Sabbath
Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Life
Led by Rabbi Marcia Prager and Cantor Jack Kessler
November 21-23, 2003
Friday, 3:00 pm - Sunday, 1:00 pm.
Arrival 1:00 - 3:00 pm Friday
Join Rolling Ridge Community for a celebration of Sabbath led by husband-wife team Rabbi Marcia Prager and Jack Kessler. Rabbi Prager is a nationally known Jewish renewal teacher, author, storyteller, artist and therapist from Philadelphia. She teaches in Jewish and interfaith settings, offering wisdom from Jewish tradition as a path of personal and global healing. Jack Kessler is a traditionally trained cantor and director of two Jewish music ensembles.
Bathed in candlelight glow, we begin Friday afternoon and evening with song, story, dance, prayer and a shared meal to welcome the Sabbath and invite the Spirit to be with us, blending the ancient words of sacred prayer with the new words and melodies that our modern journeys have taught us, awakening to new possibilities of thinking and being.
We continue Saturday venturing further into the inner dimension of prayer, exploring the teachings of Torah, renewing our relationship with each other and the mystery of creation. At sundown we conclude with a ceremony of fire, spice and wine to end the Sabbath time.
On Sunday morning, we will explore how the practice of Sabbath can transform our relationship to our work, and to the collective human project of living in right relationship with each other and the earth.
Wear comfortable clothing that allows you to relax and celebrate. Bring an open heart and a good appetite for delicious vegetarian cooking.
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Tonight is a time to catch our breath
Whatever we have been
doing,
making,
working,
creating,
Tonight is a time to catch our breath.
No matter how necessary our work,
how important to the world,
how urgent that we continue it —
No matter how joyful our work,
how fully and profoundly human —
No matter how flawed our work,
how urgent that we set it right —
No matter how hard we have worked to gather
our modest fame,
our honorable livelihood,
our reasonable power —
Tonight we pause to catch our breath.
Tonight we pause to share whatever we have gathered.
We need this.
Our planet needs Sabbath!
We need to make Sabbath as individuals,
as a people,
and as a human species gone mad with despoiling our world.
I do my most important work on Sabbath,
and that work is making Sabbath!
