The torah portion for this week is Vayishlach.   Friday night services will begin at 8 pm, and Saturday morning services will begin at 9 am.  Elan Daisudov will become a Bar Mitzvah this Shabbat.  The Daisudov family invites the entire congregation to participate in services this Shabbat.

As we prepare for the end of the week, I'd like to open a dialogue about how we view time.  Jewish tradition helps us to structure time by separating Shabbat as a holy day during the week.  Other days are not considered unholy.  They are considered to be less holy, though, than Shabbat.
 
Do we have ways that we distinguish the days of the week?  There is the work-week and the school-week, Monday through Friday in most cases.  Then, there is the week-end, Saturday and Sunday that usually means no work and no school.  Monday is back to work and back to school day, a day that usually comes across as less than happy with all routines getting started again after a couple of days off.  The Mamas and the Pappas sang it best, "But whenever Monday comes, you leave me cryin' all of the time, ba-da, badadada..."
 
I think then that we do structure time in informal ways.  By virtue of how we feel and what we do and do not do on certain days we develop expectations about those days and how we spend them.  We hope, for example, that the weekend will recharge our batteries and prepare us for the next week.
 
The weekend and Shabbat are both meant to be times for rest and renewal.  What is different about a weekend and the Friday night through Saturday night Shabbat is that our tradition gives us many ways to make Shabbat time special.  We light candles at the beginning and at the end of it.  We make blessings and give blessings.  Time is built in for reflection.  Traditionally Shabbat is a time to avoid working at our professions (which is admittedly unrealistic for some), a time to avoid spending money, writing, and house chores including heavy labor and cooking.  Shabbat is meant to be a time when we celebrate the world as it is and ourselves as who we are without having to add or subtract anything or remake the world into something different.
 
What is different, according to Jewish tradition, is the way that we spend Shabbat day itself.  What is different is how we do not allow the "Monday blues", for example, to define our day, rather we define our Shabbat day by affirming what is most important to us:  family, rest and recovery, friends, and community.
 
My hope is that as a community we can find ways to add some of the Shabbat spirit into our lives.  Just as it is unrealistic for some to stop working at their professions on Saturday, it is equally unrealistic for us to instantly adopt all the do's and don't's of Shabbat all at once.  We can try to implement them over time.  We can also try to change one aspect of how we use our Friday night-Saturday time, perhaps adding a Shabbat walk or starting to attend a synagogue service once a month.  Perhaps we might consider carving time to read a book on a Jewish theme on Shabbat.
 
I'd like to begin this effort as a dialogue and I look forward to being in communication with you about how you've chosen (and will in the future work) to set Shabbat apart in different ways.  Please email me with your ideas!
 
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Tow

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Sunday, December 14
9:30am - 1:00pm
Beautiful jewelry made by our members at the jewelry workshop will be sold this Sunday morning on the classroom level of theGRJC. 100% of the proceeds go to the GRJC. All bracelets and earrings are $5, necklaces $10. All original, one of a kind. Great for Channukah!

Glen Rock Jewish Center Copyright 2009
Affiliated with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, which hosts this website as one of the many services provided to member congregations