Why shared meals and meaningful connections still matter.
A small moment recently got me thinking deeply about the importance – and magic – of family.
My adult nephew had invited a friend to join us for a casual lunch. Just a typical family meal. But afterwards, he told me she’d said something that stopped me in my tracks: “That was the first time in years I’ve sat down as a family like that. The last time must have been when I was a child.”
Her teenage years had been filled with fast-paced routines, clashing schedules, and family members rushing around. Somewhere along the way, they stopped sitting at the same table. Family meals became a rarity. Quality time, a memory.
Her words stayed with me. Not because they were shocking – but because they were so foreign to my own experience.
In our family, meals are a cornerstone of connection. Growing up, we always had supper together. Sundays were for big family lunches. Jewish holidays meant long Yom Tov meals around a crowded table. And that tradition didn’t end with childhood. Even now, we spend a great deal of time together as a family. It’s just part of who we are.
But her comment made me realise that not everyone grows up like that. And for many, those moments of togetherness are
far more fleeting than they should be.
That idea of familial connection was echoed again recently in two powerful theatre productions I attended.
The first was earthside, a moving one-woman show written and performed by Cape Town’s Candice Bernstein. At its heart is the deep and loving bond she shared with her grandfather, the late Fred Levy z”l. The performance is rich with memories – funny, poignant, and touching – and it’s clear how profoundly she misses him.
The second, Blonde Poison, features the acclaimed Fiona Ramsay in the role of a Jewish woman who survived the Holocaust by going underground in wartime Berlin. Her driving force? A desperate determination to save her parents. It’s a harrowing but entirely believable story – and it, too, is rooted in the fierce love of family.
These two very different productions reminded me that family ties – whether forged over a shared meal or tested in the face of unthinkable hardship – can be one of the most powerful forces in our lives.
And Jewish Community Services also alludes to this on page 28.
In a world that feels increasingly fast and fragmented, maybe the simple act of sitting down at a table together isn’t so simple after all. Maybe it’s something sacred. Something we need to protect.
Watch our new video on page 27 and here.
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