Family Shabbat Picnic
Friday, June 9
6:00 pm
Venice Beach
Shabbat slows us down, so God can catch up to us. To experience life’s rewards, we need to take pauses. Only when we cease driving around can we stop and smell the roses.
As Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan explained:
“An artist cannot be continually wielding his or her brush. The painter must stop at times from the painting to freshen his or her vision of the object, the meaning of which the artist wishes to convey on the canvas. Living is also an art. … The Sabbath represents those moments when we pause in our brushwork to renew our vision of the general plan. Having done so, we take ourselves to our painting with clarified vision and renewed vision.”
In those pauses we realize, as the rapper Big Sean said: “The grass ain’t always greener on the other side. It’s greener where you water it.”
Please join us for our family Shabbat, where we will pause from the hectic pace of our lives and enjoy beautiful music and good company. These gatherings will inspire and recharge you and allow you to renew your vision of the artwork that is your family’s life. The evenings will re-invigorate you and bring joy to your whole family.
“Sing unto God a new song.”
-Psalm 96
If God is already tired, as suggests the Psalm, of hearing the old song, all the more so will ordinary mortals be.
-Alcalay (20th c. Jewish lexicographer)
The Open Temple.
Sing a new Song.