Shabbat Review: Yakar

Shul: Yakar

Location: 10 HaLamed-Hey Street, Jerusalem

Date: April 29, 2011

Description: Yakar provides another very musical, energetic Shabbat environment. Like Shira Chadasha, it is a modern, egalitarian Orthodox environment, meaning that while there is a mechitza (divider between men and women), it is placed directly down the middle of the room so that both men and women have an equal view of the aron kodesh, or ark (cabinet with the Torah scroll). Yakar differs from Shira Chadasha, though, in that only men chanted parts of the service. Yakar also differs from Shira Chadasha in that there were much fewer people because the space was much smaller (About 100-115 people in a space that was about half the size of the CBI Activity Center. For comparison's sake, Shira Chadasha is about the size of half of the CBI Social Hall.).

Yakar had a Rabbi that took more of a "leader" role. He called out sections of the service, truly led the community in songs, and even encouraged dancing during certain parts of the service. While it's difficult to compare the two because the previous Friday was during Pesach Chol HaMoed (meaning no Kabbalat Shabbat), there was a much greater sense of ruach (spirit) in the community. There was more singing, and a stronger feeling of kavanah (emotional connection). The melodies were disconnected in mood; each one was written for each prayer without thought towards the service as a whole. Yet, they were all similar in style, as a vast majority were written by Shlomo Carlebach.

Although this type of service (everyone kinda does they're own thing and is brought together every once in a while) is still not my Cup O' Joe (and yes, that's actually the name of a coffee shop here...pronounced "Koh-pa Jo"), I felt more comfortable here. Maybe it was the music. Maybe it was the fact that I was sitting next to other Reform Jews, other Rabbinic students who were just finishing up their year in Israel and therefore had much to share. Maybe it was the fact that I brought my own siddur (prayerbook) that had English translations and commentaries (in case you're wondering, I use the Koren Sacks siddur when I'm not at a Reform shul...while I don't always agree with its liturgical philosophy, it's the best siddur that has EVERYTHING). Whatever the reason, and in spite of my uncomfortablity with the traditional texts, I really felt like I was at Shabbat in Jerusalem.

Something Special: I don't always like what the traditional prayers say. (For example, on Friday night, we are supposed to read some special Shabbat laws from Mishna including one that explains that if a women is careless in the laws of menstruation, separates challah, or lights the Shabbat light, she could die in childbirth. Oh, and those are all "transgressions." Yeah, I'm going to have fun in liturgy class with that one. Expect a post on it later. But I digress.) However, in the commentary for Psalm 92, a song for the day of Shabbat, the commentary notes, "Shabbat is not merely a day of rest, it is a rehearsal, within time, for the age beyond time when humanity, guided by the call of God, moves beyond strife, evil and oppression, to create a world of harmony, respecting the integrity of creation as God's work, and the human person as God's image," in other words, the Messianic Age. Now, that's a really big sentence that needs to get unpacked, but my intention is not to do that here. This sentence really struck me about how to observe Shabbat. I take from this that Shabbat is meant to be a rehearsal for the Messianic Age, a perfect time of peace and harmony. Our job on Shabbat is to act that way. For some, this means refraining from all work. For others, it means engaging in tikkun olam, repairing the world. However you wish to read it, the point is that we should try to be better people on Shabbat.

So, here's a challenge to you: this next Shabbat, try to be a better person.

Take-home Value: Lots of ruach, mechitza is still there, and try to keep up because they daven really fast.

Would I Go Again: I would not go out of my way to go here again, but I also would not say no if a group was going.