Weekend Review:
Hello one and all. I hope that everyone had a wonderful weekend, and that they did something exciting and fun. My weekend was pretty good, though not as action packed as I had originally wanted it to be.
After work on Friday, I headed out to a Shabbat dinner invitation. Now, for those of you who don’t know what Shabbat dinner is, it is the weekly Sabbath (understand now-Shabbat, Sabbath) in Judaism. This is a day that symbolizes the seventh day of rest, in genesis when god rested from the six days of creation. Christians have this day too, it’s technically Sunday. In Judaism it is commonly said to be the Saturday of each week, and is observed from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday.
The dinner was hosted by my friend Michelle and her boyfriend Jon at Michelle’s house. They’ll have to forgive me if I miss anything out, or if I spell some things wrong as I’m spelling them the way that they sounded to me when Jon said them.
It begins with everyone washing their hands and then sitting down at the table. The table is covered in food (which I don’t know if it’s traditional or not, but there was a lot of food here). At the ends of the table sit the host and hostess. To her right there are two small candles, and to his left there is something of a chalice, which is called the Kos L’Kiddush. The two candles are lit-one symbolizing the act of refraining from activity, and the other symbolizing the act of remembering Shabbat. Traditionally the women of the household light the candles, though it’s not gender specific.
Hello one and all. I hope that everyone had a wonderful weekend, and that they did something exciting and fun. My weekend was pretty good, though not as action packed as I had originally wanted it to be.
After work on Friday, I headed out to a Shabbat dinner invitation. Now, for those of you who don’t know what Shabbat dinner is, it is the weekly Sabbath (understand now-Shabbat, Sabbath) in Judaism. This is a day that symbolizes the seventh day of rest, in genesis when god rested from the six days of creation. Christians have this day too, it’s technically Sunday. In Judaism it is commonly said to be the Saturday of each week, and is observed from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday.
The dinner was hosted by my friend Michelle and her boyfriend Jon at Michelle’s house. They’ll have to forgive me if I miss anything out, or if I spell some things wrong as I’m spelling them the way that they sounded to me when Jon said them.
It begins with everyone washing their hands and then sitting down at the table. The table is covered in food (which I don’t know if it’s traditional or not, but there was a lot of food here). At the ends of the table sit the host and hostess. To her right there are two small candles, and to his left there is something of a chalice, which is called the Kos L’Kiddush. The two candles are lit-one symbolizing the act of refraining from activity, and the other symbolizing the act of remembering Shabbat. Traditionally the women of the household light the candles, though it’s not gender specific.
Before the actual meal, it is customary to sing a song of welcome to the Sabbath angels and followed by Brachot (blessings) over the Yayin (wine) and Lechem (bread), which is also called Challah. I must state that I have never heard Jon sing before, and it was really very nice and uplifting. After all of this, everybody eats, talks, drinks and just enjoys the evening. It reminded me a lot of my family dinners since I didn’t even notice the time pass.
When everyone is done eating, the host sings another song (or prayer) to end the Shabbat dinner. I felt a little bad because Jon was trying to finish his song and the rest of us continued to talk and chatter away. I made a point of not talking to him at that time because I know that if it had been me…I would’ve lost my place. It was really a lot of fun and I would gladly do it again.
I was going to stay the whole night, but had completely forgotten that I had already promised Corrine I would show up to her gathering at her house in Falls Church. So I ushered myself out Michelle’s and heading back down 66 towards Corrine’s house. For those of you who don’t know this already, Corrine is a combination of friend, sister and mother. She loves to take care of you, and her house is always so homey. I love it. Plus, we always drink wine and talk about absolutely nothing and everything.
I was going to stay the whole night, but had completely forgotten that I had already promised Corrine I would show up to her gathering at her house in Falls Church. So I ushered myself out Michelle’s and heading back down 66 towards Corrine’s house. For those of you who don’t know this already, Corrine is a combination of friend, sister and mother. She loves to take care of you, and her house is always so homey. I love it. Plus, we always drink wine and talk about absolutely nothing and everything.
I didn’t get to bed till around 4 am, but it was well worth it to see everyone and to experience a more personable Shabbat (the last one wasn’t as welcoming to a non-Jew).
Saturday and Sunday were mostly days of reflection, sleep, and shopping. I am pretty happy though. I saw Michelle and Jon again, shared stories from childhood, bought a new mask to make for tomorrow, and bought a couple of pieces of felt (I’ll tell you why when I’m done with them, it’s a surprise!). I also finally bought the clay that I had wanted to get. I haven’t played with clay since I was in high school art class, so I wanted to pick it up again and see what I could create. I’ll post pictures of that in a bit too.
So that’s about it, now your turn! How was your weekend?
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