Friday Evening

Friday night is a festive occasion—a time to slow down, eat well, sing, and engage deeply with one another. Traditionally, we welcome the Sabbath bride by lighting candles, reciting Kiddush, and saying a blessing over challah. We bless the children among us and some of us turn to bless each other. We sing a song to welcome angels and welcome guests to our table. Some people find Shabbat peace in simply joining together to watch a movie or play a game. As we gather with loved ones or take time for ourselves, Friday night offers us the opportunity to look back on the week that has passed. We begin to slow down and unwind as we open to the peace of Shabbat.
 

Latest Rituals

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
The grace of a dedicated separation between the mundane and the sacred
The Sabbath Has Arrived

“As Shabbat begins, / May Adonai revive our ability to feel”

Entering Shabbat

Bringing mindfulness to the act of welcoming guests through a chant and series of ritual intentions

Eight Ritual Steps of Hakhnasat Orkhim (Welcoming Guests)

Uplifting song for Shabbat with video

Kein Yehi (May It Be): A Song for Shabbat

“God re-nefeshes Godself”

The Pause that Re-nefeshes*

“Before creation, music played”

Ruakh Elohim: A Song of Creation

“In the flickering light, You beckon me.”

 
Your Weekly Beckoning: A Shabbat Prayer

Candle lighting blessings for a sabbatical year

Candle Lighting Blessings for Shmitah Year

The Reconstructionist Network

Learning to Say "We": Writing Identity

In this immersion, we will reflect and expand on our personal experiences of identity, using writing exercises and in-depth discussions to think about, challenge, discover, explore, and experiment with different ways to identify ourselves, to consider how those ways connect us to and separate us from others, and how they represent and misrepresent aspects of who we are.

Four sessions, starting June 15th

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