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Belated Shabbat Update
Jul. 25th, 2007 10:31 pmShabbat at the Rs' was really nice. The R girls were davening mincha at home, and I asked if they were going to do kabbalat Shabbat. They said that they normally don't, but they really should. So I asked if they wanted to sing it with me, and they said sure.
Thus, we sang kabbalat Shabbat. At one point we had to relocate to the upstairs because the men came home, but it was really nice. It's the first time I've sung kabbalat Shabbat since the first Shabbat in Israel this summer. (Yes, I know. 6 weeks in Israel, and only 1 singing kabbalat Shabbat. I don't think I can do that ever again.)
Dinner was nice, though I ended up sounding like a heretic. Someone brought up an "insurance fund" where you pay them money, and they pray for you, and you won't get hurt in a car accident. Really, it's just tzedaka (giving to charity) but the way it's phrased bothers me. The whole idea that prayer averts crisis is problematic for me, because people pray, and people act piously, and bad things still happen to them.
People will argue "but it would be much worse if they didn't pray..." How do you know that?
I also said how I have problems with asking great rabbis to pray on your behalf. If we're going to believe that prayer has efficacy (I'll let them have this assumption, even though I believe that God does whatever God wants to) wouldn't God want to hear prayer from the person who has the request/need/problem? Why is a great rabbi closer to God than anyone else? People start believing that the prayers have power, rather than God having power, and that starts to border on idolatry, in my own hobbity opinion...
Saturday morning I skipped services to walk outside. Lunch was good (really small, there were only 5 of us) and when I got back to the Rs' they were still in the middle of their meal (they had about 15 people eating there). I took a very much needed nap.
Eventually, we had shalshuddis. Once the guys went off to shul, the girls sang. And I convinced people to sing the first blessing of bentsching. And I actually got the awesome bentsching harmony of awesomeness (the one![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
groovin_reuven's brother M taught me) to work. And afterwards people were like "wow. great harmony!" I love that harmony. But it only works when the majority of people are singing melody in key.
And then Shabbat ended and I helped dry dishes until my parents came. Then I went home and read Harry Potter, and the rest I've already blogged.
Thus, we sang kabbalat Shabbat. At one point we had to relocate to the upstairs because the men came home, but it was really nice. It's the first time I've sung kabbalat Shabbat since the first Shabbat in Israel this summer. (Yes, I know. 6 weeks in Israel, and only 1 singing kabbalat Shabbat. I don't think I can do that ever again.)
Dinner was nice, though I ended up sounding like a heretic. Someone brought up an "insurance fund" where you pay them money, and they pray for you, and you won't get hurt in a car accident. Really, it's just tzedaka (giving to charity) but the way it's phrased bothers me. The whole idea that prayer averts crisis is problematic for me, because people pray, and people act piously, and bad things still happen to them.
People will argue "but it would be much worse if they didn't pray..." How do you know that?
I also said how I have problems with asking great rabbis to pray on your behalf. If we're going to believe that prayer has efficacy (I'll let them have this assumption, even though I believe that God does whatever God wants to) wouldn't God want to hear prayer from the person who has the request/need/problem? Why is a great rabbi closer to God than anyone else? People start believing that the prayers have power, rather than God having power, and that starts to border on idolatry, in my own hobbity opinion...
Saturday morning I skipped services to walk outside. Lunch was good (really small, there were only 5 of us) and when I got back to the Rs' they were still in the middle of their meal (they had about 15 people eating there). I took a very much needed nap.
Eventually, we had shalshuddis. Once the guys went off to shul, the girls sang. And I convinced people to sing the first blessing of bentsching. And I actually got the awesome bentsching harmony of awesomeness (the one
groovin_reuven's brother M taught me) to work. And afterwards people were like "wow. great harmony!" I love that harmony. But it only works when the majority of people are singing melody in key.And then Shabbat ended and I helped dry dishes until my parents came. Then I went home and read Harry Potter, and the rest I've already blogged.
