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Passcode: LevShabbat

Have you wondered why we call organized prayer, “services”?

We gather together in sacred space to “serve,” to do sacred work with and for each other.

The Shabbat morning “service” is not a random collection of prayers. It is a journey taking us both out of ourselves and into ourselves. Through prayer, chant, song, movement, and meditation, we will travel the path of the Jewish mystics to the sacred heart of Shabbat.

We will not have a formal Torah reading, but we will have a Torah discussion. The parsha for this week is Pikudeh, the last parsha in the book of Shemot (“Names”), which we usually call, “Exodus.” At the end of the parsha, the holy tabernacle which the people built in the wilderness is finally completed. However, we are told, the people cannot enter the tabernacle, because the Holy Spirit fills it. In our discussion, we will ask ourselves and each other, “Why am I, and why are we, not permitted to enter into the Holy? What secrets do I keep from myself and others? Is it the content of my secrets that keeps me separate from the One and the All, or is it the secrecy itself? How do I reconcile myself with my failings? Can I be both human and Holy, even if just for an instant?”