang in your MoHo after the event! 
    • Purchase a bunch of scratch art paper and have people see the difference between Kodesh and Hol (Holy and Mundane—a central idea of the Havdalah ritual) in their art. Consider offering a prompt for the art making like “What am I letting go of?” or “What am I looking forward to in the coming week?”  
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