Havdalah Gathering

Havdalah can be combined with an afternoon/evening service, a meditation and/or movement program, and a Saturday night concert

(*** See Havdalah sharing below) 

We offer our unique, original version of Havdalah. 

It is easy to sing along with and a great way for saying goodbye, for now, to Shabbat.

Havdalah  Video

Live Service Havdalah Video

Havdalah Sharing

Shabbat shalom! So, while we still have a little time left on this week’s Sweet Shabbos gift card, let’s try to make the most of it.

Let’s try to assure that we are still lovingly connected with our Shabbat heart space, …and that our life energies are well centered and balanced. (Close eyes) Deep breaths! Let all the other stuff go for now.

We are very fortunate to be here tonight celebrating Shabbat with other wonderful, caring people, a family of friends, surrounding us, right here, right now. Don’t take it for granted. Feel the love!

Shabbat is about celebrating our precious life gift.  It provides us the opportunity to see and experience a touch of heaven once a week, to be able to relax and enjoy our lives in a more naturally life-oriented, connecting way. And after Shabbat, when we have come back down the ladder, just like it did with Jacob, it can help us to better appreciate the many fantastic things happening in our lives throughout the week.

In the Fourth Commandment of the “Big Ten” we are instructed to:

“Remember the Sabbath, and to make it holy”

We light candles both at the beginning and at the end of Shabbat to “remember” to set aside this chosen time, and to be consciously aware of it as holy space.  The degree of holiness in any place is affected by many things, including all the other people and life forms sharing the space. But on the personal level, our greatest positive contribution towards making a space holy involves reflecting the purest state of our essence, our essential being and most enlightened self, in love.

The first blessing of Havdolah thanks the Source of Creation for the fruits of the vine, the wine. In essence, this is our way of expressing gratitude for the fruits of life, and for all the amazing manifestations that make our amazing existence possible.

The second blessing, giving thanks for the spices of life, and it encourages us to take time for simple pleasures; to breathe, smell, taste and touch the wonderful fragrances and varieties of life. Appreciating the life, and our place as connected parts of it, is the best way to make “sense” of it all.

Lightening candles at the beginning of Shabbat supports our efforts to bring the light of Shabbat, the understandings of creation, and our place in it, into our homes and lives.

Lighting the Havdolah candle at the end of Shabbat encourages us to keep our flames burning brightly throughout the week. The fact that the Havdolah candle has so many wicks, invites us to join our inner lights, kind of like the linking of the very shallow intertwined roots of the great Redwoods allows them to survive and thrive, we support our shared growth by joining our lights with others to create a greater light.

Ideally, on the highest plane of our existence, we should always be opening ourselves to reflecting our brightest light. And after all, we are supposed to be a “light of the nations.”

By shining the universal lights, the lights of knowledge, truth and justice, we increase the consciousness and awareness of both ourselves and other life forms, and help create a more understanding world, one willing to make the changes and take the steps necessary for growth.

By shining light on the existence of a powerful, intelligent Force influencing our creation, the growth of our world, and us, we illuminate the light of life clarity, providing us with the means for fully enjoying our gifts of life right now, and for looking hopefully to our futures beyond.

Part of being a “light of the nations,” is in providing light for making the invisible visible. By increasing other peoples, and our own, capabilities for perceiving our shared connectedness with each other, and with the Shechinah, the Divine presence and energy Source of our existence, we illuminate our hopes for peace. May we all know Shabbos peace “weekly.”

Hug Samaech!