Love for Israel

The celebration of Shabbat

Our celebration of Shabbat, which takes place in all our houses every Friday night, is not a mere copy of the Jewish Shabbat. We do not observe the day of Shabbat on Saturday, which is a normal day in our houses. Actually, we celebrate only the entrance in Shabbat, i.e. we are singing at home the songs that are normally sung in the synagogue on Friday night. These songs are followed by the blessing of the wine and bread, and then by the meal. The celebration is adapted to our family liturgy, and we try to live it according to the spirit of the Holy Family of Nazareth celebrating Shabbat every Friday night.

It is a mean for us to unite our prayer to the prayer of Israel, while sharing the same wait of the Kingdom to come, even of course, if we are not waiting for the Messiah the way they do. The Jewish philosopher Martin Buber once wrote : “Who knows if the one that us Jews are waiting for the coming, and the one that you, Christians, are waiting for the return, will not at the end be the same one ?“

The whole office is sung in Hebrew, because of the beauty of this language, and as a sharing with our Jewish brothers.

The table is covered with a white tablecloth, and beautifully set, with candles and flowers, as for a feast day. At one of the end of the table, two “shabbat breads“ are disposed on a plate, and covered with a napkin. Two empty shabbat cups are placed in front of the bread. Then, a carafe of wine is placed near the cups.

The entrance of the Liturgy is the singing of the psalm 92, whose title is “Psalm for the day of Shabbat“. Then, we sing the “Beloved of the soul“. Yedid nefesh is a song of love between the soul and her God. During this song, a woman is lighting the candles.

In the Jewish celebration, this blessing takes place earlier in the afternoon, at around 4.00 p.m., to make sure that the Shabbat has not yet begun, because using fire on this day is not allowed. Once she has lit all the candles, she opens her hands towards the two main candles that are close to the bread and wine. She then sings the blessing of the light.

Once the light is blessed, the special blessing of the Shabbat begins to approach. We go on with the singing of the Lekha dodi.

This song is the welcoming of the Shabbat, which is compared to a bride, whereas Israel, or the soul is the bridegroom. During the last stanza, when we call “Boi, Kala, boi, Kala“, which means : “Come, fiancee, come“, somebody opens the door of the room, and everybody stands up and bows down to greet the fiancee who (mystically) enters at this moment. The blessing of the Shabbat is fully given at this moment, and our hearts are full of joy and peace.

Then, the men will remain standing while the women are sitting down. The men will sing the “Shema Israel“, which is the profession of faith of the Jews. This singing is a comandment for men, not for women. They can sing it if they feel like it, but it is not an obligation for them. After the singing of the Shema, comes a time of free prayers and praises to God for all his acts of kindness. These prayers are followed by the singing of the psalm 23, an expression of our confidence in God. At that time, each father blesses his children.

Then, comes an other time of prayer, to thank God specifically for what he has done during the week preceeding Shabbat. Then we sing the Avinou, which is the translation of the Our Father in Hebrew. After that, we call the angels so that they may come and rejoice with us for Shabbat. We sing Malakhe ha Elyon. It is then the moment of the Kiddoush, the blessing of the wine and the bread by the main celebrant, a man who may not be a priest.

He will fill the two cups with wine, making sure that the wine overflows, to show how overabundant is the grace of God. He will pass on the cup to his neighbor, greeting him Shabbat Shalom. The neighbor will pass on the cup to the others with the same greeting.

The celebrant will then lift up the uncovered breads and pronounce a blessing. He then, cuts a piece of bread, gives it to his neighbor, with the loaf of bread. The bread will thus be shared among the participants, with the same greeting “Shabbat Shalom“. After sharing bread and wine, all together we dance around the table.

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