Reform Judaism: Shabbat Archives

A Call For A Moratorium On Shabbat Weddings
August 26, 2010 (3 Comments)

by Rabbi Leon A. Morris
Temple Adas Israel, Sag Harbor, NY
(Originally posted on The Jewish Week)

The recent wedding of Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky has triggered a spate of articles about interfaith marriage, rabbinic officiation, co-officiation with Christian clergy and the like. Considerably less attention has been focused on the fact that the wedding took place on a Saturday before nightfall. Perhaps this was deemed less newsworthy because it has become so commonplace. I'm asking myself whether the most publicized Shabbat wedding in American Jewish history might have the unintended consequence of questioning anew the propriety of performing weddings on the Sabbath.

The need for Shabbat is greater now than ever before. Folks from widely divergent population segments are beginning to reclaim the Sabbath in a variety of ways. There are the hundreds of secular Israelis gathering at the Tel Aviv port to welcome Shabbat with prayer, poetry and song. There are the innovative hipsters of the Shabbat Manifesto declaring a "national day of unplugging," inspiring thousands of individuals to "put down their cell phones, stop their status updates on Facebook, shut down Twitter, sign out of e-mail and relax." A best-selling book on the Sabbath was published this past spring that prompted several stories in The New York Times about the reconsideration of the Sabbath. Families are looking for ways to connect with each other, and to re-institute the family dinner at least once each week. The time is ripe for us to be more strident in our embrace of Shabbat, particularly in the public domain.

In addition, our increasing environmental awareness reminds us of our own place in the larger universe. Deciding to officiate at Saturday weddings after 6 p.m. is not only arbitrary but represents a kind of environmental hubris in which human beings think that they have the power to make the stars appear earlier. With all of our human knowledge and advancement, we still cannot cause the sun to set. We experience awe of the cosmos when we make ourselves subject to time that lies beyond our control.

Filed Under: Lifecycle | Shabbat

The Other Side of the Story
July 13, 2010 (5 Comments)

by JanetheWriter

Every truth has two sides; it is as well to look at both, before we commit ourselves to either.
- Aesop

Last summer, I wrote one side of a particular story. Now it's time to write the other.

For each of the last five Shabbatot, a friend or two has accompanied me to kabbalat Shabbat services where I've been going to say kaddish for my mother, who died peacefully and pain-free over Memorial Day weekend after seven weeks in the hospital and 11 days in hospice. At the conclusion of each service (and still wondering at the surrealism of it all), I dry my tear-stained face, we visit briefly with a few others at the oneg Shabbat and then head out for a bite to eat.

Two weeks ago, I kicked things up a notch and ventured alone to the congregation's weekly Shabbat minyan, which is followed by an hour of Torah study. (I'd decided ahead of time that my comfort level at the former would determine whether or not I'd stay for the latter.) Arriving at the synagogue a few minutes early, I was directed to the small chapel on the second floor where I chose an aisle seat toward the back. "Regulars," it appeared, greeted each other with waves, smiles, and "Shabbat shaloms." A few "Hope you're feeling better" and "Welcome backs" were thrown into the mix as well.

Filed Under: Community | Shabbat

Havdalah Neophyte: Being Jewish Keeps Me on Learning Curve
June 17, 2010 (3 Comments)

by Linda K. Wertheimer
Originally posted on Jewish Muse

I'm a havdalah neophyte. Until well into my 30s, I had no clue what havdalah was. Judaism, unbeknownst to me, had an ancient ritual to mark Sabbath's end.

Why write about this ancient ritual now? For the first time on Saturday night, I experienced the beauty and simplicity of havdalah in my own home. It was not planned. We had our temple's cantor, her husband, and 4-year-old over for dinner, and the idea slipped out of my mouth as the sky began to darken.

My husband hunted for the ritual necessities, and I dug out my guitar for the cantor. We had a havdalah candle, which my husband brought into the marriage from his many years as a member of a Boston-area chavurah. Until I looked it up for this blog post, I had no idea what made a candle particular to havdalah. It must have at least two wicks out of deference to the candle blessing that refers to the "lights of the fire," according to Living a Jewish Life by Anita Diamant and Howard Cooper. We had a kiddush cup from our wedding. We lacked a spice box, but improvised. We poured cinnamon into a ceramic potpourri container adorned with the painting of a rabbit. This was havdalah on the fly.

Filed Under: Shabbat

Gospel Shabbat
May 3, 2010 (6 Comments)

by Ilana DeBare
Originally posted on Midlife Bat Mitzvah

Wow! Blog readers, I wish you had been there tonight. My synagogue had a special Friday night service - the first-ever performance of a Gospel Shabbat composed by Stephen Saxon, a cantor and jazz musician from San Ramon, California.

