Kol Tzedek Shabbat Vision and Communal Practice Guidelines Adopted at Sep. 18 Board Mtg.

The Kol Tzedek Shabbat Vision and Communal Practice Guidelines was discussed and adopted at the Sep. 18, 2008 Board Meeting. To everyone who helped draft, edit, revise and comment throughout the process, Thank You!!

You can read the final document in .pdf format on the Kol Tzedek website at this address:

http://www.kol-tzedek.org/ktshabbatpractices

or click here to go straight to it. We hope to see you at Shabbat programming soon.

-Shabbat Study Group

Shabbat Vision and Communal Practice Guidelines Doc to be Presented at Board Mtg., Sep 18; Please Come!!

Dear All,

The document we've been working on since we started the Shabbat study class in January is now ready for the Kol Tzedek Board, and we would LOVE for you to come to the board meeting and learn more about our process and our product, and to be part of this exciting accomplishment. We will discuss it right at 7 pm, in the first half-hour of the board meeting. We would like as many people as possible to have participated in this process. For the location of the meeting, please email president@kol-tzedek.org.

We again invite the community to review our last revisions to the document, available online on our website in .pdf format here: http://www.kol-tzedek.org/ktshabbatpractices

Please offer your comments beforehand (on the blog, or in an email to communications@kol-tzedek.org) or in person during the first half hour of the Sep. 18 board meeting. This and all Kol Tzedek board meetings are open to the public.

We hope to hear from you and see you at the board meeting,
-Joshua and the Kol Tzedek Shabbat Study Group

DRAFT of Shabbat Vision and Communal Practice Guidelines

The Kol Tzedek Shabbat Study Group seeks feedback on the DRAFT version of the Kol Tzedek Shabbat Vision & Communal Practice Guidelines document. Please click here to read the draft in .pdf format, and post comments here on our blog or send email to communications@kol-tzedek.org with the subject DRAFT Shabbat Guidelines document, or attend the September 21st board meeting where the document will be discussed; you can also email communications@kol-tzedek.org for details about that meeting. We look forward to hearing from you! Thanks,

-Kol Tzedek Shabbat Study Group

Principles for Decision Making on Shabbat Policies

We are embarking on the process of decision making for Kol Tzedek Shabbat policies. Of course, we will get input from people as we go forward. For now, I wanted to share some Principles/Values we have outlined that will guide us in our decision-making.

KT Shabbat Study Group Decision Making Principles

Oneg Shabbat (delight)--
Cultivating opportunities for people to experience joy and thankfulness
Shabbat Shalom
Infusing our Shabbat practice with an atmosphere of peace and harmony
Menuha
Giving ourselves the opportunity to rest, to breathe, to appreciate life exactly as it is and isn’t
K’vod HaMesoret (Respect for tradition)
Respect for our sacred tradition; the tradition has a “vote but not a veto”
Inclusivity
Wanting an environment where people feel welcome, invited to bring their whole selves into community or prayer
Kehillah
Creating opportunities for people to gather in community
Diversity
Respecting the diversity in the room; creating an environment which to some degree can accommodate people with varying observance levels
Outreach
Meeting people “where they are” and helping them find deeper meaning in Jewish spirituality and peoplehood
Hiddur Mitzvah (beautification of the mitzvah)
Doing things in order to add beauty or depth to traditional mitzvoth
Sh’lom Bayit (Peace in the house)
Making compromises for the welfare of the “household” or community
Lifnim Mishoret HaDin
(Going above the letter of law)
Keeping in mind the spirit of Shabbat and reaching to bring that spirit in, even by doing additional customs or in contemporary terms, perhaps doing things that violate the letter of the law but keep the spirit of the law
Making Shabbat Different
Creating an environment that feels different than our workplace or daily life
Challenge
Challenging people to move out of their comfort zone, try on new practices, deepen their commitments
L’Shem Hinuch
“For educational purposes”—the principle that at times, the letter of law needs to bend in order to educate
Tircha DeTzibura
“A burden to the community”—we can and should take in the community’s needs and desires as we make decisions

DRAFT Version of the Vision Statement

Hello All--this is still very much a work in progress, and we're eager to hear your feedback here below, in the comments section. You can also email your comments or questions to ktshabbat@gmail.com if you prefer, or talk to members of the Shabbat Study group.

