We will be camping ins spots 2, 3, and 4!

GroovePhest 2010 will kick off spring the right way with four days of camping, live music, hiking, relaxing, dancing, great vibes and inspiration. A portion of proceeds will benefit the Lake Piru foundation to help keep the lake and park open to the public for years to come, as well as benefit the Ventura County Food Banks.

Groovephest looks like it will be THE festival to be at this spring!

Look For The Sign!

Shabbat Tent official Fan Page is now up on Facebook. It is a place for information, photos, links, whatever. We loaded some pics from Langerado, Wakarusa, and Phish Fest.

If you know people in the pics you can help us tag them and share them.

Help spread the news about Shabbat Tent by becoming a fan.

Unpacking at Wakarusa

Here are some of the supplies that we are going to need. If you have a way of getting any of these – let us know!

FOOD:
Fruits (2 Crates) Vegis (2 Crates) Tuna
Challah (30) bagels (10 dozen) Wine (2 cases)
Cookies (lots) olive oil 1gal chips (5 bags)
tortillas (5 bags) salsa lots hummous lots
Pickles 10 cans olives 10 cans Cakes (lots)

any other vegi foodstuffs

SUPPLIES
Water Coolers
Folding Chairs
Folding Tables
10foot or larger pop up canopy

Home Made Shabbat Tent sign

Large flagpole ( we had to leave ours at phishfest… long story.)

Be in touch if you are interested in getting something…

Are you interested in a Shabbat Tent Coachella 2010?

Let us know by filling out the volunteer form – and we will send you any info we have.

As always – our major hurdle is funding. We need funds to bring in the people, equipment, and food that is needed.

But it doesn’t cost a fortune at all. We just need some people willing to contribute what they can, a few sponsors, and we can do this.

Looking forward to hearing from you – Peace – Love – Shabbat Tent

Among the many great projects underway that offer a possible channel to greater balance on the permanent/impermanent axes, one that’s captured my imagination lately is the Shabbat Tent (http://shabbattent.com/), an emerging independent movement I learned about from my fellow Detroiter-in-exile and Jewish hero, Rabbi Yonah Bookstein.

The idea of Shabbat Tent is to go to where Jews already are, in significant numbers, at the big camping music festivals, each of which draw tens of thousands of people across the country seeking a spiritual connection in the communal enjoyment of the great jam bands of our time. Taking a cue from Abraham, for three days or so at a time, the Shabbat Tent folks set up a tent and provide open hospitality, from meals and snacks to shade to davening to a space to connect in the midst of a transcendent spiritual experience. In so doing, Shabbat Tent represents an effort to integrate Jewishness and make God’s presence felt in the process. We could use more projects like this across the Jewish world.

May we be blessed to find more balance in every facet of our lives.

By Ryan Torok

For three days over Halloween weekend, between 30,000 to 40,000 fans of the eclectic, free-form rock band Phish gathered on the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, site of the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, for Phish Festival 8. RVs and thousands of small camping tents staked out territory throughout eight campgrounds. And in one of those tents, on Friday night, Rabbi Yonah Bookstein led 35 people in a Kabbalat Shabbat service. This was the Shabbat Tent.

Starting at around 5 p.m., timed so people wouldn’t miss the first Phish set, a group of Jews and non-Jews crossed the campground dancing and singing “Lecha Dodi,” then, beneath a huge Israeli flag, they recited Kiddush, said the Motzi and ate a vegetarian Shabbat meal.

“We were basically making a big scene, and everybody pretty much enjoys it,” said Bookstein, who serves as director of JconnectLA, the tent’s sponsor at the festival. “You can be Jewish in so many ways and in so many environments. You don’t have to check your Magen David at the festival gate.”

The Shabbat Tent concept was created in 1999 by Shmuel Skaist, a musician and rabbi known to Phish fans as Rav Shmuel or the “Phish Rabbi,” and Adam Weinberg, a concert promoter. The two originally met in Israel and became friends. Skaist told Weinberg about his idea to host Shabbat at all Phish concerts and other music festivals, and before long they were doing exactly that, traveling around the United States. But the pair were operating on a small scale and with no funding.

The turning point for the project came in 2007, when Chasidic reggae star Matisyahu invited Skaist and Weinberg to pitch a Shabbat Tent at a festival he was headlining. The pair worked with the camping directors and festival promoters, and the Shabbat Tent, which took up a large space in one of the campgrounds, fed hundreds of people over the course of the weekend. The event was a significant success for Skaist and Weinberg.

“We had such a tremendous response,” Weinberg said. “The more we can get into the festival framework, the more kids we can cater to.”

At the recent Phish Festival, the Shabbat Tent didn’t get official placement, but it had its place. Phish has Jewish blood — the band’s bassist, Mike Gordon, is Jewish, and “Avinu Malkenu” occasionally pops up on Phish set-lists.

