Tot Shabbat

The Tot Shabbat program is specifically designed for families with children ages birth to pre-kindergarten. Tot Shabbat is a 45-minute parent-participation service that we enjoy on Shabbat mornings from 10:30 to 11:15.

Tot Shabbat meets most weeks, but not all; please click here for the up-to-date calendar.

Tot Shabbat is led by a professional music educator and integrates:

• A combination of music, movement, and learning offering young children and their parents/grandparents/caregivers an early exposure to the Shabbat experience through age-appropriate songs & prayers
• A basis for learning songs, hand motions and language that reinforce the meaning of Shabbat, its rituals, the weekly Torah parsha (Torah portion) and the importance of Tikkun Olam (Healing our World)
• An opportunity for parents and their young children to have their first taste of the warmth and joy of the Shabbat experience. It also provides a community within Adat Shalom through parent/grandparent/ caregiver socializing, wrapped around the Tot Shabbat service.

At the conclusion of Tot Shabbat, the children say hamotzi (blessing for challah) and are invited with their families to join in a family-friendly oneg luncheon in the Social Hall at around 11:20 a.m. Children are also invited up on the bimah in the main sanctuary at the end of the main service at around 12:30 p.m. for kiddush and motzi with the entire community. Please join us for a community oneg in the Social Hall following the conclusion of services.

About Ellie Schuchman

Ellie Moses Schuchman is the founder and lead teacher of Ms. Ellie Music, LLC. She was trained by Music Together LLC, in 2006 and has been involved in early childhood music ever since.  She is the music specialist at Ohr Kodesh Early Childhood Center (ECC) in Chevy Chase, MD, and Tikvat Israel ECC in Rockville, MD, bringing more music into the classrooms and leading the weekly Ta’am Shel Shabbat (Taste of Shabbat) singalongs as well as leading holiday celebrations.  She also leads Tot Shabbat for the 0 to 4 crowd, as well as the kindergarten Shabbat service, at Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, MD.

Prior to her involvement in early childhood music, Ellie worked as a licensed clinical social worker with children and their families in various school-based and mental health settings.  She has a BA in Psychology from Clark University and a MS in Social Work from Columbia University.  She grew up in Takoma Park, MD, and was an active member of Habonim Dror and Camp Moshava, where she first developed her love of and ruach (spirit, in Hebrew) for singing and dancing as a camper, and then for many years, as a counselor and assistant camp director.

Ellie lives in Silver Spring, MD, with her husband and twin boys.