Posts Tagged wexner foundation
The World Needs More Shabbat Tents
Shabbat Tent gets a great mention in Harry Nelson’s torah commentary for Wexner Foundation Weekly Email.
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.
