June 23, 2009 at 8:11 pm (Jewish, Shabbat)
Tags: children, halacha, rules, Shabbat
My son has fallen in love with baseball. He played on a team for the first time this fall. He loved it so much that he decided not to play soccer but to do fall baseball. Baseball sounded good because it was local and soccer required traveling up to 2 hours away.
This baseball idea is all fine but they do not give a schedule ahead of time. There is no way of knowing when the games will be. So guess when they are playing. Yep, 9 AM on Saturday.
Here is my dilema. We are not halachic Jews and we do not follow the word of our rabbi. However, we do observe Shabbat starting on Friday night through Saturday night. They way we approach Shabbat is that we do not do anything related to our work during the week. Shabbat is for rest and renewal. That means we focus on family, reading, playing outside, inviting friends over and enjoying the aspects of life we do not get to do while working during the week. The things that we consider part of the work week are the TV, computer, electronic games, and shopping.
What do we do with baseball? Is baseball OK? If baseball is what is not? Is the issue Shabbat or that my Saturday schedule is being changed?
If I am raising Jewish children with the love and passion of Judaism how do I teach the importance of Shabbat? Is it by telling them what they cannot do? I hope not. But at some point I will have to say no. What is my line? Where am I comfortable?
- Going to a friends house – well yes if they are playing outside
- Going to the mall - well here seems to be the line
- Going to the movies - this seems to step over it
- Going to a friends to play video games – no
- Going to grandparents where they watch TV – yes, it’s their grandparents
- Going out to a party on Friday night – is one night different then everynight?
My children are still young so this is on the edge of theoretical, however the baseball thing is real. I do not think I have a problem with baseball but I am still wrestling with it.
What do you do? Are you a halachic Jew? Does having a rule book simplify things? Are you practicing Jew? How do you do Shabbat with your children? What would you do in this case?
cross-posted on Blog Midrash
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December 23, 2008 at 10:01 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: Shabbat, Prayer, transliteration, Hebrew, English
Do we need transliteration in our siddur? Why do we need transliteration? What is transliteration?
We are putting together the Shabbat morning siddur for our temple. There are many interesting decisions to make in a Reform temple. The editors have posed a question of whether we need to have transliteration. Most of our service is in Hebrew but we provide translations. Do we also need transliterations?
Yes.
Why do we need them? What do you with a population where more than half of the people cannot read Hebrew? Some argue that they should learn. That is nice but not realistic. Just getting people to come on a non-holiday is a challenge. Making the service unattainable would not help.
So what does the transliteration do? Taking the Hebrew words and writing them with Latin characters allows an English reader to participate in the Hebrew prayers. No this does not help them lead the service but it does help for following along. For those who are learning Hebrew it is helpful for when it is too difficult to keep up with the speed of some of the prayers.
Transliteration is great for beginners and non-Hebrew readers to feel like they can participate in the prayers. Hopefully as people come more often the words will become ingrained and following along in Hebrew will become easier. Providing the tools for each person where they are allows them to pray with the community as they can.
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September 22, 2008 at 9:25 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: daughter, Friday, Shabbat
Thank you YHVH
for taking a rest
and giving us Shabbat
For the last week was rough
I needed this respite
My daughter has left
She had to make a choice
to live by our rules
or to find her own way
It was not easy
The week was long
On Friday night
I closed my eyes
and let the rhythm of Shabbat
wash over me
I prayed that you would spread
your succah of peace
over my daughter
and help her find her way
Thank you
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June 2, 2008 at 5:15 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: blessing, candles, Shabbat, time
My weeks are long. I put 100% into my week. I have a wife and 2 children. I work full time, have a side project and am taking Meah (Jewish studies classes). 100s of emails, tons of calls and meetings galore, the week is hectic. When Friday comes I am ready.
I have always enjoyed the end of the week. In recent years, with the children, the change to the weekend never seemed to come. Before children we would have a relaxing Friday night and sleep in on Saturday and make a lazy weekend of it. With children the wake up call still is around 6:30 maybe 7. Shortly after they want to go downstairs and have breakfast. There went the hanging out in bed.
We started a new tradition in our house more than a year ago that I never understood. It seemed so old and religious. Now we do it every Friday night. We have a Shabbat dinner. We start off with lighting the candles, giving blessing over the wine and another over the Challah (or another yummy bread).
I never realized the power of lighting those candles and saying the blessings. Then one weekend after several weeks of doing Shabbat we were not able to do the new routine. The weekend was a flurry. I went to work and did not know what hit me. I did not feel like I left.
Lighting the candles and saying the blessings are a physical marker. They define the space between the week and weekend. It is fabulous. The brain registers this and a marker is placed. Now the weekend can begin.
Try it. Do Shabbat dinner for 3 weeks. Get past the awkward beginning. Enjoy the marker in time. Enjoy your weekend.
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May 23, 2008 at 7:40 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: Kavannah, Shabbat, shamor, zachor
We all live busy lives. We barely have times to talk to our family nevermind sit and have dinner. Everybody wants us and can call or email us on moments notice. It feels as though we are all “on call” everyday. How can Shabbat possibly fit into our lives?
We need to to start slowly and bring in one thing at a time. For my family, we decided to start many years ago by not watching TV on Saturday. We watched TV every other day. On Saturday we would find something else to do together. This was our begininning. We started keeping shabbat. Removing TV made us remember Shabbat – this is the Mitzvah.
How can you remember Shabbat? Perhaps you can come home on Friday night and say Shabbat Shalom. That would be your start. Other families we know make Friday night movie night – a time to rest and relax – a time to keep Shabbat.
Make a promise that you will try for 3 Shabbats.
Here is a quote from a book that describes living Shabbat intentionally:
“Shabbat reminds you of the need to live your life deliberately. Kavannah means to act and to live with intentionality and consciousness. Instead of going through your life on ‘automatic pilot’, you can live with awareness and intentional choice. Kavannah reminds you that you are part of the whole cosmic ‘tapestry of being’. Out of that awareness, which is the gift of Shabbat, you rediscover and live from your essence, from your wholeness.
The commandment to “keep and remember “(shamor v’ zachor) means to become conscious of the day, of G-d, and to act and refrain from acting based on that remembering. Shabbat is a commitment to recognize, honor, and deepen the inherent harmony of Creation — and as a result, to co-create that harmony and balance within your relationships, your homes, your self, and your world. “ Keep and remember” also means become conscious of who you really are and as Abraham Heschel said, “to bring together the scattered forces of the self.” Shabbat offers you an opportunity to practice living intentionally.” — by Dawn J. Lipthrott from Shabbat a Taste of Wholness
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