By invitation or application
Shabbat dinner in Santa Monica, ten Fridays this fall.
One long table, October 16 to December 18. Come by invitation or ask for a seat. Local businesses can partner a Friday.
Next Friday Oct 16
Candles 6:00 pm
Friday 1 of 10 Noach נח
The ten Fridays
Each Friday has its own Torah portion, its own table and its own candle-lighting hour. The gold rule on a card is as long as that evening is late.
Clocks go back on November 1. Candles are at 5:44 pm on Friday 3 and 4:38 pm on Friday 4.
- Friday 1 Oct 16 Noach נח Candles 6:00 pm
- Friday 2 Oct 23 Lech-Lecha לך־לך Candles 5:52 pm
- Friday 3 Oct 30 Vayera וירא Candles 5:44 pm
- Friday 4 Nov 6 Chayei Sara חיי שרה Candles 4:38 pm
- Friday 5 Nov 13 Toldot תולדות Candles 4:33 pm
- Friday 6 Nov 20 Vayetzei ויצא Candles 4:29 pm
- Friday 7 Nov 27 Vayishlach וישלח Candles 4:27 pm
- Friday 8 Dec 4 Vayeshev וישב Chanukah, night 1 Candles 4:26 pm
- Friday 9 Dec 11 Miketz מקץ Chanukah, night 8 Candles 4:27 pm
- Friday 10 Dec 18 Vayigash ויגש Candles 4:29 pm
Fridays, October 16 to December 18.
Candles at the posted time. An answer in 2 days. The address 48 hours before.
Ten Shabbat dinners in Santa Monica, one each Friday this fall. Every time below is written down ahead of time, so you can hold us to it.
- Candles are lit at the time on the page, 18 minutes before sunset: 6:00 pm on October 16, 4:26 pm on December 4.
- Doors open 30 minutes before candle-lighting. Dinner ends 3 hours after candle-lighting.
- Apply for a seat and you hear back by email within 2 days.
- Your invitation arrives 10 days before your Friday. You can change your RSVP until the day.
- Confirmed guests get the address 48 hours before dinner. Nobody else gets it.
- Nothing from us is sent between Friday candle-lighting and Saturday havdalah.
How it works
For guests
Get invited, or apply
Zackory or a partner sends you a link. Or you apply for a seat on the application page and pick the Fridays that work for you.
Hear back within 2 days
A yes, a no, or one question, by email. If you apply on a Friday evening, the 2 days start after Shabbat.
RSVP to your invitation
It arrives 10 days before your Friday with the candle time, the menu, the dress and what to bring. Change your RSVP any time before the day.
Get the address
48 hours before dinner, by email, to confirmed guests only.
Arrive before candles
Doors open 30 minutes before candle-lighting. Dinner ends 3 hours after. A thank-you follows 2 days later.
For partners
Apply
Tell us your business, what you would bring and which Fridays work. Pick as many as you like.
Hear back within 2 days
Zackory replies by email: approved, one question, or not this season.
Get your briefing
14 days before your Friday: the agenda, the menu, the venue, your action items with due dates and the send schedule. If your Friday is sooner than that, it arrives the day you are approved.
Share your social kit
5 days before your Friday: captions, hashtags and alt text for your own channels.
Come to dinner
Your seat is held. Arrive 30 minutes before candle-lighting. Dinner ends 3 hours after.
See the next season first
Partners get the next season's dates before they are posted anywhere.
Give one Friday. It carries your name.
Fridays runs on local businesses. Bring the bread, the wine, the flowers or the room, fund a Friday, or bring guests from your community. That Friday carries your name in the briefing, the press release and the social kit, and you have a seat at the table.
- Available
Table partner
About $60 to $250 at cost
A bakery brings the challah
- Available
Host partner
No cash. About $900 of room and kitchen, given in kind
A restaurant gives its back room for a Friday
- Available
Patron
About $2,200 to $2,500 for the Friday
A local firm funds the first night of Chanukah on December 4
- Available
Community partner
No cost
A newcomers' group brings people who just moved to Santa Monica, for Lech-Lecha on October 23
These are examples of what partners bring. No business is named here until it applies and is approved.
Why ten Fridays
Shabbat starts at sundown on Friday. For ten weeks this fall, a table in Santa Monica is set for it.
Each Friday follows that week's Torah portion. Noach opens the season on October 16 with the ark and the rainbow. Vayera, on October 30, is the parasha of Abraham's tent, open on all four sides. December 4 and December 11 are Chanukah nights. Vayigash closes the season on December 18. It is the parasha where the brothers come back together, and guests from every earlier Friday are invited back for it.
Everyone at the table is invited by name. Some guests come through Zackory, some through a partner business or community group, and some apply for a seat and are approved.
Local businesses make the dinners happen. A bakery brings the challah, a wine shop pours, a florist sets the table, a restaurant or a family lends the room. Each Friday is named for the partners who made it.
You do not need to know the blessings to come. Each one is explained before it is said.
Our promises
Six things you can hold us to, written down before the first candle.
Candles are lit on time.
Every time on this site is the Hebcal time for Santa Monica: candle-lighting 18 minutes before sunset, from 6:00 pm on October 16 to 4:26 pm on December 4. Doors open 30 minutes before, and candles are lit at the posted minute even if some guests are still on the road.
You get an answer within 2 days.
Apply for a seat or a partnership and you hear back by email within 2 days: a yes, a no, or one question. If you apply on a Friday evening, the 2 days start after Shabbat.
Your seat is held if you run late.
Guests come from work, from the E Line and from the 10. A greeter is at the door from the time doors open until the last confirmed guest sits, and every latecomer is walked to a seat.
The address goes only to confirmed guests.
Say yes on your invitation and the address reaches you 48 hours before dinner, by email and on the invitation page. Nobody else receives it, and nothing is sent between Friday candle-lighting and Saturday havdalah.
Every blessing is explained.
You do not need to know the blessings to come. Each one is explained in plain English before it is said, and each Friday follows that week's Torah portion.
We say who is at the table, honestly.
No business is named as a partner until it applies and is approved. Until then, partner names on this site are labeled as examples. After each Friday we post how many came and how many were new.
Your host and the press room
Your host
Zackory
Zackory sets the table for all ten Fridays in Santa Monica, from the first candles on October 16 to the finale on December 18.
He reads every application himself and writes back within 2 days. Shabbat starts at sundown, and this fall a table in Santa Monica is set for it with room for people who have not been invited to one.
Press room
Our season kit is always open: the story, a fact sheet with dates and seats, the logo and the share card. When a release is approved, its social kit and assets appear with it.