DRAFT - DRAFT

Kol Tzedek Shabbat Study Group—Version 5

Shabbat is an integral part of Jewish life: as Achad Ha'am¹ said "It's not so much that Jews have kept Shabbat as that Shabbat has kept the Jews." Shabbat offers the opportunity for joy and delight (oneg), depth and meaning, transcendence of our busy daily lives and connection with the divine and with community. Shabbat is zecher le’ma’ase vereishit, ‘a reminder of the Creation of the world’; as such, Shabbat invites us to cease from our work and regain a sense of wonder for the world in which we live. Leaving behind work and day-to-day concerns, we sanctify Shabbat as a day for rest and renewal.

Traditional observance of Shabbat incorporates prohibitions against various kinds of labor (melacha) that sets Shabbat apart from the rest of the week. Many contemporary Jews see some of these – such as talking on the phone or gardening – as away to enrich their Shabbat; while other labors, such as driving to shul, may be seen as unavoidable. For some Jews an ideal Shabbat is centered on individual reflection and Torah study; for others, on communal connection through prayer; and for others, on joyous activities, such as hiking or playing music.

At Kol Tzedek, we encourage innovative Shabbat rituals as well as honor traditional observance. We value these practices for how they may enrich and sanctify our Shabbat:

• Talmud Torah (Study): To engage with Torah, Jewish and non-Jewish texts and reflect on how they connect to our world.

• Hachnasat Orchim (Hospitality): To enter each other’s homes for communal and family gatherings, sharing meals, prayers and song.

• Tefilah (Prayer): To experience meaningful connection to the Divine and community through davening, meditation, and music.

• Menucha (Rest): To leave behind our work week and take time for quiet reflection and rest, “re-souling” (v’yinafash) us for the week to come.

1 INSERT FOOTNOTE ON ACHAD HA’AM

Watch this Space: draft coming soon

The study group met on April 9 and worked through another draft of the Vision Statement. At the end of the meeting we agreed that we need one more session with the draft before posting it here on the blog. The study group will meet again next week, then post the new draft on Apr. 24 and look forward to your comments.

March 26: Vision Statement Drafting Continues

At this Wednesday's meeting, we spent a full two hours with the first draft of the Vision Statement. Two committee members will now rework the first draft, and hopefully pretty soon we'll have a draft that we feel ready to show the community. At that point, we'll want your recommendations for further additions and revisions, so stay tuned!

Shabbat Values

Rabbi Lauren drew upon our discussions and came up with a list of values to inform the vision statement and policy. She added in two further values, which appear at the end of this list.

• Rest/menucha
• "Creative Rest" from creative work/melacha
• "Delight" in Shabbat/oneg shabbat
• Shabbat as beloved (bride)/shabbat kallah
• Reminder of Creation/zecher l'ma'ase vereishit
• Reminder of Redemption/zecher l'tziyat mitzrayim
• Holiness, Setting Apart/kedusha
• "Making" Shabbos--human agency/la'asot et hashabbat
• Respect (all rest on Shabbat)/kavod
• Observe and Remember/shamor v'zachor
• Peacefulness/shabbat shalom
• Emulation of God (Imitatio Dei)/halicha lashem
• "Resouling"/shavat vayinafash
• Intention/kavanna
• Partnership with the Divine/brit
• Community/kehillah
• Personal Reflection/hitbodedut
• Torah Study/talmud torah
• Prayer/tefillah
• "For the honor of Shabbat"/lichvod shabbat
• Appreciation of Creation, Nature/teva
• Beautification of the Mitzvah/hiddur mitzvah
• For Educational Purposes/l'shem hinuch

Moving Toward a Vision Statement

After extensive education and discussion about Shabbat throughout history, we are transitioning to creating a vision statement and policy. Before that, we briefly discussed the background of the Reconstructionist movement.

Mordecai Kaplan, the founder, sought to develop a philosophy of Judaism rather than a whole new movement. In his view, contemporary Jews did not believe literally in the revelation at Sinai, nor in the divinity of halakhah. By contrast the Reform Judaism of his time was rather assimilationist and had taken on many Protestant values.

He believed in the centrality of Jewish peoplehood, and this permeates the entire movement. Reconstructionism focuses on the community, which is the locus of authority for ritual and ethical guidelines. Studying past traditions is essential when determining what they mean for us today. For instance, some people base kashrut (dietary laws) on ecological grounds.

