Buen Shabat, Shabbat Shalom
(eBook)

Kar-Ben Read-Aloud eBooks with Audio combine professional narration and text highlighting to bring eBooks to life! With a Ladino word introduced on each page, a Sephardic Jewish family prepares to celebrate Shabbat. "Buen Shabat, Shabbat Shalom by Sarah Aroeste, illustrated by Ayesha L. Rubio, is apparently the first children's book ever published in both English and Ladino. Sephardic representation! Rhyming couplets show a family celebrating Shabbat: 'Time for blessings, las berahas./For wine and challah, we say grasias!' The art's bold and cute, with a Pixar vibe, and I love the tiny Sephardic décor touches, like the framed hamsas on the wall. Both the writer and illustrator are Sephardic: Aroeste's family roots are in Thessaloniki; Rubio grew up in Spain." - Marjorie Ingall, Tablet Magazine "This book shows what it's like for a Sephardic Jewish family to observe Shabbat (Sabbath, a day of rest) starting on a Friday night. It uses words that Sephardic Jewish people would probably use, which I saw as a combination of Spanish and Hebrew words. I think that this book would be helpful for Sephardic Jewish children because it shows how some Sephardic Jewish families celebrate Shabbat. I think it would be great for both Sephardic children whose families already celebrate Shabbat and those Sephardic Jewish families that don't. It would also be helpful to some children whose families aren't Sephardic to help them gain an understanding of how Sephardic families do celebrate Shabbat, and if the children that are read this book are old enough parents and teachers can point out differences in how Sephardic Jewish families celebrate versus how other families celebrate. I think I run into a lot of Spanish people at this point in my life so I know some of them must be Sephardic, so there are probably a lot more Sephardic Jewish children around than I think that could benefit from this book." - Jill Harris "'Bat! Bat!' It's a new command that's especially popular in my household, and it has nothing to do with a flying rodent. Rather, the way my toddler pronounces 'Shabbat,' the Hebrew word for the Jewish day of rest, and it's a reference to my almost two-year-old's new obsession: a beautiful and short board book we got from PJ Library a few weeks ago called Buen Shabat, Shabat Shalom. The book - which came out this week to the general public, and not just PJ Library members - is written by the musician, writer, and Sephardic activist, Sarah Aroeste. The lovely book combines Ladino words with English in a way that feels seamless. (If you don't already know, Ladino, which is also known as Judeo-Spanish, is the Jewish language used by Jews who were exiled from Spain, mostly in Turkey and Greece.) Buen Shabat tells the story of one family's Shabbat dinner. Throughout, the Ladino expression, 'Buen Shabat,' is repeated again and again alongside its Hebrew counterpart, Shabbat Shalom. The phrase literally means 'peaceful Sabbath,' and it's what we use to say 'Have a good Shabbat.' (Or, in Yiddish, 'Gut Shabbos.') This book's illustrations drawn by Ayesha L. Rubio, are of a family preparing for and celebrating Shabbat. They are very sweet and making readers feel welcome at this Shabbat table with a Ladino-speaking family. The text is simple and mellifluous - Aroeste is, after all, a songwriter - and the words' musicality and repetition is what captures my toddler. He keeps asking me to read it again and again. We point out to a hamsa on the wall and I teach him the Hebrew word for hand, yad. We talk about the challah and the food on the table. Reading about the family lighting the candles (las kandelas in Ladino) and singing songs (las kantikas) has had a surprising effect on my son - it has made him more excited to celebrate Shabbat at home, the two of us happily recalling the rituals from the book as we light our own Shabbat candles. Another thing I love about this book is how it has d