Another blog entry begun with good intentions to post immediately but needing days to truly reflect and finish. So I am now back in DC as I but I really wanted to write about our first DLTI-6 holy shabbas while everything is fresh in my mind. I have decided to leave the verb tenses just as they where when I wrote each section of this post and I hope it won't bother you.
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Oh my gosh, it is Saturday night after an incredible havdallah and there are lots of goodbyes going on even though most of us won’t be leaving until tomorrow after lunch. Of course I realize I am ahead of myself so let me go back. Yesterday we all gathered before the sun set, most of us dressed in white, at the main building to light candles. That is me and my room mate in the photo above. There were several trays of tea lights on a table and we moved up in little waves to take turns lighting and saying the b’racha. After we headed over to the synagogue to begin kabbalat Shabbat which was led by Reb Marcia, Reb Shawn, Hazzan Jack and a woman named Ronit.
When I tell you there was lots of music and dancing for kabbalat Shabbat I have to add that the singing is extra special. Normally when you pick a tune to sing chances are some people will know it and some will learn it and some won't do either. Here people either know the tunes or are enthusiastic to try and learn because of course it is a select group. There are also many students with fine singing voices which is another plus. The sound wraps around and over and even goes through you. Occasionally we move from loudly spiritual to just loud however it is coming from a soul full place.
Forgot to mention about the eruv here at Isabella Freedman. In case you don’t know about an eruv, it is an enclosure around a home or community. It enables the carrying of objects out of doors for Jews on shabbat that would otherwise be forbidden by Torah law. Without an eruv, Torah-observant Jews would be unable to carry things in their pockets making it difficult for many to leave home. In public areas where it is impractical to put up walls, doorways are made out of rope and posts. It was announced at lunch that some guests may not have realized that the ropes were part of the eruv for they had put wet swimsuits on it to dry mistaking it for a clothesline. It was requested the suits come off and that no one else put clothes on the eruv. At the time of the announcement I hadn't really noticed how the eruv here was set up. Later when I took a walk I could see why some would take it for a clothesline.
The services, both daily and shabbat, whether led by DLTI students or by our holy teachers are open to anyone who is attending the center. At kabbalat shabbat I found myself looking around at the faces of some non-DLTI people in the synagogue and wondered how they were finding it. I thought most of the kabbalat service was fairly traditional and comfortable. After having spent years praying from various siddurim I now use a small hand sized Artscroll Interlinear. It has the English directly underneath the Hebrew, going in the same right to left direction and the font is bigger than the standard Artscroll. It makes it easy for me to look at the meaning of a Hebrew word I don't know plus the smallish size makes it easy to hold in my hands. When I go to services where they are using a different siddur I will hold mine and put the other one on a chair beside me in case of additions not in mine. For kabbalat Shabbat we were using the siddur that Reb Marcia has written and most everyone was using it.
After services we had a lovely dinner with wine, challah and chicken. The place was packed and the ruach was high. We were so excited I think because of our intense week together and after birkat hamazon some headed for the couches to continue talking while others, like myself headed off a wonderful sleep. In the morning I had intentions to go to an early morning movement class. Instead I went over to the dock and watched the sun come up over the trees shining on the mist on the lake water. God feels so close. God is so close. In the cabins all around you know are the sleeping souls of DLTI students and others who have come to the retreat, so you aren't really alone. So peaceful. Some of the geese were sitting on the dock with me and I looked through my Kol Zimra book of chants trying to find one that was happy in the spirit for Shabbat. “Sasson v'simcha yimtza bah, todah v'kol zimra” (gladness and joy shall abide there, thanksgiving, and the sound of music) was the one I picked. I sent the sound over the lake all the way to the red yurt where the movement class was being held. it wasn’t until Reb Marcia did her d'var Torah later in the morning that I discovered this chant was the last line of today’s haftorah! Talk about a “wow” moment.