Every Friday morning, IYIM Program Director Rav Chanoch Yeres runs a kabalat shabbat program for the Jewish Deaf students of the Jerusalem Kiach school for special education. The unique Jerusalem school caters to both Jewish and Arab children.

At this month’s special Kabalat Shabbat  ceremony parents of the children were also invited to attend.The children were escorted by their teachers to the ceremony, where they got blessed by the principal of the school and each child received a tailor- made siddur with pictures  in sign language for the specific brachot.

This event was created as result of young boys and girls preparing for their respective bar and batmitzvah. This event soon turned into a weekly ceremony part of programming which included putting on tefillin and girls lighting shabbat candles, discussions on the parsha with show and tell on Jewish heritage topics.

The experience for all who were present was overwhelming and very emotional, especially the parents. The school expressed much appreciation to the International Young Israel Movement for providing them with this program. Kiach takes pride in this kabalat shabbat program and hopes that the IYIM partnership will accompany them for many years to come.