By Ben Klein
Two weeks ago we had our final
shabbaton before our trip to Israel .
We hadn’t seen each other for a long time, not since the Israelis were with us.
We arrived at USC and soon after we walked over to the Hillel. Before Shabbat
began we drew up a Shabbat Manifesto. which would enumerate the values and
rituals that we consider most important to a successful Shabbat. We included
the physical rituals of candle lighting and Kiddush, as well as the
intangibles, such as disconnecting from technology and finding silence for
reflection. I enjoyed this activity because it really gave us a perspective on
each other’s concepts of Shabbat, and how although we come from different
denominations, we still have similarities between us on the most fundamental
parts of Shabbat.
We also had an interesting activity
where we each anonymously wrote down a thing that we were excited for in Israel , and
something we were afraid of as well. We made bead bracelets or necklaces by
putting a bead on for every fear or excitement that we associated with. It was
really great to see how everyone associated with each other’s fears and hopes.
It brought us closer together. The other event that I enjoyed that night was
our maagal laila, which is our last meeting of the day before bed, win which we
usually have a meaningful conversation. We each chose a card with a picture and
a word on it that spoke to us, and we each explained what they meant to us. It
was a good way to learn more about each other. We also picked cards for the
person to our left, which was nice because we were able to learn how some
people viewed us, and it was nice to give and receive compliments.
On Saturday
the more reform fellows participated in a morning yoga session for Shabbat,
while the more conservative fellows used different siddurim to pray in their own
way. This was nice, I personally did yoga, because we were able to relax and
reflect on the week, which is the main purpose of Shabbat. We then began my
favorite part of the shabbaton, a debate over whether women should be able to
pray at the wall as part of Women of the Wall. We were organized into groups
randomly, not based on our own personal beliefs. I was on the side opposite of
my belief structure, I had to argue that women should not be allowed to pray at
the wall. It was a great opportunity to understand the logic and mindset of
those whom I don’t agree. I also love to debate, so I had a lot of fun debating
this topic, although I didn’t agree with what I was arguing for.
We then discussed what our passions were, in a community
service context. This was initial discussion of our tikkun olam projects, and
it was very interesting to hear not only the differences, but also the
similarities in what we were interested in. I thought this was a great way to
explore the strategies that we would like to apply to the issues that we are
passionate about.
Our havadallah that
night was very nice, and in my opinion, the best service we had especially
since Havdallah is my favorite service. That night we had a great program run
by Naomi Ackerman ( http://www.naomiackerman.com/).
It was a combination of improv and learning about the differences between
Israelis and Americans. It was a really engaging activity. I think we really
began to understand even more how we need to interact with the Israelis, and
the cultural differences between Israelis and Americans.
On Sunday,
our final day, we spent the majority of our time organizing in our tzevetin organizing our schedules for community week. We then presented our ideas to
both the JCs and Sami, and to the rest of the fellows. It got us really excited
for community week and Israel
in general. All the schedules sounded fantastic. It was amazing to see how well
each group incorporated their day’s theme into their schedule. All in all it
was a great shabbaton.
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