Contemporary Shabbat Practice

“The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation; from the world of creation to the creation of the world.” –Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath, 1951
 

Latest Rituals

A poem on the inconsistency of time passing.
roses in hazy summer sunlight
“It’s the kavanah of Shabbat, / not the halakha / which moves me.”
deer on forest path
“Shabbat holds / Herself open. / All we need do / Is breathe, / And receive Her.”
woman's arm reaching out against a blurred background of trees
Torah and Haftarah blessings addressing the Divine as feminine
open torah scroll
“The next day, returning from a hike Shabbat afternoon, the time of ra’ava d’ra’avin, desire of all desires, a tune came to me, the Juan the Fuca nigun.”
a pacific beach with a line of trees and a large rock
“We are all neighbors united across the generations”
four friends arm in arm standing in sunlight out in nature
New ritual and meditations after Shabbat candle lighting
split screen of two photos, one of light-skinned woman with short brown hair, hands open over lit shabbat candles, second image same woman has her hands over her face blessing the shabbat candles
“as a world / as a house, a tree / exploding with birds”
black woman with frizzy blonde hair and wing-like black cape with arms spread in field of sunflowers eyes closed
An easy-to-follow Shabbat guide that is informative and inclusive
Radical Shabbat Guide

The Reconstructionist Network

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