Shabbat with Friends Blog

Small groups that help you personalize your Shabbat and build meaningful friendships. On October 30-31, Shabbat with Friends is doing a Shabbat Circles Shabbat. Two different circles invite you to join them over the course of Shabbat. See below. What are SWF Shabbat Circles? They are self-organized groups of people who come together around a shared interest or activity that enriches their Shabbat experience. Circles can also be groups of life-stage peers who gather for

Recently, I have been writing about Shabbat with Friends' new initiative, Shabbat at the Center. A friend pointed out that the phrase could be misleading. In our region, the word center is often associated with a physical building, such as the Santa Fe Jewish Center or the Jewish Community Center in Albuquerque. But for us, center refers not to a place, but to time. Inspired by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, the great Jewish theologian who described Shabbat as a "sanctuary in