By Maia Cattan
Getting ready for Shabbat is one of my favorite parts of the week. I love the feeling of listening to my shabbos playlist, calling my parents and grandparents to say Shabbat Shalom, having the time to shower and pick out clothes, and finally taking a breath. I love the feeling of rushing all week, all day, all afternoon to finally get to this moment.
Every week is pretty much the same. I go through my pre-Shabbat routine and then walk over to services with my friends when I’m at school or my family when I’m at home. When I get there, there are plenty of familiar faces, friends I haven’t seen all week, or people at shul who have seen me grow up my entire life.
The Friday routine on the Jerusalem Shabbaton was no different. We had a really busy week and programming in the morning. Then, late in the afternoon, we rushed over to the hotel and then we ran some last minute errands. I put on my Shabbat playlist and got ready to go to Kabbalat Shabbat. For this Shabbaton, we were given many options for where to go for services. Most people were excited to go - some looked forward to returning to communities they had been to but most were going to these services for the very first time. So this Shabbat, in this new city, with my new friends, I walked over to a completely unfamiliar community for Kabbalat Shabbat.
We were the first people to get to the “shul.” This place was really a tzofim moadon, where the blue paint on the walls was chipping, and murals painted by children decorated the walls. The chairs were plastic and the mechitzah anything but sturdy or lavish and the room a little bit stuffy. As the service started and the room filled with unfamiliar people and voices.
At first, I felt some discomfort. I didn’t know the people or the place, what the customs were or if there were any traditions I didn’t know about. But, as the service went on this started to change. I knew the words and the tunes and I let myself sway through Kabbalat Shabbat. At one point I closed my eyes. It was then that I felt a deep sense of community - a sense of community that came from the shared experience of singing to welcome in Shabbat together. In this room, a small, not at all lavish, tzofim moadon, I felt a sense of spirituality. When I closed my eyes and davened alongside this new community in this new place in this fairly unfamiliar country, I felt a sense of belonging. It was then when I felt the power and the beauty of Jewish prayer.
Going to Kabbalat on this Shabbaton allowed me to feel a deep sense of longing for that which is familiar to me but also made me realize that this sense of comfort and familiarity is truly not that far away.
