Our Shabbat Services

By Rabbi Barry Israel Krieger

You can listen the melodies we use for our prayers on Shabbat here.

“There are times when we pray in an ordinary state of mind and we feel that we cannot draw near to God. Then, in an instant, the light of our soul is kindled and we go up to the highest worlds. We are like one who has been given a ladder: the light that shines in us is a gift from above.” (From: Your Word is Fire by Arthur Green and Barry Holtz).

     Our Shabbat service is a time for us to pray, sing, relax, talk and study together and connect as a community. We are, at our services, a “chavurah”, a group of friends gathering together to renew ourselves, reconnect with each other and learn from each other. We affirm that our prayers be from our “lev”, from our hearts and minds. That to pray with integrity, we must be emotionally and intellectually honest. We value each others thoughts and feelings and we seek to encourage participation as a way of growing community and deepening our lives. In this way, we can see each of us shining as we pray together in community.

     Our Friday night service begins at 7:30 pm and ends by 9:00 pm. These services mix Hebrew and English prayers and we have a transliteration sheet which helps people sing the Hebrew prayers while reading the words in an English format. We sing and talk and also discuss a topic with each other for about 15 minutes. Everyone’s thoughts and feelings on our topic are valued. The Shabbat spirit is welcomed by our lighting of the candles, our singing of the “Yedid Nefesh”, the “Shalom Aleichem” and “Lecha Dodi”. We, of course, include the other prayers which are part of our Friday evening Shabbat service and we conclude with the “kiddush” prayer over wine downstairs and share some dessert together.

     Our Shabbat morning service begins at 9:30 am and ends at noon. We begin with the “Birkot Ha-Shachar”, the Morning Blessings. This introductory section includes prayers dealing with waking up, gratitude for life, gratitude for our bodies and our health, and a prayer focusing on our breath. We often add to these standard Hebrew prayers our own personal blessings… what do we feel grateful for today? In this way, we build community and develop a caring and sharing “chavurah” or fellowship. We continue with our “P’sukeh D’zimra”, psalms of song, prayer section during which we acnowledge the beauty of our world and the wonders of seacoast NH by singing various prayers together. We talk about our week and touch base with each other before continuing with our “davening”, prayer, time. Our “Shacharit”, morning, prayers are chanted together in the Hebrew with no interruptions. We respect and honor our prayers as we “daven” together and individually the beautiful prayers leading up to our Torah service.

     Our Shabbat morning Torah reading honors as many people as we can. Please let me know in advance if you would like to read Torah that Shabbat or if you would like to chant the Haftarah portion that Shabbat. We encourage and appreciate your participation. While the Torah is out, we acknowledge those who are ill and pray for their (as well as our own) well being.

     We engage each other in conversation, usually about the weekly Torah portion. Our discussion begins with a review of an idea and developing that idea as a congregation which values each person, their thoughts and feelings.

      We conclude our service in song and then descend to the Levenson Social Hall for our Kiddush which includes refreshments and socializing—a time to make new friends, and re-acquaint with old ones.

     We are a “Kehillat Kodesh”, a holy congregation. We value each person. We affirm our committment to be a caring and kind congregation. These values are reflected in our prayers and in our prayer-time together. We sing, we talk, we eat and we of course welcome new-comers to our friendly circle at Temple Israel, Portsmouth. Please join us!