For a little Talmud Torah, study of Torah, this week, take a look at this great d'var Torah by Laurence Kaufman, which can be found at RJ.org, the Reform Movement's blog.

Here's a little snippet to get you started.

Enjoy, and Shabbat Shalom!

"We have segued to the Book of Numbers, or in Hebrew, BaMidbar, in the wilderness.  The English name is a response to the census that is the focus of the first parasha. The Hebrew name, beyond referring to the first substantive word of the text, is an overview of the book as a whole, reflecting both the physical setting in which the action takes place, and the emotional wilderness of uncertainty, rebelliousness, jealousy, and other tensions that shape the action..."

Mary Hofmann, one of our Hadracha'08 participants from Merced, California tells us about her weekly Shabbat traditions:

"I didn't realize it, but I've been readopting Shabbat for some time. Our tiny, isolated congregation started having Erev Shabbat potlucks and lay services to end our week by relaxing with friends. Wonderful. Then my first grandson hit three years old, so I vowed to resurrect our long-fallow religious school (we've been around a while!).  Why not on Shabbat? Turned out seven kids (ranging, terrifyingly, from 2 to 10 years) showed up, so we tagged an hour of Hebrew on for good measure. After the kids went home, the Hebrew teacher and I started having lunch . . . and maybe a little Torah study. One day we decided to go to a movie in town, something we rarely ever do, and dragged my husband along. Also wonderful, so we've kept doing it.  By then, of course, it was almost time for dinner and I included my grandkids because my daughter works Saturday night. When it started getting dark, we did Havdallah--the babies LOVE Havdallah. We kept it. We kept it all.  And, by golly, it's become our Shabbat tradition.  Maybe a little untraditional (okay, very untraditional), but it's special to us now and it works!"

Thank you for sharing with us Mary! We look forward to hearing from the rest of you!

Do you ever light the Shabbat candles and blank completely on the tune for the blessing? Do your children love singing the Birkat Hamazon from camp but you never learned the melody? Log onto the new Shabbat Blessings page to listen and learn all of the Shabbat blessings and melodies. You can download the MP3s and listen to them all week long.

This month, the URJ's Eilu V'Eilu online publication, a point/counterpoint dialogue between two scholars providing for active participation from readers, focused on Shabbat, and attempted to answer the following questions:

What does Shabbat mean for today's Reform Jews? What Jewish values, perspectives and language define and describe our commitment to Shabbat observance? When observing Shabbat, how do we incorporate both individual experience and building relationships within our communities? How might Reform congregational culture change to accommodate both individual and community practices?

Check out the wonderful 4 part dialogue between Michelle Shapiro Abraham and Jim Ball by clicking on the links below.  After you've read them, we'd love to hear your comments!

Part 1 - Opening Statements
Part 2 - Responses
Part 3 - Response to Readers
Part 4 - Closing Statments

"The truth is we can talk about the joys and meaning of observing Shabbat until we're blue in the face and it won't really make much difference. It's like trying to describe the taste of chocolate to someone who has never eaten chocolate. Or in Jewish terms: na'aseh v'nishmah - we will do and [then] we will understand. Shabbat has to be experienced in order to be understood. Shabbat is not an intellectual pursuit; hence the challenge for us who are inheritors of a great intellectual Jewish heritage."

- Rabbi Sue Ann Wasserman
Director, URJ Department of Worship, Music, & Religious Living

A few weeks ago, many of our colleagues and friends participated in the Riding4Reform, a fund-raiser for the Israeli Reform movement. Cantor Ross Wollman, of Congregatin Sukkat Shalom in Wilmette, IL was kind enough to share part of his experience, which he describes as "five shabbatot in a row" with us:

We thought we'd help you get into the spirit of Shabbat with a little smile. Click the link below and enjoy!


View image

We've shared some with you, now it's your turn to share them with us!
If you have any yummy Shabbat recipes (especially for things that can be brought to Shabbat Oneg) please share them with us, either by clicking here or by posting them as a comment.

Looking forward to your mouthwatering submissions!

It seems like everyone is talking about Shabbat these days (which is great!)!

A friend called our attention to an article entitled, Many Ways to Celebrate Shabbat on MyJewishLearning.com. Now we're calling it to your attention.

We hope you'll check it out.
Enjoy!

As one of our readers helpfully pointed out, this Friday is...