We then looked over the Shabbat policies of other congregations. We observed how a good policy requires careful balancing of values and explains its guidelines in terms of those values.

Some important questions in developing a vision statement for Kol Tzedek are:

• What values will inform our vision?


• What activities do we want to encourage?


• What should be the attitude toward Shabbat?

To get the process rolling, each of us came up with a five-minute vision statement.

Mar. 12:The five-minute vision statement

For the Mar. 12 meeting, we read texts about how Jews in the Reconstruction movement balance the details of ancient Jewish law (Halacha) and modern life. We also read Shabbat vision statements from several Reconstructionist communities, and noted how they vary in their specificity and tone. Since the next task is to create a very rough draft of our own vision statement, we all took five minutes at the end of class to offer one sentence (or three sentence) versions of a vision statement that tries to incorporate the values we want for Shabbat at Kol Tzedek. Here's what the six of us generated, but we are eager to hear from the rest of the community. Have five minutes to brainstorm a sentence about what you want from and for Shabbat at Kol Tzedek? Please click the comments field below, and then post your own five-minute Shabbat vision statement draft....


Five-Minute Shabbat Vision Statements:
1: At Kol Tzedek, we aim to create Kedusha, the holiness of Shabbat, with our communal practice.

2: Kol Tzedek is a welcoming community (Kehillah) which encourages diversity in all aspects of personal and communal life.

3: I would like to see people develop a personal (as well as communal) meaningful Shabbat practice and for Kol Tzedek to cultivate opportunities for people to explore traditional and innovative Shabbat rituals in a safe environment. I would like Kol Tzedek to offer as many 'ways in' to Shabbat life as possible that speak to individual needs: meditation, walks in nature, study, prayer, social opportunities, dancing. I want Shabbat to be an experience of joy/ delight (oneg), depth and meaning, transcendence and connection to God. I want to make sure we emphasize this at Kol Tzedek and in people's homes through communal meals and prayer.

4: Shabbat at Kol Tzedek should consist of both a brit with Hashem and with our community; a day of hitbodedut (personal reflection) and a day of Simchat Kehillah (celebration of community.)

5: Kol Tzedek encourages Shabbat practices that balance learning, celebration and tradition and make possible regular community interaction.

6: In our community, we encourage observing Shabbat in way that respects tradition and also contemporary values. Shabbat should be a 'sanctuary in time'--an occasion for creative rest, community, prayer, Torah study and delight.

Feb. 27: A Full Day's Shabbat

At the meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 27, we began by noting that while some American Jews think of Shabbat as a Friday night event, others stick more closely to a full sundown to sundown Shabbat, structured around three meals: Friday night's Erev Shabbat; Saturday morning; and Saturday evening's Havdallah service. Each of these three pieces has its own key theme. These are, respectively; Creation (embodied in the Shema) Revelation (Ahavat Olam) and Redemption (Mi Chamocha).

Friday Night is most closely associated with a family meal and celebration of Shabbat's commencement; the Saturday morning with Shul, learning and a more community-focused luncheon, along with rest and more learning in the afternoon; and finally the mixture of melancholy and hope at the Saturday evening Havdallah closing service. There is certainly interest in facilitating a full day's Shabbat at Kol Tzedek, and we'll continue discussing how we can make it possible for more of the community to experience it.

Though we plan to continue studying Shabbat at each meeting, we're now moving steadily towards drafting a Vision Statement. Here's what Rabbi Lauren wrote to our group over email before our most recent meeting:

The "Kol Tzedek Shabbat Study Group" will engage in visioning, asking what positive practices/practices we wish to make normative. What do we hope people will gain from observing Shabbat with us? What kind of "Shabbat culture" do we want to foster? What values can Shabbat teach us that will help us make our lives more meaningful? The group will draft a vision statement about Shabbat observance/remembrance/celebration in our community.

The KT Shabbat Study Group will consider what "ta'asehs" (thou shalts) and "lo taasehs" (thou shalt nots) we need to institute as a community to support our vision of Shabbat. We may engage in additional study on specific issues under discussion at this particular phase. After we have engaged on the various policy issues, the group will create a document of policy recommendations for review of the board. Establishing a documentation subcommittee will likely be a useful way to craft draft policy statements between meetings.

We concluded with a short passage from this week's Torah reading:.

