Shabbat Clusters 2.0
Adults (18+)Celebrating 25 years of community, connection, and Shabbat dinners. Register for Shabbat Clusters and start connecting with other Jewish adults near you.
Overview
Join Shabbat Clusters – your Jewish community for monthly Shabbat dinners!
Looking for a Shabbat community? Want to meet new people in your area? Shabbat Clusters are small, curated groups for Jewish adults that meet for monthly potluck dinners at each other’s homes, local parks, or restaurants in the DMV. Clusters are organized based on age, neighborhood, and affinity, with room for everyone! You do not need to attend all Shabbat dinners to participate in the program and you can request to be placed in a group with friends or significant others.
How it Works:
Step 1: Register for a 6-month season of Shabbat Clusters (fall/winter or spring/summer).
Step 2: Get assigned to a group of about 30 other adults in your age group and approximate geographic area in DC, MD, or VA.
Step 3: Get a note from your Shabbat Cluster Coordinators with information about your first Shabbat dinner within a few weeks of registering for the program.
Step 4: Enjoy Shabbat dinner once a month with your new crew at group members’ homes, the JCC, or another location the Coordinators choose.
Shabbat Clusters are brought to you in partnership with OneTable.
Spring/Summer 2026 Suggested Themes:
(Your Shabbat Cluster Coordinators will survey your cluster to decide exact dates for each month’s dinner.)
April Suggested Theme: Post-Passover Carb Fest
After Passover, let’s eat our favorite risen foods like pasta, pizza, or grilled cheese on challah – or have a beer tasting and enjoy the spring weather.
May Suggested Theme: Shavuot and Jewish American Heritage Month
It’s time for Shavuot, the holiday where we stay up all night studying Torah and eating dairy treats! Have a dairy dessert contest with your crew and learn something new together. May is also Jewish American Heritage Month, the perfect time to share your family’s recipes, stories, and weird traditions.
June Suggested Theme: Pride Shabbat
Celebrate Pride with your Shabbat Cluster by attending an official Pride event or having a Pride-themed Shabbat together. Whether you’re part of the LGBTQ+ community or an ally, celebrate the choice to love and the diversity of our Jewish identities.
July Suggested Theme: Camp/Musical Shabbat
Bring out a guitar (or two) and dust off some Debbie Freedman for an evening of camp nostalgia and music. Still have your old camp t-shirt? This is the night to wear it.
August Suggested Theme: Shabbat Around the World
Moroccan chickpea stew? Dolmas (stuffed grape leaves?) Dabo (sweet Ethiopian-Jewish bread)? Bring together flavors from Jewish communities around the globe for a taste of something new or something familiar!
September Suggested Theme: A New Year is Here
Rosh Hashanah is this month, so make something sweet or apple-and-honey-flavored and ring in the new Jewish year with your friends.
Frequently Asked Questions
At the core of the Shabbat Cluster experience is gathering in community for a Shabbat dinner. Clusters are welcome to meet for alternative experiences like Shabbat lunch or Havdalah, as well as additional meet-ups like trivia or happy hours but Shabbat dinner is central to Shabbat Clusters.
Each Shabbat Cluster has two volunteer coordinators who plan each dinner and will send all of the information about each dinner to you in advance. Shabbat Clusters communicate via email and WhatsApp.
There is a $25 program fee to register for Shabbat Clusters which both helps cover the EDCJCC’s costs in running this program as well as demonstrates your commitment to the program. If the administrative fee is in any way prohibitive to your participation, please email Sonya.
Shabbat Clusters are meant to be small groups where people get to know each other and build relationships. To make it possible for Cluster Coordinators to plan dinners and for the groups to gel, we unfortunately have to stick to our registration deadline. If you miss it, registration for the next season will be right around the corner!
If you are having trouble signing into the system or registering for Shabbat Clusters, please email info@edcjcc.org.
If you have questions about the program, don’t know what group to join, or want to change your answers after you’ve registered, please email Sonya.
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