Shabbat

We celebrate shabbat entirely differently in Israel than in Boston. In most ways, I like it so much better.

In Boston, after much discussion, we decided to observe shabbat by "not spending money" on Friday night, and celebrating it with friends and family. In Boston, it was often hard to explain to friends that no, we can't go out to see that play or concert or restaurant because we don't spend money on Friday night. I grew to really enjoy those Friday nights when friends would come over, or we would celebrate Shabbat at other people's houses.

Here, Jerusalem really forces you to relax and spend time with friends and family on Shabbat. From Friday night at sundown, until after sundown on Saturday night, no buses run. There are very few restaurants open, and virtually no stores are open. A few places such as the zoo and museum are open, but not much else. So, as a result, we slow our lives down considerably one day a week.

We generally walk the ten minutes to our synagogue on Friday night. It's a reform synaagogue (it is like a conservative service in the USA) and most of the service is sung (which I love.) The congregation is very kid-friendly, and never minds when our kids talk during services. Sometimes we go outside to the yard where all the other parents with children congregate during the services. After services, we go home, light candles, sing our songs, and go to sleep.

Most of our friends do not use the phone on Shabbat, so if we want to make plans, we have to do it ahead of time. It can be a long day with the kids, so we try to make some sort of plans.

Most Saturdays, we take long, long walks. We eat a lazy breakfast. The kids nap (or not nap in the case of Silvie) and we sometimes go to someone's house for dinner. By the time Sunday arrives, we are very rested.

It is an entirely different kind of day than one we had in Boston. We don't feel the "rush" of the city, since there is almost no business done on Shabbat. We feel, instead, the way we used to feel when we visited Nancy and Arik's in New Hampshire: entirely unplanned days, that are generally peaceful.

Today was a lovely shabbat. Miriam woke up an hour before her sister and...lo and behold...she PLAYED BY HERSELF with a toolset for an hour. WOW. Then everyone else woke up, we all played, and our friends Avram and Galit with their two kids Tuvia (Silvie's friend from school) and Nataniel arrived for brunch. It was the first time friends with kids came over...our place is so small...but it was fine. We made pancakes, fruit salad, and banana bread. We laughed and shared while the kids wreaked havoc on the house, but who cares? It can just be picked up again, and it was. Then we all went out to the playground behind our house for a while.

Then "quiet time." I took a two hour nap, along with Miriam! Silvie and Aaron did an art project.

At 4:30, we left to walk the thirty minutes up to our friend Frankie's house for Shabbat dinner. A nice, quiet dinner. The girls enacted pretend play and it was fun to listen to Silvie "making juice," and "preparing for school," etc. On the way home, we looked for stars. Silvie said that since she couldn't see any, "they must still be getting dreseed and ready to go out." I love that image.

Then, bath, stories, bed.

I used to be frustrated that Shabbat was so QUIET and felt like such a LONG day. But now, I really look forward to it. It really is a day unlike the rest. I hope, when we move back to the US, we can preserve some of this.