Shabbat Practice Cohort
Curious about participating in or leading practices to integrate Shabbat more deeply into your life? Through monthly learning sessions from November through June, the Shabbat Practice Cohort will explore key elements of observing and honoring Shabbat. We will read Heschel’s The Sabbath; explore distinctions between work and rest; engage in chevrutah (pair-based) learning; practice the blessings for a Friday night dinner, Shabbat lunch, and havdalah; bake challah; and enjoy home-hosted meals. This program is designed as an 8-session cohort experience, but single session and half program registration is available.
Saturday, Nov 14th - 12:30-1:30pm | CBST, 130 W. 30th Street | Grounding into Shabbat as a Spiritual Practice
Join us as we build this community of practice together for the coming eight months of leaning into rigorously resting and living during the week so we can revel in Shabbat. We will ground in our own curiosities, intentions and hopes and initiate our chevrutah (pair-learning) relationships.
Taste of text: Defining what is work and what is rest!?
Includes: Dinner and a set of handwrapped Shabbat candles. Pick-up your copy of The Sabbath, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and your own Shabbat practice notebook if you’ve enrolled in the entire cohort experience.
Thursday, Dec 17th - 6:30 - 9pm | UWS Manhattan, Location upon registration | Kneading Shabbat: A Challah Baking Workshop
Join the chain of challah bakers! Learn the tricks of kneading, the perfect rise and braiding skills passed down generation to generation. In between hands-on learning we will begin to explore the essential elements of putting together a Shabbat dinner table, from ritual to practical preparation. Taste of text: the blessing over challah and Divine/human partnership.
Includes: Dinner, a hand-dyed rainbow challah cover, a challah to take home as well as your own queer family challah recipe.
Fri, Jan 15th - 5:30pm | CBST, 130 W. 30th Strreet | Welcoming the Sabbath Queen
Enter into a full Friday night Shabbat experience with your Shabbat Practice cohort: learning together then immersing in CBST Shabbat Services followed by a community-wide Dinner Shul.
Taste of text: We will explore Friday night Kiddush blessing over wine: diving into the poetics of the text, its theology and some tachlis brass-tacks practice of leading.
Includes: Your dinner ticket to CBST Dinner Shul and your very own CBST Shabbat Table Blessings card for leading at home.
Sat, Feb 27th - 4:30 - 6:30pm | Brooklyn, Location upon registration | Savoring Shabbat and Marking Separation
We will explore the blessings and songs of Havdalah and Seudah Slishit, the practice of singing out Shabbat and bringing some sweetness into the week. We will learn and practice the key blessings of Havdalah, the ritual to end Shabbat, and make our own Havdalah set. Participants will have the opportunity to lead Havdalah at Shabbat Shalem or for Aleinu home-hosted Havdalah.
Taste of text: We will explore the spiritual and mystical dimensions of Havdalah.
Includes: Food, your very own Havdalah set and a CBST Havdalah blessings card.
Fri, March 26th - 6:30pm | West Village, Location upon registration | Building a Castle in Time: Cohort Shabbat Dinner
Rabbi Heschel teaches that Shabbat is a castle in time; in February it’s time for us to inhabit Shabbat together as a cohort. We will enjoy a catered Shabbat dinner home-hosted by Rabbi Yael Werber and time to enjoy Shabbat with good food, conversation and benching — blessings after the meal and Shabbat singing. Taste of text: The redemptive vision of Birkat HaMazon the blessings after the meal.
Includes: A catered Shabbat dinner and your very own CBST Bencher (Shabbat Zemirot and Birkat HaMazon) for singing and blessing at home.
Thursday, April 8th- 6:30 - 8:30pm | Manhattan, Location upon registration | The Art of Gathering a Shabbat Table
How do you actually host a Shabbat table? What elevates the experience (aka hiddur mitzvah) and makes a gathering actually feel like Shabbat? Practically, when do you do the ritual pieces, in what order, and how do you make it your own? Prepare to host for your cohort, your own Shabbat crew or for CBST Neighborhood Dinner Shul.
Taste of text: We will explore the practice of hiddur mitzvah, the beautification of Jewish practice.
Includes: Dinner and a curated set of recipes for your Shabbat table. If you don’t yet have: your very own CBST Shabbat Table Blessings card, Bencher or Havdalah blessings.
Sat, May 22nd - 12:30pm-2:30pm | CBST, 130 W. 30th Street | Immersing in Oneg Shabbat (Lunch)
We will explore Oneg Shabbat, the practice of delighting in Shabbat. We will gather for Shabbat lunch and learn a new favorite card or board game for Shabbat afternoon. Time to practice leading table blessings and Birkat HaMazon and enjoy a Shabbat walk with your chevrutah.
Taste of text: Shabbat morning kiddush blessing, v’shamru, we shall keep (Shabbat) and what shomer shabbat keeping Shabbat means for us.
Includes: Lunch, wine or grape juice tasting flight and a pack of rainbow playing cards. If you don’t yet have: your very own CBST Shabbat Table Blessings card or Bencher.
Sat, June 12th, 12:30 - 2:30pm | Location TBD | Immersing in Oneg Shabbat Pride Picnic Lunch TBD
Bringing in PRIDE month with a siyyum (celebration of learning) with a cohort-hosted Shabbat dinner. With ingredients and/or catering covered, this is an opportunity to revel in spending Shabbat together.
Taste of text: Queer Torah on our parshiot (special holiday Torah readings) for Pride Shabbat.
Includes: Dinner, CBST Pride Blessings for your Shabbat table and the PRIDE one’s neshama receives from reveling in Shabbat.