It was amazing. While a typical Friday night service might draw 50 to 100 congregants, the sanctuary was packed with about 700 people, both Temple Sinai members and visitors. It felt like a high holiday service: Our rabbi even joked, as he introduced Saxon, that it was time to sing Kol Nidrei.

Gospel Shabbat at Temple Sinai - (from right) Cantor Stephen Saxon, Cantor Ilene Keys, Rabbi Steven Chester and singers. Photo credit: Robin Nasatir

Saxon was accompanied by an a cappella choir called Flying Without Instruments, as well as a quartet of gospel musicians from nearby Oakland churches. He had basically set an entire Shabbat service to gospel music - taking each major prayer (the Barchu, the Sh'ma, the Amidah, the Mi Shebeirach etc.) and creating an English-language gospel version of it.

He got the whole room singing immediately with an opening "Hallelujah" composition. In between the musical numbers, he introduced and explained each part of the service. People were on their feet - swaying, singing, clapping - for much of the evening.

Filed Under: Shabbat

Teaching adults about Shabbat, Kashrut: Three rabbis share wisdom
March 26, 2010 (2 Comments)

by Linda K. Wertheimer
Temple Isaiah, Lexington, MA
Originally posted on Jewish Muse

Put three rabbis from different streams of Judaism on the same panel. Ask them to talk about keeping Shabbat and Kosher. They have fewer differences of opinion than one might expect.

The rabbinical trio of Lexington, MA spoke last week at Temple Emunah, a Conservative congregation, for the fifth annual Lexington rabbinical panel. The conversation about how to live as a Jew in the modern world was enlightening and for me, occasionally guilt-producing. I attend Friday night services sporadically. I mark holidays in a minimalist fashion.

Many Reform Jews believe that because we are Reform we should just pick and choose which Jewish laws to observe. Not exactly, said Rabbi Carey Brown, the associate rabbi of Temple Isaiah, the Reform congregation to which I belong.

Filed Under: Shabbat

Teaching tots about Shabbat: Don't blow out the candles
March 18, 2010 (2 Comments)

by Linda K. Wertheimer
Originally posted on The Jewish Muse

Shabbat had little meaning to me as a child. My family never attended a Friday night service, lit candles, or bought challah, and my husband's family did not either. Shabbat dinner? Neither my husband nor I attended one until we were grown-ups. Now, as parents, we want to make Shabbat a part of our 2-year-old son's existence.

Once or twice a month, we light the candles and sing the prayers over the candles and the bread. One of the first times we lit the candles, Simon's face shone in excitement.

"Birthday?" he said. He started to purse his lips and move closer to try to blow out the two candles. "No, Simon," I said. "It's Shabbat. We don't blow out the candles on Shabbat." His Dad and I tell him that on Shabbat, we let the candles flicker until they burn out. The light in his eyes stays, and he is content to watch the flames dance. He grins, too, as we sing the prayers, and often tries to sing along with us.

Tonight will not be a Shabbat night. We will dine with my parents to celebrate my Dad's upcoming birthday. This time, a candle may be blown out. If we ate at home, I am not sure I would pull out the candlesticks. It is not something I have ever done with my parents. It is something my husband and I do with Simon.

Filed Under: Shabbat | Youth and Family Life

Liturgical Obligations
March 10, 2010 (12 Comments)

by Monica Cellio
Temple Sinai, Pittsburgh PA
Also posted on LiveJournal

I was recently in a discussion about the choices that worship leaders make, and I realized that the Reform Movement's approach imposes a higher literacy burden than I think most realize.

In an Orthodox service, the decisions made by the sh'liach tzibbur, the leader, pretty much boil down to what melodies to use. The actual text is fixed; you do what the the siddur tells you to do (and remember seasonal variations if the siddur doesn't mark them). I'm not saying it's easy, but I am saying it's not too complex. While (in my experience) most Orthodox Jews who would be in a position to lead services are thoroughly fluent, technically the leader doesn't have to know what it all means and why the service is structured that way and so on.

Now consider the Reform movement, which from the beginning declined to follow the fixed liturgy. The early reformers eliminated some parts of the service (like musaf and many of the kaddishes) because they were repetitive, changed the texts of some prayers for ideological reasons (like objecting to resurrection of the dead), and introduced English readings that did not necessarily strictly follow the Hebrew they replaced. My impression is that they did the vast majority of this thoughtfully; later generations might disagree with their reasons, but they had reasons.

Filed Under: Defining Reform | Shabbat

Blessing
December 8, 2009 (8 Comments)

by Leon Adato
(Originally published on The Edible Torah)

It was not your typical Shabbat candle blessing moment at our house. Usually, people group more or less by age around the table - teens bunched together whispering and laughing, younger kids up near the candles and challah hoping for a chance to light, pass, tear, or hold during the blessings, parents on the periphery shmoozing and watching out that their kids behave.

But on this particular night, families were huddled together, hugging. More than a few folks were (or had been) crying.

What was different?

Filed Under: Jewish Living | Shabbat | Youth and Family Life

Here, O Israel, We Take Our Stand - or Don't We?
November 24, 2009 (11 Comments)

by Larry Kaufman

As always at Biennial, Shabbat worship was exuberant and inspiring. The most startling event of the services came when Rabbi David Stern, who led our worship on Shabbat morning, asked the congregation to be seated after the Barchu, and then discussed the long-standing Reform practice of standing for the Shma - a practice not typically followed by the other streams. He followed with the suggestion that this time we sit. (Some will no doubt quarrel with my characterizing his words as a suggestion, and I couldn't quarrel with anyone who preferred to call it an instruction.)

When I remarked on this in a post-Biennial email to my colleagues on the iWorship list-serv, it unleashed a torrent of dialogue, even controversy, that went far beyond the matter of standing or sitting for the Shma, and in fact spread beyond the list-serv and onto Facebook and into the blogosphere. I have now seen over one hundred comments on this and related issues, from some forty individuals, both lay and clergy, and there may be voices yet to be heard - including those stimulated by this report.

Filed Under: Defining Reform | Shabbat

Shabbat Solidarity
September 29, 2009

by dcc
(Originally posted on The DCC)

The days between the High Holidays are a time of reflection, apology, prayer and introspection for the Jewish people. While Shabbat affords us this opportunity each week, I feel like the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Shabbat Shuvah, is all the more special and powerful. So last Friday night I joined more than 100 young adults (both in age and in spirit) at Temple Shaarey Tefila for Shabbat Unplugged. This service is a celebration of Shabbat, bringing together people of different backgrounds, creeds and orientations to sing, celebrate and be together as a community to welcome the Sabbath bride.

I take the community aspect of this service very seriously and feel it is perhaps the most important aspect of my Shabbat. That is why I got up early on Saturday morning to travel to Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope to help this community--a community of people from different backgrounds, creeds and orientations--enjoy and sanctify the Shabbat.

Filed Under: Community | Holidays | Shabbat

Putting "Labor" Back into Labor Day
September 3, 2009

by Jacob Feinspan
(Originally posted at RACblog)

When you hear "Labor Day", what are the first things that come to mind? A recent survey of friends included responses such as: end of the summer, last weekend at the pool, last hurrah at the beach, beginning of school, and a reminder that the high holidays are just around the corner. Not one of them associated the Labor Day with the reason it was created - as a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

But what if we actually put the Labor back into Labor Day? How could we use the opportunity to reflect on the amazing achievements of American workers and at the same time on the challenges facing working people in our country today?

At Jews United for Justice, our answer to these questions is Labor on the Bimah: an opportunity for congregations to integrate Labor Day into their services by focusing on workers' rights issues from the Bimah through a sermon, a conversation, or even through music. This year nearly 50 synagogues and minyanim in the Washington area will be joining hundreds of churches, synagogues, and mosques around the country for Labor in the Pulpits/on the Bimah/in the Minbar, a national program led by Interfaith Worker Justice and the AFL-CIO.

Filed Under: Shabbat | Social Action

Blue Cup Oneg Shabbat
August 26, 2009 (11 Comments)

By JanetheWriter
For as long as I can remember, I've been hearing the same "blue cup announcement" during Shabbat services from the bema of my home congregation, Temple Emanu-El in Edison, New Jersey: "If you're new to the temple, please use a blue cup for your beverage during the oneg Shabbat so that we can identify you and welcome you personally to the congregation." I'd always presumed that visitors and new members heeded this request when choosing their cups, but beyond acknowledging it as a creative idea, I'd never given it too much thought.

Filed Under: Community | Shabbat

Galilee Diary: Tradition, tradition
August 11, 2009 (5 Comments)

by Marc Rosenstein
(Originally published in Galilee Diary and Ten Minutes of Torah)

Rabbi Johanan said in the name of Rabbi Simeon bar Yohai: If Israel were to keep two Sabbaths according to the laws thereof, they would be redeemed immediately. -Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat, page 118b

When Shorashim was founded by about a dozen young families in the early 1980s, the group decided that while they were not (yet) affiliated with any particular denomination of Judaism, they wanted Shabbat to be an important part of the life of the community. They decided to hold services Friday evening and Saturday morning. Shorashim did not have a rabbi or other professional religious leadership, so the tasks of conducting services, preaching, and reading Torah were divided up among those with the requisite skills and willingness. Alas, there was only one competent Torah reader in the community, and he, like everyone else, wanted occasionally to spend Shabbat with friends or relatives elsewhere in the country - or even to go abroad. A problem: what would we do in his absence? A solution: commit to Shabbat morning services every other week. On "off" weeks, the Torah reader - and everyone else, would be free to travel (or sleep late) without letting the community down. Friday evening services could still be held weekly.

Filed Under: Community | Israel | Shabbat

Let Shabbat Happen To You
May 11, 2009 (7 Comments)

By dcc
Saturday afternoon until early Sunday morning I was at our friends' house for what was an extended and wonderful dinner and night of talking and relaxing when, after our friend suggested that we write a new blog together, I realized I have not written for RJ.org in some time now. This relaxing and delicious evening was after a lovely Friday night service where two of our other mutual friends were blessed by the rabbi for their auf ruf.

So I got to thinking that I had had what could only be described as the perfect Shabbat. I prayed a bit. I celebrated with my friends who are soon to be married. I ate a lot of very good food. I had interesting and thoughtful conversations. But, I must say that this was not the plan. This week, it seems, that Shabbat kind of happened to me.

Filed Under: Shabbat

Galilee Diary - Green thoughts IV: Ponzi and Heschel
April 7, 2009 (5 Comments)

by Marc Rosenstein
(Originally published in Galilee Diary and Ten Minutes of Torah)

The solution of mankind's most vexing problem will not be found in renouncing technical civilization, but in attaining some degree of independence of it. In regard to external gifts, to outward possessions, there is only one proper attitude - to have them and to be able to do without them. On the Sabbath we live, as it were, independent of technical civilization: we abstain primarily from any activity that aims at remaking or reshaping the things of space. Man's royal privilege to conquer nature is suspended on the seventh day.
- Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath (1951)

American immigrants here always used to joke about how the new developments and cultural fads of Europe and North America generally took a decade or two to find their way into our mainstream. Often we had the sense of living in a state of delayed development. We were still carrying reusable baskets and even refillable bottles to the market when America had long changed to disposables; we were still mostly riding the buses when everyone in America had a car. Now, however, the time lag has shrunk considerably, probably to zero. Indeed, I think we were even ahead of America in the use of ATMs and later, of cell phones. So now, the world-wide fad in environmentalism has arrived here pretty much simultaneously with its flowering elsewhere. We too now recycle plastic bottles (though only the 1.5 liter ones); we too now use cloth bags instead of plastic at the supermarket; the elites are even buying hybrid cars and installing solar panels.

Filed Under: Israel | Shabbat | Social Action

Im ein kemach, ein Havdalah? I'm unconvinced.
February 18, 2009 (3 Comments)

By David A.M. Wilensky
(Originally posted on The Reform Shuckle)
A debate has raged this week at iWorship, the URJ's listserve for synagogue Ritual or Worship Committee members, regarding the timing of Havdalah.

In this late stage of halachic development, I'm a little amused and taken aback that such a debate could rage at all. Certainly, the timeframe for Havdalah is well established. It must be done after dark, once three or more stars are visible. Simple, right?

Filed Under: Jewish Living | Shabbat

Getting Yourself Organized for the Real World
February 6, 2009

By Jake Adler
(First posted on the Kesher blog)
Jake Adler shares his struggles to find balance in religious ritual, time management, and ultimately, life.

My family has never been particularly big on routines. We rarely ever lit Shabbat candles or had Shabbat dinner together in my home. It was never part of our schedule. As the mood took us, we would have Chinese, French, sushi, or my mom's favorite, the local steakhouse. This novel indecisiveness could be thrilling, but at times it was also confusing. With so many options available, it's sometimes difficult to narrow down your options. As a result, I often had trouble knowing when to stop putting things on my plate.

Filed Under: Jewish Living | Shabbat

Now More Than Ever, We Need Shabbat
January 9, 2009 (2 Comments)

By JanetheWriter

War's raging in Gaza,
Israelis are dead,
Children are crying; they need to be fed.
Now more than ever, we need Shabbat.

Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech haolam,
Who hallows us with mitzvot and commands us to kindle the lights of Shabbat.

May they illumine these difficult days,
May they guide us to brighter tomorrows.

Filed Under: Israel | Shabbat

Making Shabbat Your Own
January 8, 2009

by Art Grand
During Shabbat morning services at the URJ Board meeting in mid December three Board members were asked to share their personal Shabbat journeys, to speak about how they celebrated Shabbat and how they have thought about Shabbat observance as part of their lives. Art Grand is a member of Temple Or Rishon, Orangevale, CA, President of the Pacific Central West Council, Chair of the Joint Commission on Worship, Music and Religious Living and a member of the Board of Trustees.
(Originally posted as part of Ten Minutes of Torah)

I can't tell you how lucky I am to speak at this point in the service - right after the blessing for Torah study. My whole Shabbat - my whole week, in fact, revolves around co-teaching Torah study with my rabbi. For me, Shabbat is 24 hours of prayer, teaching, and study.

