Saturday, January 23, 2010
My First Shabbat
Yesterday was my first Shabbat-eve dinner or Sabbath as it is better known in the West. For those not in the know, Shabbat lasts from sundown Friday to roughly one hour after sundown Saturday. It is the end of the Jewish week and typically a day of rest. At a security meeting for my dorm the other day the counselors mentioned a Shabbat dinner for overseas students on Friday night right across from my dorms. Since what I previously knew about a truly Jewish Shabbat was only that it existed (and since I didn't come to Israel to surf Facebook all day), I decided it would be a good learning experience for me. So I threw on a polo and headed over with one of my roommates who himself was more Jew-ish than Jewish. "Jew-ish" means exactly what it sounds like, a more or less non-observant Jew, a.k.a. the typical American teenage Jew. We entered the room, which consisted of several tables pushed together and covered in plastic wrap and many mismatched chairs nearly full with people. My roommate and I each put on a kippah (yamakah), stacks of which were by the door, and stood against the wall behind the table with some others as the rabbi started prayers.
Having been exposed to predominantly Christian meals in the past I was surprised to find that these Shabbat prayers were quite... long. It wasn't so bad because I wasn't the only non-Jew in the room and even many of the Jews didn't know enough of the rabbi's prayers and songs to go along with it anyway. Hence the term "Jew-ish". However it was definitely easy to tell when the important prayers came around because even these people were taking part in them. So I sat and I stood and turned this way and that for a good forty minutes until the (rather easy-going) rabbi announced it was time to serve some food. Unfortunately many were lured there for the promise of a free meal and didn't RSVP with the rabbi so there ended up being food for twenty or so being served to fifty-odd students. But as the rabbi said about this, "The Jews have made do with much less for many more." Food was soon passed around, rationed, and as courses were finished more praying and singing commenced while people began to slip out. We shared the small amount of wine which was present and "le chaim-ed" until it was gone at which point the rabbi noted that we would now be "le chaim-ing" with vodka. Which we then did. I was beginning to really like this religion.
Luckily for us, shortly after about fifteen people had slowly left the dinner, some real food was served: chicken, fish, soup... more vodka, and those who had left missed out on it all. I wasn't crazy about the gefilte fish but overall the food was quite good. As I was leaving I thanked the rabbi, returned my kippah, and was genuinely happy I had come; a feeling which I was mostly sure wasn't due to my impaired state. Will I go again? Probably. Perhaps not every week but this an opportunity I'm pretty sure won't come around so often when I am home. Le Chaim
Notes from the Holy Land is the blog I set up to chronicle my life as an American student studying in the Middle East during the Spring of 2010. Check back often for laughs, curiosities, photos you'll wish you were there for, and hummus. Lots and lots of hummus. Also, check out my more local blog: Notes from the B-Line.
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