Welcome to Open Mic Friday!
Today I'm taking a poll.
Q. What does your observance or celebration of Shabbat look like? What traditions or customs did you follow growing up, if any, and which are in place today? Has your Shabbat experience changed over the years?
Thanks, readers!
Shabbat Shalom/Good shabbos!
I love hearing the viewpoints of my readers, as long as they respect all people. The purpose of my blog is Jewish unity via mutual respect and education, and OOTOB reserves the right to decline or edit any comment without explanation. Complaints and negativity will not be published. Comments are moderated, so it may take some time for your comment to appear. Thank you for your participation!
Ooo - neat question! My Shabbos looks fairly traditional, I light candles, serve fish, chicken soup and chicken at dinner, cholent at lunch. We sing Shabbos songs between courses, say divrei Torah, go for walks.
ReplyDeleteI did *none* of this growing up, so we are developing the customs for our children. :)
We grew up with Shabbat dinner and prayers. Always welcome to invite friends. We were also allowed to go out on Friday nights - after shabbat dinner. In our home, now, (assuming we are not invited elsewhere) we have shabbat dinner - usually cooked by me, but sometimes brought in (even pizza or chinese) - and the candles, wine, challah and blessing of the children happen no matter what. When our daughter is away at school, we text her the blessing - maybe a little crazy, but I like to think she likes it. Our kids love having their friends over - and we often have other families. The girls often say how much they appreciate our commitment to Friday nights. I love not rushing on a Friday night, and maybe even leaving the dishes until later. The girls often go out after dinner - but love coming back with friends because the "best leftovers are at the Semels on Friday nights."
ReplyDeleteWe grew up with having shabbat dinner be a priority, even if we went out with friends or to a movie or whatever afterwards. It was the one day we all ate dinner together no matter what. Even when we were living secularly, when our son was about 2, we started having shabbat, including guests and benching out loud because we wanted him to have the same experience. By the time the kids were 6 and 3, one day, no one was coming for dinner and they were like 'that is just not right. Shabbat is for guests.' and this is BEFORE we became shomer shabbat!
ReplyDeleteWhen we started going to our shul after my father in law's death, we were invited out for, I kid you not, probably a year and a half straight. All those invitations had a huge bearing on us deciding to become shomer shabbat and keep the community standard for kashrut so that we could return those invitations when we moved into the hood.
Five years later, it is rare that we don't eat with someone on a Shabbat for 1 or both meals. We potluck a lot in our community so that the work is shared by people who keep the standard. There is an amazing sense of community and no matter how tired or long our week is, we are never sorry that we had guests.
In fact, we signed up on Shabbat.com because we have sleeping space as well!
After a whole summer in Jerusalem, I couldn't come back to a life where the only changes we made on Shabbat were candles, kiddush and challah, plus (always) services on Shabbat morning. We now turn off the TV, computers, anything electronic. We take long, quiet walks. Playing musical instruments is a special joy that we don't often have time for during the week. And Shabbat afternoon is really sacred time - the only time each week that my husband and I get to take a nap!
ReplyDeleteA friend who bakes the most delicious challah (the secret turns out to be a little cinnamon and cardamom) recently gave me her recipe. So I bought a bread machine, and now every Friday my house is full of the smell of yeast and fresh bread.
All my family and friends know not to call, but because my mother is 93, I will answer the phone (I once got a call on Shabbat asking for consent to send her to the hospital). We do drive - to shul, but also to be with family and friends. When my mother could handle the stairs in our house, we used to bring her here for Shabbat dinner and then drive her back to where she lives. Now we take the Shabbat rituals and the whole family to her, which she and all the people in her assisted living building love!
In the summer, when Shabbat ends really late, we sometimes go out to eat or to a concert or movie before sundown. But we are never eager for Shabbat to end. Turning the computer back on is a difficult moment every week!