Many things have influenced my understanding of Shabbat, but my children have been my greatest teachers.

Filed Under: Shabbat

Lakachat Shabbat--To take a day off
January 2, 2009

by Jane Wishner
Member of Congregation Albert, Albuquerque, NM
and member of the Union Board's Executive Committee
(Originally posted as part of Ten Minutes of Torah)
Shabbat has meant different things to me at different times in my life. And different factors influenced my observance: my parents, community, location (am I at camp or living in Albuquerque), my age, my marital status, my children and the age of my children, my work, my travel, my participation in the Jewish community, and the combination of difficult choices I've had to make at every stage of my life about what I do and how I spend my time. And, for me, as a woman and a mother attempting to balance family, work and community, Shabbat observance has been shaped by the self- imposed obligations regarding what it is I need to do to sustain all three of them, often leaving out what I need to do to sustain myself.

Filed Under: Shabbat

Shamor v'zachor - Observe and Remember
December 29, 2008 (2 Comments)

by Daniel Crane
First-year rabbinical student at HUC-JIR
Originally written for blogHUC and Daniel's blog Journaling in Jerusalem

I've been involved with interfaith dialogue since my first year of college. So when I signed up for Rav Siach, an interdenominational rabbinical student discussion group in Jerusalem, I expected an interesting and smooth experience. The past two months have definitely been interesting, but I could hardly call them smooth!

For the past eight weeks, four fellow HUC rabbinical students and I have been traveling to Melitz, a pluralistic education center in Jerusalem, to meet a handful of our future colleagues from other denominations. There are about a dozen participants with three facilitators, and we come from Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, "orthodox," and non-denominational backgrounds. Thus, we come to the table not only with our personal perspectives but also with the weight of our "movements" on our shoulders. And all that weight has made for some very heavy conversations. We discuss and debate issues like commandedness, the role of the rabbi, and denominational distinctions, and we strive to keep our minds open while attempting to understand the thoughts of the others. This can be a significant challenge, but our mutual respect gives us the motivation to try our hardest.

Filed Under: Holidays | Israel | Jewish Living | Shabbat

Shabbat Shalom
December 25, 2008 (1 Comment)

by Jim Ball
To talk about my relationship with Shabbat, I must speak about this week's Torah portion, Vayislach.

It's a portion has a special meaning for me. Twenty-five years ago, I became a Jew, and took the Hebrew name Ya'akov. Like the place that Jacob visited in last week's Torah portion, Beth El, I was a member of Congregation Beth El in Sudbury, MA , and my Beth El, like Jacob's, was and still is, a holy place for me.

This week Jacob, returning to his birthplace and homeland, prepares to meet Esau again, something which leaves him with some trepidation. In fact, he is terrified. He and his retinue come to the River Jabbok and must cross. Having to ford this river is, of course, highly symbolic to the task of having to cross through his own fears and reluctance to meet Esau.

Filed Under: Shabbat | Torah

A JTS Shabbat
December 8, 2008 (12 Comments)

By JanetheWriter
Last Friday evening, my longtime friend, Jeanne, arrived at Penn Station for an overnight visit with me. Before we could poke around in SoHo, though, or begin to catch up on each other's lives, we headed uptown for Shabbat dinner with her son, Jeremy, a rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Along the way, Jeanne told me that JTS students are required to be shomer shabbos. Before we entered the building on Broadway, therefore, I shut off my cell phone.

Once inside, we climbed two flights to Jeremy's living space and, after a quick tour, climbed an additional flight to the Rabbinical Students' Lounge, where a long table had been set for nine, and a number of his friends had gathered. After brief introductions all around and blessings over wine and challah, we enjoyed a traditional Shabbat dinner -- chicken, rice, vegetables and salad, all prepared by Jeremy, following his Friday classes. Over dinner and beyond, the students -- some in the rabbinic program, others in the graduate program -- engaged in lively discussion and debate prompted by two particular teachers, Dr. Neil Gillman and Rabbi Joel Roth.

Filed Under: Shabbat

Sharing the Gift of Shabbat
December 4, 2008

by Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz Ph.D.
Congregation B'nai Israel, Bridgeport, CA
Excerpted from Dr. Gurevitz's keynote address at the Union's Shabbat Symposium, January 2007
I have realized that there are a number of things that I bring to my work or the things that I hope to do in my work as a rabbi that have been in direct response to negative experiences that I had as a lay member of a community sometime in the past. And Shabbat is actually one of those things.

