Once a month, Aardvark sponsors a Shabbaton, basically a homestead with a religious family over Shabbat. Thing like this aren't usually my cup of tea, but I was low on cash (after Shpongle) and it seemed like it would do me some good to experience a true Shabbat. Anyways, the place was Moshav Modi'in (Mevo Modi'in), located about 4km north-west of Modi'in, which in turn is directly in between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, strafing the Green Line.
The Moshav was incredibly beautiful and had character other Moshavs lack. There was community art all over walls of houses, gardens full of fruit-bearing trees, and backyards with hammocks. The proper adjective to describe the residents would be, as Wikipedia says, eclectic.
I'll start by describing Shabbat, for the goyim audience. Shabbat is the seventh day of the week; it is the day of rest. Judaism views Shabbat in a completely different dynamic from the rest of the week, and of all Jewish tradition to keep holy, Shabbat is arguably the most important aspect of our faith (arguably does not mean I wish to argue this…I'd get sauced). Kabbalah defines Shabbat as the period of the week where the Shehinah is elevated and rises, with the help of our Mitzvot, to meet the Ohr Ein Soph in a moment of divine unity. The hell…yeah, okay. I'm not about to explain Kabbalah, but in Jewish Mysticism, God / The Divine / The Spirit-wind-of-Elohim has two components, a male, infinite being, called the Ohr Ein Soph (translated: the infinite light) that exists outside of the realm of anything finite. We do not have any direct interaction with the Ohr Ein Soph, and the only way there is any interaction between our realm and his is through a series of "lenses" known as Sephirot, basically the exact same thing as Chakras. Following? The Shehinah is the female counterpart of God and she exists in the finite realm. Judaism is all about unity, and it's our goal to unify the Shehinah with the Ohr Ein Soph by repairing the broken vessels (Klippa) and some other shit. In other words, by doing good deeds, we create an act of divine unity between the female and the male. In other words, cosmic sex. If you managed to follow that, my hat is off to you. So that's Kabbalah's take on Shabbat, it's a day of pure unity.
Aaaaaas such, you are not allowed to do a few things on Shabbat. No carrying, no burning, no extinguishing, no finishing, no writing, no erasing, no cooking, no washing, no sewing, no tearing, no knotting, no untying, no shaping, no plowing, no planting, no reaping, no harvesting, no threshing, no winnowing, no selecting, no sifting, no grinding, no kneading, no combing, no spinning, no dyeing, no chain-stitching, no warping, no weaving, no unraveling, no building, no demolishing, no trapping, no shearing, no slaughtering, no skinning, no tanning, no smoothing, and no marking. No problem.
That in mind, we got to Rabbi Avraham Arieh Trugman's and, like, damn. His place is sweet. He has an awesome yard with a fountain in it, a cave below the yard, and ancient ruins on the hill next to his house. The house itself is beautifully designed, with tons of really trippy Cabalistic paintings basically depicting some of the stuff I described earlier (God having sex with him/her self).
There were eleven of us, if I'm not mistaken. We went to shul Friday night. It was pretty weird. It seemed like half the congregation was tripping face. Dinner was served when we got back. Of course, the food was delicious and endless (definitely NOT why I decided to come…). So we ate, then we slept.
Somewhere in the back of my mind (near where I have my good judgement caged up), I decided to wake up early. Sin alarm clock, I woke up at around 6:30, got up, walked around the Moshav, stopped by the shul, meditated a bit, and read a lot. It was a gorgeous day, not a cloud in the sky and probably 60˚. We had second meal together and then we decided to check out the Ben Shemen Forest (the largest contiguous body of woods in Israel) which just so happens to surround the Moshav. The crew was Ari, Oscar, Hannah, Natalie, Adin, and Ryah. And the forest was pretty cool (by Israel standards, top notch). I'd include pictures, but they're on Oscar's Android and I have no idea how to get them off and I'm way too lazy.
After a profuse amount of gambling with Oscar over ping pong (overall I lost 5 shekel), we called it quits, had third meal, and parted ways. All in all, a very positive first Shabbat experience. And as I lay in my bed on saturday night, a sweeping feeling of contentedness sank in, and I was really quite happy.
Sunblocks - Ratatat
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