|
Community Shabbat
Welcome I
With candle lighting
(Adapted from a service created by Rabbi Dan Friedman)
Opening Song: Shabbat Shalom
Welcome:
On this Shabbat we create our moment in time. We pause to reflect upon
our yesterdays and tomorrows, to renew our ties with our families and friends,
to restore our energies, to refresh our spirits.
Reader l:
As the sun descends and shadows lengthen, the distractions of the day
give way to thestillness of night. It is time now for us to see not with our eyes, but with our
hearts and minds. As the day gives way to evening, it is time for us to welcome
the Shabbat.
Reader 2: The candles stand before us waiting to be lit. We recall our ancestors as
we too seek to dispel the darkness and banish the cold, to bring glowing softness, warmth, and
safety into our homes.
Reader 3:
May the dancing flames of these candles kindle warmth within our hearts,
wisdom in our minds, passion in our souls.
(candles are lit)
All:
Blessed is the light within the world.
Blessed is the light within each person.
Blessed is the light of the Shabbat.
Song: Na-a-seh
Shalom ba-o-lam
Na-a-seh Shalom a-ley-nu
Val-kol ha-o-lam
V-im-ru, Im-ru shalom.
Na-a-seh shalom
Na-a-she shalom
Shalom a-ley-nu
Val-kol ha-o-lam (repeat this verse)
Reader 4:
Shalom says it all. Shalom means more than "peace." Shalom means
completeness,
wholeness - an encompassing sense of fullness, wholesomeness. While the Jews of
medieval times may not have had peace, they had shalom. We, at least, in this
land, at this time, may have peace. Do we have shalom?
Reader 5:
Sholom Aleichem said: "It is tradition that tells us who we are and what we are
to do. If we are honest, we must acknowledge that nothing will provide us with the
cosmic security that tradition gave
previous generations. In return for the freedom, opportunity, and affluence that
none
of us would relinquish, we must be willing to pay the price in the satisfactions
that our ancestors' faith provided. Then, we may enjoy the benefits of our freedom.
Reader 6:
Yet we can have faith in human wisdom, in acts of courage, in
creativity and achievement, despite our loss of cosmic security, despite the evidence of
evil and destruction that are also human possibilities.
All:
Possibilities are our source of faith and hope. We live in a world
where there are few certainties, some probabilities, and many possibilities.
Reader 7:
Life is the constantly open choice - to be this possibility or that. No
other person can give meaning to one's life. We decide how we are to spend our
days. The work we do, the game we play, our relationships with husband, wife,
children, and friends are not controlled by God or history or society, but by
our own pursuit of the infinite possibilities of life.
All: When we accept
and relish responsibility for our own lives, we have access to that shalom, that
sense of inner wholeness, that tells us who we are and what we are to do.
Torah portion or sharing of other significant reading
Reader 8:
Our community, too, is a source of strength and inner wholeness. To be
individually responsible is not to be alone. To be together gives us access to shalom.
Life cycle events
Conclusion (All):
May we know blessings of those who are near,
May we know blessings of those who are far,
May the Shabbat bring its goodness
To everyone soon, wherever they are.
May we know blessings through the day,
May we know blessings through the night,
May health be for our children
And all things soon be right.
May we know blessings in our comings,
May we know blessings when we depart,
May we live each day
With peace and wisdom in each heart.
Rabbi Robert Barr
Song:
Hiney Matov
| 