I want to start off with a little bit of that lay experience: Back in 1996, I was a member of a Reform synagogue in London. I wrote a two-sided proposal that I sent to both rabbis. It was called Yom Shabbat. And what I was highlighting was that I was conscious as a young adult, single, that congregants would come to services--in the UK, more Reform congregants do come for a community service on Shabbat morning, and that is partly because we have a different history. The bar/bat mitzvah never sort of took over the service in the same way that it has done here.

But we would come to services and then that would be it and people would go their separate ways. Nothing else happened at the synagogue, and I had no idea whether or not other people did Shabbat things, whether the rabbis did Shabbat-related things--I had no idea. I just knew that I was basically by myself.

Filed Under: Community | Shabbat

A Sense of Shabbat Worship
November 28, 2008 (3 Comments)

by Rabbi Victor S. Appell
Director, Small Congregations,
Union for Reform Judaism
Just yesterday at dinner, my seven year old son asked why we never sign him and his brother up for "Parent's Night Out." This is a program run by our local YMCA. Once a month on a Friday evening, parents can drop their children off at the Y for several hours of babysitting. While the parents get to go out, their children enjoy pizza and a movie along with their friends. We explained that Friday evening was Shabbat and a time we spend together as a family. It always involves dinner, either at our home, or at the home of friends. When our temple has a Shabbat Alive or Family Service, we try to attend. As a family, we seem to have figured out Friday evenings. My three year old asks all week when it will be Shabbat. And my seven year old, channeling some inner-Chasid, could eat an entire challah, piece by piece, dipping each piece into his grape juice.

Filed Under: Shabbat

Reclaiming our profound identity on Shabbat
November 21, 2008 (6 Comments)

by Dr. Carol Ochs, Adjunct Professor of Jewish Religious Thought
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion - New York
Excerpted from Dr. Ochs' keynote address at the Union's Shabbat Symposium, January 2007
Why keep the Sabbath? Because it is commanded? That really doesn't sit well with Reform Jews. Because it is traditional? Well, then, are we talking about a museum or a living faith? Because it gives us community? That's good, but not good enough.

I think Shabbat is about our relationship to God. We don't know who we are, we don't know who God is, and we are invited to be still and know that I am God. One of the things that has kept the Jewish people from falling into the bitterness of other groups that have been exiled or enslaved or treated badly over 2,000 years is that once a week they say, "I am not what they are calling me. I am a person in relationship to God." They bathe themselves in this identity and it inoculates them against less glorious names.

Filed Under: Shabbat

Because Tomorrow is Shabbat
November 21, 2008

By dcc
Join with me now: (To the tune of "We're Off to See the Wizard")

Today is Yom Shishi, Yom Shishi is day six, Yom Shishi is day six and that's the day we get our kicks, because tomorrow is Shabbat the day we like a lot a lot, a lot a lot a lot a lot a looooot, Because tomorrow is Shabbat (do dot do do do do dot), Today is Yom Shishi, Yom Shishi is day six!!!!!!!

As a child I went to a summer camp in Southern California that was crazy about Israeli Dance, Song Session and Shabbat prep. I spent many a summer in the hills of Brandeis, CA getting sun burned, making good friends and building the framework of my Jewish identity. One of the senior staff members would always introduce the above song as something that someone else would sing on Friday mornings, as we ate breakfast on the dance pavilion so the dinning room could be cleaned for Shabbat. It was camp, so the story would get more and more exciting each time. My guess, by now, the writer of this song was Harold Arlen with lyrics by E.Y. Harburg. (They wrote the original...)

Filed Under: Shabbat

Closed on Shabbat
November 11, 2008 (25 Comments)

By JanetheWriter
A recent post on her blog by Rabbi Phyllis Sommer (aka Ima on (and off) the Bima) reminds me that Baruch College could learn a thing or two from Isaac and Moishe Nava, proprietors of La Casa de Isaac, a Jewish-Mexican restaurant in the suburbs of Chicago that's closed on Shabbat.

This week at Baruch, it's time to register for the spring semester and as is the minhag of the school, students, based on the number of credits earned to date, are assigned a specific timeslot in which to complete their online registration. Although I certainly am not shomer Shabbos in the traditional sense, I do enjoy celebrating Shabbat and the holidays in a liberal sort of way. I was dismayed, therefore, to receive an email notifying me that my online registration appointment is this Friday, November 14 at 8:15 p.m.

Filed Under: Jewish Living | Shabbat

Joyful Judaism in Cheshvan
November 11, 2008 (6 Comments)

By Marge Eiseman
I just realized that I offered to teach "Joyful Judaism", my own sometimes rambling take on why I love being Jewish, during the month that is often called "bitter" (mar Cheshvan). What an interesting irony - the month is called bitter because there are no special holidays. Since it follows the holiday-laden month of Tishrei, I actually greet Cheshvan each year with relief and joy. Finally, Shabbat can rise to take its place again as the crown of the week.

