Alef: The NEXT Conversation

Friday Night In Israel

By Lauren Gelnick

I grew up observing Shabbat, which meant that I always had Friday night dinner with my family and friends. Whether we celebrated at my house or theirs, it was always with people close to me. However, for my first Friday night kabbalat shabbat in Israel with my Birthright Israel group, I celebrated very differently. I was in Jerusalem. I went to the Kotel and danced. I sang the words of the Kabbalat Shabbat with women from all over the world and from many religious backgrounds. I didn’t know these people, but somehow a special sentiment sparked, a feeling I had never experienced, even after all those Shabbatot (plural for Shabbat) with family and friends.

Since that Shabbat in June 2003, I have observed many more Shabbatot, both in Israel and outside of Israel. The contrast between the two places strikes me, and sometimes its nothing more than a small detail, like the names of the days of the week. In Hebrew, the days of the week are yom rishon, yom shenei, yom shlishi…– the first day, the second day, the third day… Yom shishi, what we call Friday in English, is also called Erev Shabbat. However, Shabbat, which is technically the seventh day of the week, is never called “the seventh day.” Outside of Israel the days are plainly stated as Friday and Saturday, and they are like any other day without a special name or designation.

Fridays in Israel change the atmosphere for the entire country. There are signs showing what time Shabbat begins. When I go shopping, the people in stores wish me “Shabbat Shalom” as I leave. Outside of Israel, it takes real effort and strength of spirit to make and create this atmosphere.

One of the beautiful things about Friday night in Israel is that there are many people celebrating Shabbat in so many different ways—from the woman who is dressed in white, walking to and from the synagogue looking regal, to the family who gathers at a relative’s house to have Shabbat dinner and then watch a movie, to the students who are in Israel studying for a year. Regardless of who you are, everyone is observing Shabbat together and radiating that special feeling. Elsewhere in the world, Shabbat isn’t shared with such an array of people. There isn’t a central place, like the Kotel, where everyone gathers in order to welcome Shabbat.

It’s hard to express in words what Shabbat feels like in Israel because it’s an all-encompassing feeling that can’t necessarily be verbalized, as well as a suspended and sanctified point in time. Everywhere else, a bubble of Shabbat must be created by the few who celebrate it, and it rarely seems to compare with the overwhelming sense of appreciating a moment so sacred.

The last component of Friday night–which is the official beginning of Shabbat– is the t’zfeerah—the siren that is heard to let everyone know that Shabbat is starting. It’s a single note, echoing and saying, “Friday night is beginning.”

Lauren Gelnick is an olah chadasha from NYC. She went on Taglit-Birthright Israel in 2003, and made Aliyah with Nefesh B’Nefesh in December 2009. She lives in Jerusalem where she practices as an occupational therapist. She volunteers with Magen David Adom and is an instructor in the MDA Overseas Program.

Read more posts from Issue 18: Friday Night Lights.

Photo by gabemac, licensed under Creative Commons.

Tags: Israel, Shabbat

Posted by Sarah, Friday, July 30th, 2010, 9:52 am, Friday Night Lights.