Shabbat Adventures- for a very open definition of adventures

[debka_notion]

This shabbat got a re-working of plans about a day beforehand. Originally, the plan was to have an early dinner with a few friends, go to bed early, and then get up in the wee small hours of the night to go to Bakashot (a Mizrahi custom of getting up in the middle of the night in order to sing various devotional poetry, etc, leading into an early shacharit). I then had a lunch invite from someone I met at a friend's birthday party a while ago, and rather firmly expected never to actually get in touch, although he'd asked for my contact info.

So the lunch plans stayed, but the friend hosting dinner and who was going to be the local guide/company walking to bakashot was not feeling well. So instead I hit a minyan-and-potluck combination instead, which was a bit adventurous for my current norms, as it was a service using drums on Shabbat- something that I'm rather iffy about. After the experience- it was alright, and a nice way of getting people excited, but I'm not sure that it was worth it, in terms of my discomfort, halakhically. It made it feel more like a really fun and inspiring sing-a-long than Shabbat davening for me. Now that could be because I'm not used to it. Nevertheless- well, mostly I was glad that it gave me someplace to be and eat with people, which turned out to be a rather interesting combination of folks.

Lunch was quite pleasant- a small meal (which I tend to prefer), with interesting company, and then we went to the park and read a few scenes of Merchant of Venice. Not at all what I expected of my Shabbat afternoon, but a good time.

Comments

Drums During Shabbat Services

[wildblueyonder2.livejournal.com]

Hey,

I went to BJ for simkhat torah about a year-and-a-half ago. Not my cup of tea, halakhically, because of the live music and seriously mixed dancing, but there was something very spiritual about it -- people of all ages and types just seemed to be enjoying singing the melodies out loud while dancing almost in a trance and out of appreciation for the holiday. A serious contrast to my standard Orthodox shul back at home, where only people under 13 are actually enjoying the activities and anybody older is using the time to socialize out of boredom.

Re: Drums During Shabbat Services

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

While I have no problem with mixed dancing, I see what you mean. I find it problematic that we so often seem to need instruments in order to immerse ourselves in the experience of ecstatic worship- I wonder if it is an effect of having amplified music and other loud noise available so readily in the rest of our lives. Still, if we can't achieve the desired state without instrumental aid, maybe there should be ways to use some of it and wean people off of the instruments as their spiritual strength develops- rather like building up muscle strength after being forced not to use a muscle due to injury. But I don't actually have any clue as to how to make that work.