By Tamar Tecktiel
Kabbalat Shabbat has always been one of my favorite services not just during Shabbat but also throughout the entire week. While at home, it signifies that I am not far from enjoying my mother’s freshly baked challot and delicious food. While at camp, it signifies the community coming together to welcome in Shabbat as one. While at university it means a smaller but still lively service at the Hillel building followed by a communal dinner in its basement. In Israel, Kabbalat Shabbat is different. Shabbat in Israel, in general, is different but the atmosphere that surrounds Yerushalayim is even more special. Starting with the sounding of the siren reminding everyone that Shabbat is soon approaching all the way through Lecha Dodi, there is an “Avira” (atmosphere) different than anything that can be experienced elsewhere. Perhaps you prefer a Carlebach style minyan where there are so much spirit and liveness in the praying that you aren't bothered that it takes twice the normal amount of time another service may take. Maybe you like a Sephardic minyan where the Mizrachi tunes may feel very familiar to some and very foreign to others. Whatever your preference, everyone is still able to appreciate the beauty of the Chazan’s voice. What I love about Kabbalat Shabbat is that it is just that, a “Kabbalah” a joyous welcoming of the Shabbat Malcha the Shabbat Queen. Despite the fact that it occurs every week, we are still welcoming Shabbat with the same intensity as the week previous and the weeks to come. I also love that no matter where you are in the world you are connected to all other Jews who are praying the same words around the world. I’m not sure that I have a good explanation as to why Kabbalat Shabbat in Israel, and especially in Jerusalem is that much more meaningful for me. The easy answer would be to say that it is due to Jerusalem being such a holy place, and while I do think that is true I do not think that is the entirety of the reason. We are currently living in a time which our ancestors dreamt about for over 2,000 years. We have a Jewish homeland in the land that was promised to us by God thousands of years ago.
I guess you could say I am set in my ways when it comes to Kabbalat Shabbat. I like the tunes that I know and am familiar with and, I like the pace I know and am familiar with. One may say I am a creature of habit but one could also very well say that I am stubborn and only like what I like. I decided when coming to Israel that I was going to push myself to try that which I did not know. To experience tunes that I did not know and was not familiar with and maybe even a pace of service which I did not know and was not familiar with. Having spent time in Israel previously I admit that I knew many different minyanim in Jerusalem but the number which I considered to be many is, in reality, a very small percentage of the number of different minyanim in Jerusalem. I was incredibly surprised to find that one of the Kabbalat services which I enjoyed the most happened before Shabbat even started. At the Tachana Rishona, the Old Train Station there is a musical Kabbalat Shabbat Service that takes place before Shabbat begins. I was amazed by the diverse crowd it attracts. There were religious Jews singing proudly next to their secular brothers. It was truly beautiful to take part in. It did not matter that Shabbat wouldn’t start in actuality until later because at that moment a community that is usually polarized by religious practice was able to enjoy a moment of Tefillah, of prayer together. It was this moment that gave me the hope for the possibility of other instances of unity within the Jewish community of Israel.
