The Kabbalat Shabbat service, sung between afternoon and evening prayers on Fridays, was created in a specific cultural and religious context in 16th century mystical Tzfat. Although the ~450 years since then, modernity, secularization, and rationality have brought Judaism far beyond the hills of Tzfat, the Kabbalat Shabbat service is the most popularly attending service for liberal Jews outside of High Holidays. What is it about Kabbalat Shabbat that resonates for Jewish mystics in the 16th century and liberal Jews in 2020?
(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.
(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.
Yedid Nefesh, first printed in Venice in 1601, has been used in a variety of different prayer contexts before settling into Kabbalat Shabbat. What in these lines connects to your idea of Shabbat?
Why do you think Psalm 95 references this episode in Exodus 17? What does God's presence mean to our idea of Shabbat?
Kabbalat Shabbat Psalms 95-99, 92, and 93 are in a series of Psalms known as "The Kingship Psalms." What about this series of Psalms, highlighting God's sovereignty, fits the themes we know about Shabbat? How do we understand God's role in Shabbat with our own different conceptions of what God is?
What are some attributes of the World to Come in Psalm 98? How do we envision these attributes in our own experiences of Shabbat?
Bowing is a big idea in the times in which the Psalms were written. Elsewhere in this series of Psalms, we find a warning against bowing toward other gods and elsewhere in the Kabbalat Shabbat service, we are instructed to bow as part of prayer choreography. What is the hang up on bowing? What is God's holy hill toward which we're supposed to bow?
Where do we hear God's voice in Psalm 29? Where do you hear God's voice?
(א) הִתְעוֹרְרִי הִתְעוֹרְרִי
(ב) כִּי בָא אורֵךְ קוּמִי אוֹרִי
(ג) עוּרִי עוּרִי שִׁיר דַּבֵּרִי
(ד) כְּבוֹד ה' עָלַיִךְ נִגְלָּה
(א) לֹא תֵּבֹשִׁי וְלֹא תִּכָּלְמִי
(ב) מַה תִּשְׁתּוֹחֲחִי וּמַה תֶּהֱמִי
(ג) בָּךְ יֶחֱסוּ עֲנִיֵּי עַמִּי
(ד) וְנִבְנְתָה עִיר עַל תִּלָּהּ
(1) Awaken yourselves! Awaken yourselves!
(2) For your light has come! Get up, my light!
(3) Wake up! Wake up! A song, speak out!
(4) The glory of Adonai upon you is revealed!
(1) Don't be ashamed! Don't be abashed!
(2) Why be depressed? Why be upset?
(3) In you my poor people will be sheltered
(4) And she shall be rebuilt - the city on her hill!
"The gloomy soul, oppressed by the weekday world, is now told: "Enough of dwelling in the vale of tears... Shake yourself off! Arise from the dust... Awake, awake! Yes, shekhinah is described as being "asleep" in exile, but the dormant inner self also needs to be aroused from its slumber... Here, at least, the dod to whom the poem is addressed is the inner self." -Rabbi Art Green
Psalm 92 receives top billing for the Kabbalat Shabbat service because its opening line is "A Song for the day of Shabbat." Its contents beyond the opening, however, largely detail punishments and rewards in the World to Come. What elements of the World to Come (our vision of a perfect, just, loving world) do you associate with Shabbat?
Some scholars suspect Psalm 93 was based on an enthronement ceremony from Ugaritic literature that predates the Israelite kingdoms. What practices from other cultures help inform our own idea of Shabbat?