On Saturday morning, as the desert sun warmed the palm trees and a group of festival-goers sat on a warped trampoline drinking beers, the Shabbat Tent team walked around the campsite trying to pull together enough people for a minyan. Among the men they found was one fan dressed in flip-flops, shorts and big sunglasses and sporting a big rubber boa constrictor around his neck. Asked if he wanted an aliyah, he initially declined, saying he had forgotten all the Hebrew he once knew. But he relented as organizers urged him to try; he took the Siddur and read perfectly.

The week’s portion was Lech-Lecha, the story of Abraham and Sarah’s journey to a land unknown.

Lunch was served after prayers, with more than 75 people attending. For the rest of Shabbat the tent became a relaxing hangout, a place where fans could take a break from the chaos.

“The Shabbat Tent brings people together in ways that are more creative than other events,” said Aliyah Hemley, a San Fernando Valley resident who spent much of her time in the Shabbat Tent. “A lot of organized Jewish events don’t have much to do with the outdoors, so it’s nice when they are a bit more earthy.”

Valley Village’s Continental Kosher Bakery and Schwartz’s Bakery in West Los Angeles donated food to the tent, and at one point during the weekend, a woman dropped off 12 challahs, wished everybody “Good Shabbos” and disappeared, never to show up again.

Good deeds occurred all weekend long. On Friday, before Shabbat, fire marshals declared the area where the Shabbat Tent had set up to be a fire lane. They made the Shabbat Tent move, but not without help: camping officials got dozens of volunteers to help organizers set up the tent in a new area, and neighboring campers donated spare tenting.

“Even within the larger scene of the festival, you have community,” Bookstein said.

Thank you camping staff!

The long story in a nutshell — we were all set to go and then the Fira Marshall declared our lane a fire lane. No arguing with them. That is the law and we had to move. Oy Vey@!

After we had to move the staff felt bad and gave us this dream tent. An unused tent that had been put up for catering, with electricity, lights, next to water, WC, and the General Store.

So sweet and so kind. Such is the divine hand that guided the entire weekend.

We made it- its a zoo. Expecting 50-60,000 people this weekend.

Look for huge Israeli flag in ” Lamb” camping lot – along fence, near exit to main venue area

Shabbat shalom!

UPDATE — CAMP MOVED NEXT TO CAMPING HQ AND GENERAL STORE IN LAMB CAMPGROUND

Dear Friends,

We have a huge feast of food for Friday EARLY evening at 5:15. We will be making an early Shabbat and dinner so that folks that want to get to shows will have time.

Come after the shows Friday Night— more food, song, and stories.

We have breakfast, learning, services and lunch all planned for Shabbat AM before the shows start.

See you there!

see below the break for the FULL SCHED

THURDAY

CARAVAN FROM PICO MEETING AT 9:30pm

Meet at the Chase Bank, corner of Pico and Doheny

ARRIVAL – Midnightish, make tents

FRIDAY

COME HELP OUT!

Setting up Shabbat Tent – building stuff

Food Prep

Handing out promotional material

4:00PM Concert Field opens

4:30PM KABBALAT SHABBAT SERVICE

5:15PM SHABBAT DINNER (First Seating)

7:30PM – Phish Set 1

10:00PM – Set 2

After Show – Shabbat Oneg – Food, song, stories

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31ST, 2009
9:00 BREAKFAST STARTS

9:30 SFAS EMES / TANYA before Shacharis.

10:30 SHABBAT MORNING SERVICES

12:30 SHABBAT LUNCH
12:00PM – Concert Field opens
3:00PM – Phish Set 1

5:00PM – MICHA/ THIRD MEAL/

6:30PM - HAVDALLAH
7:30PM – The Halloween Set
10:00PM – Set 3

SUNDAY, NOV. 1

Break Down Shabbat Tent

LOCATION
We will be building a 20 foot flag pole with a huge Israeli flag – and posting the location on Shabbattent.com and on Twitter and Facebook.

DRIVING OUT;
Anyone with a car permit is encouraged to caravan with us so we can put all our campsites adjacent to each other.

TORAH
We have a torah – and are looking for folks to read

SUPPLIES TO BRING TO HELP OUT
folding chairs or Table, pop-up canopy
tubs – for washing food, lanterns

FOOD WE CAN ALWAYS USE

cookies, brownies, cake, bread, challah, peppers or other vegis, soy / rice milk, cereal, wine, lchaims Anything ….

SHABBAT SUPPLIES YOU COULD BRING
Tallit, Kippah, Siddur
Chumash/Tanach with parsha (so we dont have to photocopy it)
Your favorite wine or grape juice to share
Spices for havdalah

SCHED
See above