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.” –AbrahamAbraham is the first patriarch and the father of the Jewish people. He is the husband of Sarah and the father of Isaac and Ishmael. God’s covenant – that we will be a great people and inherit the land of Israel – begins with Abraham and is marked by his circumcision, the first in Jewish history. His Hebrew name is Avraham. Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath, 1951

Latest Rituals

Dollar Bread Shabbat Blessing

at the shabbat table, essential workers, poverty, Shabbat, work

tearing a piece of white bread

The Solace of Shabbat

A poem on the inconsistency of time passing.

aging, Shabbat, time

roses in hazy summer sunlight

Why I Unplug On Shabbat

“It’s the kavanah of Shabbat, / not the halakha / which moves me.”

intention, kavanah, nature

deer on forest path

The Ruakh of Shabbat

“Shabbat holds / Herself open. / All we need do / Is breathe, / And receive Her.”

breath, ruakh, Shabbat

woman's arm reaching out against a blurred background of trees

Torah and Haftarah Blessings with Feminine God Language and Re-Gendered Hebrew

Torah and Haftarah blessings addressing the Divine as feminine

blessing, feminism, gender, Shekhinah, torah

open torah scroll

Shabbat Meditation on the Juan de Fuca

“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

A Prayer for Unity among People

“We are all neighbors united across the generations”

four friends arm in arm standing in sunlight out in nature

Reclaiming Our Hidden Light (Or Ganuz): A Shabbat Candle Lighting Ritual

New ritual and meditations after Shabbat candle lighting

candle lighting, meditation, Shabbat

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

Shekhinah: The World as Body

“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

Radical Shabbat Guide

An easy-to-follow Shabbat guide that is informative and inclusive

at the shabbat table, candle lighting, family, motzi

Radical Shabbat Guide