(16) The Israelite people shall keep the sabbath, observing the sabbath throughout the ages as a covenant for all time: (17) it shall be a sign for all time between Me and the people of Israel. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He ceased from work and was refreshed.
Questions:
1. Who are the parties involved in the covenant, and what is the sign of it?
2. What do you think it means that Shabbat is a "sign" of the covenant between humans and God?
3. Why do you think there needs to be a sign at all?
(What connection do you see between peoplehood and Shabbat?
4. In what ways have you found a sense of community through Shabbat?)
Who is Our Partner? God or Shabbat?
(א) ידיד נפש אב הרחמן
(ב) משוך עבדך אל רצונך
(ג) ירוץ עבדך כמו איָל
(ד) ישתחוה מול הדרך
(ה) כי יערב לו ידידותך
(ו) מנופת צוף וכל טעם.
(ז) הדור נאה זיו העולם
(ח) נפשי חולת אהבתך
(ט) אנא אל נא, רפא נא לה
(י) בהראות לה נועם זיוך
(יא) אז תתחזק ותתרפא
(יב) והיתה לָךְ שפחת עולם.
(יג) ותיק יהמו נא רחמיך
(יד) וחוס נא על בן אוהבך
(טו) כי זה כמה נכסוף נכסף
(טז) לראות בתפארת עוזך
(יז) אנא אלי מחמד ליבי
(יח) חושה נא ואל תתעלם.
(יט) הגלה נא ופרוס חביב
(כ) עלי את סוכת שלומך
(כא) תאיר ארץ מכבודך
(כב) נגילה ונשמחה בך
(כג) מהר אהוב כי בא מועד
(כד) וחנני כימי עולם.
(1) My soul's beloved, merciful father,
(2) Draw your surrendered to your will rendered.
(3) Your surrendered will run like a gazelle,
(4) He will bow before your splendor.
(5) For to him, your love is sweeter,
(6) Than the dripping honeycomb, and any taste at all.
(7) Resplendent, beautiful, radiance of the world,
(8) My soul is sick for your amore,
(9) Please, O God, heal her now,
(10) By the beauty of your radiance, by showing her.
(11) Then she will be strong, she will be healed,
(12) And she will be your handmaiden forever more.
(13) Ancient one, rouse, please, your mercy.
(14) Please, on your beloved son, have pity,
(15) For so much has this yearning been,
(16) To see your strength, in its beauty,
(17) Please, my god, the love of my heart,
(18) Hurry, please, and do not remain hidden.
(19) Please, be revealed and spread the covering, beloved,
(20) Upon me, the shelter of your tranquility
(21) Illuminate the earth with your nobility
(22) We will rejoice in you, we will be in festivity
(23) Hurry, beloved, for the time has come,
(24) And be good to me, like days long ago.
Questions:
1. Notice the repeated words, phrases, and tone. What emotions do you think the author is feeling?
2. Where is (or where isn't) God in the author's experience?
3. How does this poem, and its placement at the beginning on Kabbalat Shabbat, help answer the question of why there is a "sign" of the covenant between God and the Jewish people?
(א) בֹּאִי בְשָׁלוֹם עֲטֶרֶת בַּעְלָהּ
(ב) גַּם בְּשִּׂמְחָה וּבְצָהֳלָה
(ג) תּוֹךְ אֱמוּנֵי עַם סְגֻלָּה
(ד) בּוֹאִי כַלָּה בּוֹאִי כַלָּה
(1) Come in peace, crown of her husband
(2) As well in joy and in jubilation
(3) The midst of the faithful precious nation
(4) Enter, bride! Enter, bride!
(11) I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me. (12) Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us rest in the villages. (13) Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see whether the vine has budded, whether the vine-blossom has opened, and the pomegranates have flowered; there will I give thee my love.
רבי חנינא מיעטף וקאי אפניא דמעלי שבתא אמר בואו ונצא לקראת שבת המלכה רבי ינאי לביש מאניה מעלי שבת ואמר בואי כלה בואי כלה
Rabbi Ḥanina would wrap himself in his garment and stand at nightfall on Shabbat eve, and say: Come and we will go out to greet Shabbat the queen. Rabbi Yannai put on his garment on Shabbat eve and said: Enter, O bride. Enter, O bride.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath
The Jewish contribution to the idea of love is the conception of love of the Sabbath, the love of a day, of spirit in the form of time.
How can we all use Shabbat to get closer to one another? To bring in those who don't have a place?