Sabbath Table Fellowship - Hevrat Shulchan Shabbat

Shabbat with Friends was founded to facilitate traditional acts of Jewish hospitality. The traditional term for this in Jewish tradition is "Hachnasat Orchim-the welcoming of guests". The rabbinic tradition cherished this practice and named it among the acts that brought great reward and a opened a pathway to eternal life. The prime arena for fulfilling this sacred deed was the Sabbath table.

The home Shabbat table was so esteemed in Jewish families that the planks from the table were used to make the casket for a family patriarch or matriarch. Some families kept logs of the people they hosted over the years to help recall the innumerable encounters with family and friends. Other families lingered over the table by singing Sabbath Zemirot-table hymns. Other families invited teachers to bring them Torah and wisdom. Other households prided themselves on hosting travelers. The Sabbath table was a weekly Jewish pilgrimage to both to the satiation of the spirit and the body. To honor the Sabbath is to cultivate its unique way of joy with the table serving as the shrine. The Temple of Jerusalem was reestablished in our homes.

We recognize that modern life has undermined this beautiful sacred tradition of meal sharing, of group singing, of elevated conversation. Most of us no longer live in neighborhoods where we eat at a different table each week. Our lives are too busy to set aside time for eating together and making lasting connections with new faces.

Yet it is at the table, in the home, in intimate soulful settings where Jewish tradition and wisdom shine. I fell in love with Judaism around the Shabbat table. I spent the most memorable and loving times of my life in conversation around lit candles or over loaves of torn Challah. This was my table of love and song, wisdom and playfulness.

Shabbat with Friends is about revitalizing this amazing array of intimate traditions and practices. We try to make it possible for Jews and our friends (who some call "Jews Adjacent") to discover or rediscover the joys of Shabbat hospitality, either as hosts or as guests.

Toward this end I want to introduce a new initiative. It is called the Sabbath Table Fellowship-Hevrat Shulchan Shabbat. The main commitment of the fellowship is to fashion a Shabbat table in your home, to relearn the habits of hospitality, to rediscover the art of conversation, to cultivate the joy of small group, to find pathways into enriching Torah and Jewish learning, to open the arena of connection to others that fosters community and enduring friendship and fellowship.

If this initiative speaks to you, send me your ideas on how it might be organized. How can such a fellowship foster a culture of Shabbat sharing and connection? How can it foster peace and inspire Tikun Olam? How can it bridge gaps and reduce isolation and loneliness? How can it help us get through difficult times and foster hope?

I will share your ideas and further elaborate my own ideas on how the Shabbat Table Fellowship will emerge in the SWF blog and other settings.

Kol Tuv,

Rabbi Dov Gartenberg