Shabbat with Friends Gatherings
Signature Program of Shabbat with Friends NM
The Shabbat with Friends Gathering brings people together on Shabbat in homes for joyful shared meals, group singing, engaging conversation, Jewish learning, and social connection. The Jewish home traditions have been hit hard by the conditions of modernity and frenzied mobility. SWF aims to revitalize the beautiful Jewish Sabbath home practices and to creatively adapt them to our modern reality. The Shabbat with Friends Gathering is an old/new approach to Shabbat hospitality, spirituality, and community.
How do Shabbat with Friends Gatherings Work?
SWF recruits host households in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and elsewhere in New Mexico. Our hosts team up with Rabbi Dov Gartenberg and Shabbat with Friends to hold gatherings centered around a Sabbat meal. Our gatherings, usually between 12 to 25 persons, are focused around a distinct Shabbat home activity such as Jewish folk singing, Torah study, facilitated conversation, or just hanging out together in a relaxed way around a great meal.
Our convener, Rabbi Dov Gartenberg, helps to bring people together from all backgrounds to experience and enjoy a rich and authentic Shabbat experience. Like any really good thing, other people will want to experience it. Slowly but surely the beautiful Jewish home hospitality traditions will spread and be shared
It does not matter whether your Jewish identity is secular or religious. Shabbat with Friends Gatherings tap into appreciation of the role of Shabbat in Jewish culture and religion. For some, these gatherings are a fun way to be with people and to share iconic Jewish comfort food. For others it is a deep spiritual moment of rest and connecting with God. For some, Shabbat with Friends Gatherings are an opportunity to connect to the great cultural treasury of Sabbath song and storytelling. For others the Sabbath gatherings conjure up warm memories of the joys of summer camp or family customs of the set table.
That is the beauty of Shabbat. Very different types of people can have a deep connection to it. We believe that the Shabbat home practices are just as important and definitive as Shabbat synagogue worship, if not more. By focusing on this tradition, we can restore the mindful “practice” of rest, joy, and friendship as a part of our busy, harried, and often mindless lives.
How do Shabbat with Friends Gatherings Work?
SWF recruits host households in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and elsewhere in New Mexico. Our hosts team up with Rabbi Dov Gartenberg and Shabbat with Friends to hold gatherings centered around a Sabbat meal. Our gatherings, usually between 12 to 25 persons, are focused around a distinct Shabbat home activity such as Jewish folk singing, Torah study, facilitated conversation, or just hanging out together in a relaxed way around a great meal.
Our convener, Rabbi Dov Gartenberg, helps to bring people together from all backgrounds to experience and enjoy a rich and authentic Shabbat experience. Like any really good thing, other people will want to experience it. Slowly but surely the beautiful Jewish home hospitality traditions will spread and be shared
It does not matter whether your Jewish identity is secular or religious. Shabbat with Friends Gatherings tap into appreciation of the role of Shabbat in Jewish culture and religion. For some, these gatherings are a fun way to be with people and to share iconic Jewish comfort food. For others it is a deep spiritual moment of rest and connecting with God. For some, Shabbat with Friends Gatherings are an opportunity to connect to the great cultural treasury of Sabbath song and storytelling. For others the Sabbath gatherings conjure up warm memories of the joys of summer camp or family customs of the set table.
That is the beauty of Shabbat. Very different types of people can have a deep connection to it. We believe that the Shabbat home practices are just as important and definitive as Shabbat synagogue worship, if not more. By focusing on this tradition, we can restore the mindful “practice” of rest, joy, and friendship as a part of our busy, harried, and often mindless lives.
Shabbat with Friends Gatherings are open to people of all backgrounds and people of all ages.
All of our SWF Gatherings are hosted by volunteer hosts who open their home to new faces to share Shabbat. To come, please pre-register and sign up to bring a potluck item. The physical address of our hosts is only given out to those who pre-register.
- For those who go to synagogue to pray, our gatherings complement the more formal patterns of collective worship with the informal and sensory spirituality of the Sabbath table.
- For those who Jewish but are not affiliated with the organized Jewish community, our gatherings tap into the best of Jewish traditions of hospitality, song and study, and the possibility of friendship in the presence of a sacred meal.
- For those from other faiths and cultures, the Shabbat with Friends Gathering is an authentic sharing of the Jewish spirit of weekly thanksgiving and the celebration of rest from the exhaustions of the work week.
- For those with children, Shabbat with Friends offers the precious opportunity to achieve a central goal of Jewish education over the generations: instilling the love of Shabbat in our young.
All of our SWF Gatherings are hosted by volunteer hosts who open their home to new faces to share Shabbat. To come, please pre-register and sign up to bring a potluck item. The physical address of our hosts is only given out to those who pre-register.
We recommend that you preregister early to guarantee place(s) at SWF Gatherings, since they are getting more and more popular. You may also arrange to attend by contacting Rabbi Dov Gartenberg directly. His contacts are listed on the Contact Page.
If you are interested in hosting a Shabbat with Friends Gathering, please click HERE to read about how to become an SWF Host. One of our biggest priorities is to support hosts as they fulfill the mitzvah of hospitality (Hachnasat Orchim). We hope you will consider it.
If you are interested in hosting a Shabbat with Friends Gathering, please click HERE to read about how to become an SWF Host. One of our biggest priorities is to support hosts as they fulfill the mitzvah of hospitality (Hachnasat Orchim). We hope you will consider it.