And Moses assembled all the congregation of the children of Israel” (Ex. 35:1) Our rabbis said, ‘From the beginning of the Torah until its end there is no portion in which is found the phrase ‘and he assembled’, except here in conjunction with Shabbat. This is to teach that the Holy Blessed One said to Moses, ‘Gather large congregations and speak before them about the laws of the Sabbath, so that the leaders of future generations may follow your example and gather congregations every Shabbat -- in order to teach the words of the Torah, and to decide for the children of their children what is permissible and what is prohibited. By doing so they will glorify My great Name among My children.
(Yalkut Shimoni, Vayakhel)

(Thanks due to Jim for the mtg. minutes which improved this post)

The Process Begins: Historical Approaches to Shabbat

This winter Kol Tzedek is drafting its Shabbat vision and policy statement, and we will use this blog to record key aspects of the texts, discussions and meetings contributing to the policy's development. The Shabbat Study group began in January with three sessions led by Rabbi Lauren concerning historical Shabbat practice. In the first class we focused on Biblical representations of Shabbat, mostly in Genesis and Exodus, noting the Torah's emphasis on Shabbat as a celebration of creation and also redemption. In the second class we learned about the Rabbinic transformation of Shabbat and thought about the prohibitions against thirty-nine kinds of labor. In the third class we turned our attention to medieval Kabbalist traditions. We also discussed the twentieth century text The Sabbath by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. We were particularly interested in Heschel's description of Judaism as a "religion of time aiming at the sanctification of time" and how we might incorporate some of the book's ideas as we move forward with our own visioning process.

Now a smaller group of members is continuing to study historical and contemporary approaches to Shabbat as we start to draft a vision statement for Shabbat at Kol Tzedek.

Contemporary Shabbat Memoir

Here is the link to the article that we read for our Shabbat Study Group from the "contemporary civilization"-- this is a memoir from a Reconstructionist rabbi about his ever evolving Shabbat practice. While we didn't have as much to go into this in depth, I wanted the group to read this so we each could think about our own journey with Shabbat, where it comes from, where it might go, how it could change. We are all on a journey and as contemporary people living in our secular world, we may struggle with how to balance our desire to have a Shabbat life with other needs like work, family. This article can also help us reconstruct for ourselves a meaningful Shabbat. for some of us that may look a bit more traditional; for others, going to a jazz concert or watching a movie is very "shabbosdick" if done lichvod Shabbat, in honor of Shabbat.

Rabbinic Principles of Shabbat from Study Session 2

After studying rabbinic texts, both midrashic and halachic (legal), we discussed the concepts that the rabbis introduced and reinforced about Shabbat. They were:

Shabbat as a metaphor (specifically as bride and queen)
Shabbat is rooted in individual and community
Shabbat needs people to observe it
People are creator/co-creators in process of Shabbat
Shabbat “works” if we do it!
Shabbat demands that "WE make it special”
Shabbat is to be honored by what we do; the way we do things can be "lichvod Shabbat" – for the honor of Shabbat
Intention is vital to Shabbat life
Shabbat is celebrated through body and soul (food and sex are as important as prayer and study)
Shabbat is joyful
Shabbat involves a partnership with the Divine
Despite the importance of Shabbat, human life supersedes Shabbat (the concept of pikuah nefesh—you are obligated to break Shabbat laws in order to save someone's life)
“Melacha” = Creative Rest; Harmony between human and nature; link to creation

Biblical Shabbat Concepts and Values

After our very productive and insightful first session, we understood some of the core values and principles of Shabbat in the Bible. Our list of these things included:

Core Principles:
Shabbat is an act that invites us to emulate God (As God rested, so do we rest)
Shabbat is observed both because of the Creation story (Bereishit/Genesis) and the Redemption story (Because we were freed in Egypt)
We are to "observe" (shamor) and "zachor" (remember) -- we talked a bit about what that means
Shabbat allows us to be set apart and to set things apart for kedusha, holiness
Shabbat is an invitation to make rest holy, to appreciate things as they are

Core Values:
Oneg Shabbat -- Delight in Shabbat
Shavat Vayinafash-- Shabbat is a time to be "resouled"
Community
Respect for others (allowing the stranger and servants to rest)
Commitment/Covenant

We talked about how the biblical period had very different rules that we think of. There are few to speak of and the consequences are extreme. Warning: DO NOT GATHER WOOD ON SHABBAT!!!! Shabbat "looked" very different than we think about it today.