Here’s one of our personal favorites from Ben’s adventures at Burning Man: a gaggle of hippies sitting in (and climbing on!) a geodesic dome, getting ready for Shabbat in the middle of one of the wildest parties in the U.S.  Enjoy!

Have a great weekend, and a terrific Shabbat, everyone!

-Alef

Do YOU have Shabbat stories, video, or pictures you’d like to share with Alef?   Email Alef@Birthrightisraelnext.org and add your voice to the conversation!

Thumbnail photograph provided by Mariachisamurai, under creative commons licensing.

by Rafi Samuels-Schwartz

There was a moment in July when I thought to myself  “Is this actually my job?”

It was Saturday night at the Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival and the Birthright Israel NEXT staff, along with the Shabbat Tent crew, were about to lead about a hundred festival-goers in the Havdallah ceremony, marking the end of Shabbat, and the start of the regular work-week.  At the moment in the Havdallah ceremony where we smell bisamim (fragrant spices), we realized that we hadn’t actually brought any spices to smell.  We sheepishly asked around the crowd if anyone had any fragrant spices or plants that they could offer for the sake of the ritual, and I swear I saw about 30 people reach into their pockets and bags to pull out boxes of, what I can only assume were perfectly legal, suspiciously green, herbs.

This was Shabbat, Wakarusa-style.

Fortunately, we managed to find among the various cooking supplies we’d brought, a small amount of spices to use in the ritual.  So, accompanied by about 50 new friends, we concluded one of the most unexpectedly great Shabbat weekends of my life.

I spent the weekend surrounded by Jews and non-Jews alike, interested in what was happening at this strange “Shabbat Tent,” set up in the middle of a hippie festival.  Why were we giving away free dinner on Friday night?  Was that really festival headliner Matisyahu sitting and eating with his fans, instead of holing up in an air conditioned RV?  Our Shabbat Tent quickly became a major hub of the festival, and whether it was word of mouth about frequent Matisyahu sightings, or the 200+ person pre-Shabbat jam session, everyone seemed to want to take part in making Shabbat happen in the middle of a chaotic music festival.  Whether people knew it was Shabbat or not, everyone knew something special was happening at the Shabbat tent.

I had come to Wakarusa with a healthy dislike for jam bands, and without a clue of what I would think once I got there.  But, as people continued to come into our Shabbat space, creating a Shabbat community totally unlike the chaos happening outside the tent, I began to enjoy myself more and more.  How could I not crack a smile watching someone freestyle a blessing at Shabbat dinner, or hearing people in our tent say things like “Oh…I used to do Shabbat when I was little, but this is sweet!”?  By the time Shabbat had ended I was having a blast!  The atmosphere at Wakarusa was unlike any Shabbat I’d ever been a part of.  A little bit of orthodox, a lot of un-orthodox, and a totally DIY vibe combined to make a Shabbat that everyone at Wakarusa noticed.  Maybe it wasn’t the sort of Shabbat that would immediately spring to mind when someone asks “So, what did you do on Saturday night?” but it’s not every Saturday night I stand next to fire jugglers and vibrational meditation chairs.reathing, thing.  Having Shabbat at a Hippie music festival in Arkansas doesn’t mean you have to try to awkwardly shoehorn a traditional Shabbat where it doesn’t belong.  It means adapting Shabbat to the dread-locked, patchouli soaked vibe.  And, with the right people, and the right attitude, that’s the fun part anyways.

Maybe Wakarusa didn’t change my dislike of jam-bands, but it did put me in the middle of one of the wildest, most creative Shabbat weekends I’ve ever had; Even if we only used oregano and thyme for our havdallah herbs.

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