So as I focused my thoughts on what to teach, given the range of possibilities (contemporary Jewish music, the new Mishkan T'fillah prayerbook, the amazing book I'm currently reading, Witnesses to the One: The Spiritual History of the Sh'ma by Rabbi Joseph Meszler, Jewish cooking, Storahtelling, etc.), I kept heading to teach things connected with Shabbat that I love.

Filed Under: Shabbat

What Lingers On
October 29, 2008

By Marge Eiseman
Many years ago, I got married in my parents' living room. For years afterwards, every time I walked into that room, I felt the warmth of that day, as if the love still lingered in the walls and the air.

At the time, there just wasn't any good space at our synagogue for a small-ish wedding - either one used the conference room which held 20-30, or the sanctuary, which looked empty with less than 100. Now of course, we could use our new Living and Learning space, one of the five simultaneous additions/renovations of our synagogue that was recently completed.

Filed Under: Community | Shabbat | The Future

Tzedek, tzedek tirdof: My Father's Legacy
October 20, 2008 (1 Comment)

By Andi Rosenthal
My father Leo - may his memory be for blessing - had some definite ideas about justice. A 22-year veteran of Manhattan South Homicide, a detective first grade, and later in his second career, a tireless VP of Protective Control for Bank of New York, he spent a lifetime bringing people to justice, righting wrongs where he could, never afraid to stand up for what was right and see that the appropriate penalty was handed down. And he managed to do it all with tremendous style. Above all things he found a way to connect with people whether they were do-gooders or perps, always with an irrepressible grin and a twinkle in his eye. His way with people was a weapon far more powerful than the .44 he carried or the Glock he kept in the kitchen cabinet.

He cared about justice as much as he cared about his family, because he cared about families who had been touched by the damage that unchecked injustice can do. He never forgot a victim, never forgot a name, always made sure that he remembered that no matter what sort of evil or physical or emotional mutilation or destruction had occurred, that what he was bearing witness to was the human relationship of life-to-life in an ultimate transaction gone awry. He understood that all human beings contained the yetzer ha-tov and yetzer ha-ra - the good and evil impulse - in equal balance. But what he never let himself understand or accept was how people could justify their actions when they led to such a destructive end.

Filed Under: Ethics | Shabbat

Amidah antics -OR-
The way Reform Jews should think about prayer
September 29, 2008 (17 Comments)

By David A.M. Wilensky (First published on The Reform Shuckle)
(A follow-up of sorts to William Berkson's post about commandedness)
A Shabat morning with Chavurat Lamdeinu, progressive non-denominational minyan extraordinaire, is always full of oddities, whether it's just the assortment of people or the comments made throughout the service. This week was no different, except that this week's major oddity was a fantastic education in obscure litrugical rules and a perfect example of what bothers me about the way we Reform Jews threat our prayers.

When I arrived to services this morning, Tanach study had just wrapped up so a few people had just left. Unfortunately, not enough showed up to replace them. I was the ninth person to arrive for services, making today's crowd a small one, even for us.

Filed Under: Community | Shabbat | Torah

A Coney Island Shabbat
August 25, 2008 (3 Comments)

By JanetheWriter
If Shabbat is all about taking a divinely commanded breather from the work-a-day routine to celebrate God's rest following creation, then surely this past Shabbat was nearly as good as it gets for me and a few of my friends.

We had longstanding plans for a visit to Coney Island (a first for all of us) and so, at the appointed hour, we assembled on a specific corner in midtown's Herald Square, descended into the subway and boarded a train bound for the southernmost tip of Brooklyn. At the end of the line, we emerged from the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station to late summer sunshine, perfect boardwalk-strolling temperatures, a gentle breeze and the salty sea air--a magnificent day that only God could create.

Filed Under: Shabbat

Keva, Kavanah, and Back to Keva
August 25, 2008

By Larry Kaufman
As part of introducing Mishkan T'filah at Beth Emet several months ago, Rabbi Peter Knobel gave us "permission" to wander away from whatever the congregation was reading or singing, and to go anywhere else on the two-page spread that felt more comfortable, or for that matter, wherever our individual thoughts and prayers might lead us. In doing so, he reminded us that in a world where multi-tasking has become commonplace, we might very well be able to join our voices with the community, while our minds were somewhere else.

I thought about this at Shabbat services, less than a year into our use of the new, yet by now taken-for-granted, siddur. We know when and how to follow the liturgy on the printed page; and we know (since we are a worship group of regulars) when we will deviate from the text and follow from memory the lashon (language) and minhag (custom) of our former home-made prayer book.

