A few weeks ago I asked our teens if they wanted to take part in BBYO's Global Shabbat, an opportunity for teens around the world to celebrate Shabbat simultaneously, by having a Shabbat dinner together. The answer was an astounding yes, although there were some hesitations... "Kate we have never done this before, what do we do?". I replied, "No te preocupes, te ayudaré" (Do not worry, I will help you)! Although our teens meet for programs a few times a week, they had never celebrated Shabbat together. Melu and Kori, two teens from Hebraica, volunteered to plan the Shabbat and a few weeks later, we met in Melu´s house to celebrate our first Shabbat together!
Shabbat is an opportunity for communities to come together and this Shabbat brought our community together on multiple levels. Our group of twenty-some teens in Buenos Aires consists of teens from the first and second year of Hebraica's Madrichim school. While the teens within each year know each other well, they do not know the teens in the other year as well. Celebrating Shabbat together let our teens connect in a less formal environment and has created even stronger bonds between our teens. This Shabbat also brought our global Jewish community together as part of the night consisted of a Google Hangout with teens from Boston.
After listening in on part of BBYO New England Region´s Shabbat services in Boston, representatives from each of our groups recited the blessing over the candles,
kiddush, and hamotzi, the blessing over the bread. After the prayers, one of our teens Lei, starting singing Shehecheyanu and soon, teens in Argentina and Boston started singing and dancing along! As I sang along, I looked around the room at the smiling faces of my teens and felt completely overwhemed and overjoyed that my teens had the ability and opportunity to connect in this way while celebrating Shabbat. When the singing ended, we said our goodbyes and wished the teens in Boston a Shabbat Shalom. Technology´s ability to connect amazes me more and more each and every day. Our group of twenty teens got to celebrate their first Shabbat not only amongst our group but also with teens on a different continent!
During the Google Hangout, one of the teens had turned to me and said, "Kate this is a lot of Judaism at once, but I really like it". This statement resonates with me because it embodies part of what I would like to accomplish with my time in Argentina. I see my role as one of a connector: a connector to other teens around the world, a connector to BBYO, a connector to different modes of practicing Judaism. Although my teens do not celebrate Shabbat every week, celebrating together gave them an opportunity to connect to their Jewish identities in a different manner in which they are accustomed. I hope to fuse together connecting my teens to Jewish traditions and connecting them to other teens around the world in future programs as well! It was a wonderful night and our teens cannot wait to have another Shabbat dinner together soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment