My dear Friends
Something really beautiful happened yesterday.
On Thursday afternoon I was sure I heard some young people speaking in Hebrew. And yes! they were a group of students from all over Israel who are in Cambridge with their madricha (group leader). Somehow we got talking about the shabbat, the Sabbath celebration which always falls on a Friday evening. I suggested that I could buy the wine and the challah, the special braided bread, and would they like me to bring my guitar?
Yesterday at 5pm we all gathered for the celebration and we were able to use the green space with the silver brich trees where they have the local craft market - it is right on Trinity Street, opposite St John's. I had laid out the bread, covered with a Shabbat cloth, the wine and the candlesticks(in the end we forgot the candles but it was still broad daylight). One of the young men put a handkerchief on his head (as is the custom to cover your head) and recited the blessing over the wine. We drank. Then a young girl recited the blessing over the bread. It was a privilege to tear it off (with salt on it, it represents a welcome in many countries) and hand it round in chunks. We sang in the Shabbat bride with lecah dodi, likrat kala, come my Beloved, to meet the bride, let us welcome the face of the Sabbath...
By this time there was a wonderful atmosphere, and the cameras were clicking. Then it was time to sing again! I took up my guitar and we sang rousingly hinay ma tov uma naim (Psalm 133), Jerusalem of Gold, and many more. I gave them a rendering of Tsur Mishelo, one of the most beautiful Shabbat table hymns.
I had already told them I was a Christian. They had many questions but we were one, in the ushering in of the Sabbath. There, under the trees, in the open air, it could have been Jerusalem....
Shabbat Shalom
Sister Gila
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment