By Sofie Shefia Stephanie Cohen
I’m waking up. It’s the morning of erev of Shabbat. Later this evening we’ll sing L’cha Dodi, welcoming the Shabbat bride.
This is a beautiful, many layered, poem by 16th century S’fat Kabbalist Shlomo HaLevi Alcabetz, whose first sentiment expresses the analogy of the Jewish people as the bride groom and Shabbat as the bride, coming into a unification of sorts.
Just then, a question I’ve yet to ask in this way pops into my head:
What if I marry myself with the essence of Shabbat, for those 24 hours?
Naturally then, this was followed by another question:
What is the essence of Shabbat?
The answers that came gently flowing in follows:
It’s resting in the center still point of a pendulum that swings all week.
It’s gathering the four corners of my nurturing apron with the disparate parts of my self and the world with harmonizing Chen~mercy into the loving, compassionate, and welcoming arms of Shabbat.
It’s sensing and experiencing the oneness, the innate Joy, peace, abundance and contentment of all Life in the essence of Shabbat.
It’s resting in this place and experiencing refreshment for my “super~abundant, overflowing, extra” soul self, as it says at the end of our prayer, V’sham’ru: Shavat vayinafash.
Then a third and final 3~part question came:
What if I could come into resonance with this state of Being for the entire 24 hours of Shabbat?
What if I could allow and dedicate this state to inform my thoughts, words and actions?
What if I could allow my actions to encourage and support this state?
One tear, poignantly followed by the next, from the depths of my hearts patient longing for the fulfillment of marrying the essence of Shabbat, answers my questions.
I gratefully pray for receiving and living these Shabbat Berachot, for myself and everyone, Shabbat Shalom