Filed Under: Jewish Living | Shabbat

An iTunes Shabbat
August 14, 2008 (5 Comments)

By JanetheWriter
This past Shabbat, I spent more than four hours aboard an Adirondack Trailways bus from New York City's Port Authority to Albany and then, after a quick change, on to Saratoga Springs to surprise a friend for her birthday.

Much to my own surprise and delight, the bus, together with my iPod, provided me with a most unique and enjoyable Shabbat. For starters, it was a glorious day, and from the minute we pulled out of the bus garage, brilliant sunshine flooded the coach from a bright cornflower blue sky filled with fluffy cotton candy clouds. As the city grew faint in the rearview mirror, we entered God's country--first the Ramapo and then the Adirondack Mountains, each covered with an abundance of lush, green foliage; summer at its peak.

Filed Under: Shabbat

Foreign prophets, foreign songs
July 14, 2008 (9 Comments)

By David A.M. Wilensky
Two summers ago, here at Kutz, a girls' cabin led services one day. As we all entered the tron, they were standing at the front singing and clapping their hands. The song goes like this:

Lord, prepare me
To be a sanctuary
Pure and holy
Tried and true
With thanksgiving
I'll be a living
Sanctuary for you

It's a nice song. The message is fairly basic and unobjectionable. The tune is catchy and sounds slightly gospel. I like it. Since then, I've also heard a variation that incoporates a quote from Torah, "V'asu li Mikdash, v'shachanti b'tocham" ("Build me a sanctuary and I will dwell amongst you"). I like that version even better. When people found out that this verse of song is actually part of a larger song from the wonderful world on contemporary Christian music, they went nuts.

Filed Under: Jewish Living | Shabbat | Torah

Tyler Benjamin on Reform Judaism
July 11, 2008

By David A.M. Wilensky
As readers of Reform Judaism magazine will recall, the RJ Magazine's summer 2008 issue included a series of important questions regarding the Reform Movement and their answers as given by 30 adult members of the Reform Movement.

I'm currently at the URJ Kutz Camp with a group of people who will be the future lay and professional leadership of the Reform movement in North America. I'll be featuring many of them as well as many of the younger Kutz staff members this summer in a series of posts here on the RJ.org blog, in which I will be asking Reform high school and college students (and perhaps a few 20-somethings) for their take on Reform Judaism via questions similar to those used in the Magazine.

Tyler Benjamin is a 16-year-old rower/ultimate Frisbee player from Tampa, Florida. He is in love with the opportunities that are afforded him via NFTY, especially as the President of the Southern Tropical Region, and overall his life as a Reform Jew in America.

Filed Under: Community | Holidays | Shabbat

Summertime in the Mishkan
July 3, 2008 (4 Comments)

By Andi Rosenthal
Since 1948, when my congregation was founded, we've had a tradition of layperson-led Friday night Shabbat services. While some people say that it is a lovely break for our clergy, it's a tradition that means a whole lot more than just a way to give our deserving rabbis and cantor the chance to rest and celebrate Shabbat in the company of family and friends.

Summer services train new leaders, help congregants to strengthen and deepen their connection to liturgy, and in my case, just last Friday night, gave me the opportunity to understand and appreciate the breadth and depth of the new Reform prayer book, Mishkan T'filah.

Filed Under: Jewish Living | Shabbat

Keep the simcha simple
June 26, 2008 (2 Comments)

By Mary Hofmann
While I enjoyed reading the many perspectives of the contributors to Reform Judaism this month, I was truly saddened by the plight of Elise Silverfield May and those in her situation (which includes a whole lot of us, on a lot of levels!)--the perceived high price tag of being Jewish (page 61 or online here).

Her particular alarm rang concerning the temple members' expectations around her son's upcoming bar mitzvah, which were terrifyingly grandiose. This concern connects well with Rabbi Yoffie's comments at the Biennial regarding congregants reclaiming Shabbat morning services from the grip of private "parties." If we don't want Reform Judaism to become increasingly about status and wealth, I believe this problem needs to be addressed both in terms of reclaiming both the sanctuary and the sanctity of the event. I guess it has to do with the values established at each congregation--and all of our opportunities (and obligations?) to revision those values regularly.

Filed Under: Jewish Living | Lifecycle | Shabbat | The Future

The Universe sent me a Shabbat message
June 16, 2008 (3 Comments)

By Wendy Nelson

My daughter graduated from high school Saturday. The weather changed from cold and rainy to a sunny 80 degree day. The plague of cicadas awaited for 17 years and due to arrive by now were yet to emerge from the ground. I arrived early and got a front row seat knowing that I could not miss seeing my beloved child on this special day. It was Shabbat and all was right.

Filed Under: Community | Holidays | Jewish Living | Lifecycle | Shabbat