January/February 2010

Dear Friends,

Here goes—I’m about to test the waters…

Is anyone interested in being part of a Shabbat morning service at TBT? I’m thinking of a once-a-month event involving:
• traditional Hebrew prayers with lots of music and ruach (joyful energy)
• plenty of room for learning about how to perform and understand the worship customs with patient attention to Hebrew)
• time for meditation
• a modest Kiddush to follow.
The whole thing (post-service schmoozing time included) would last something on the order of two hours.

This would be a chance for us to get in touch with the beautiful, spiritually profound and emotionally stimulating aspects of Jewish prayer life. It would also be an opportunity for more social bonding. It’s a tentative proposal because I don’t know if that’s what our members are necessarily interested in. I realize that everyone’s activity plate is full. I don’t want this to be just another social chore (you know, the kind that contribute to stress and burn-out); instead it can calm and stimulate our souls—bringing tranquility and restoring energy. Then we will be able to better appreciate the world surrounding and within us.

It’s not meant to replace our once-a-month Shabbat morning study and our weekly Shabbat eve service. Rather, it would to open up another dimension of Judaism’s rich and boundless cultural and religious treasure-house.

Part of this comes from my personal feelings. I love to daven (pray in the Jewish mode) on Shabbat morning and have been pretty much doing so by myself, anyway, for some time. But praying all alone is not as fulfilling—in the Jewish experience—as praying with a group. Making this a regular habit is a time-honored, defining feature of our religion. I have the option of going to other synagogues and praying with them, but my personal preference is to do that with you.

It could appeal to several groups of people within our congregation:
• those (whether Jewish or not) unfamiliar with, but hungry to learn about, Shabbat morning services in particular and Jewish worship in general
• families of bar/bat mitzvah students (I’m thinking it would provide context for them so that they understand better, on the day of the bar mitzvah service, what it’s all about)
• people interested in connecting their personal spiritual quests with Jewish prayer (Judaism has within it vital resources and sophisticated techniques for those hungry to explore the worlds of meditation and mysticism—you don’t need to leave the framework of Jewish religion to encounter God or a sense of the Holy).

Please let me know if you’re interested. (I’m at sethriemer@aol.com and 860-665-8014.) I’ll go ahead and organize it if a minyan and a half (i.e., the critical mass of 10 requisite Jewish adults—males 13 and older, and females 12 and older—plus 5 more of the same) are willing to make an advance and firm commitment to do this every month. If not, that’s okay—no harm in asking, right?