Family Shabbat Service

Evening of June 11, 2010 – when sun is setting

--A Small Introduction--

My family is not Jewish but we believe that we belong to Israel. We were a wild
olive shoot that God, in His mercy, choose to graft into His Olive Tree (Israel).
Over the past few years we have been learning, trying, failing, and trying again
to learn how God wants us to walk and one of the ways is new to us this week.
We believe that while we are not bound to the entirety of the Torah, there are
some commands (mitzvot) that honor God when we keep them. Shabbat is the
holiest of the Jewish holiday and it is celebrated weekly! It is a time of rest, a
time of thankfulness and a time to put on what makes you whose you are. The
following order of service has some aspects that are new and some that are
ancient, where I changed the wording it was not done maliciously but in
respecting the tradition that was given to the Jew while adapting to fit into our
family.

We are not Jewish but we believe that the man Jesus was a Jew, as well as
Messiah, and that He has called us into His community. This was one attempt
we made to allow Jesus to make us look more like Him rather than us trying to
make Him more like us.

The Shema
We began with the Shema because we were opening and reading scripture

Shema Israel, Adonai Eloheynu, Adonai Echad. Ve’Ahavta et Adonai Eloheykha,

B’khol lavakha, uve’khol napshekha, uve’khol mod’ehkha. Ve’ahavta l’re’acha
comocha.

Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. Love the Lord your God with
all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might. And love your
neighbor as yourself.

Amen.

Lighting of the Candles

Baruch atah Adonai Eloheynu Melech Ha-Olam…

Blessed are You Lord our God, King of the Universe…who saw fit, in Your
mercy, to bring in us your wild olive shoot and allow us, with the rest of Israel,
to kindle the Sabbath light.

Amen.

Scripture Reading
John 8:12

“Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the Light of the world; he who
follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.’”

Sabbath Prayer done by father

B’ru-cha Ha-ba-ah B’Shaym Adonai

Blessed is the Sabbath, which comes in the Name of the Lord

Amen.

The Sabbath is a symbol of liberation, a symbol of triumph, the triumph of the

holy over the profane, of spirit over matter. In every age the Sabbath afforded
the Jew a holy retreat, a haven of safety, a fountain of new strength and
perpetual self-renewal. The Sabbath is our hope, the calm haven where all the
weary find repose; with the coming of the Sabbath, redemption and peace
enter the world. The Sabbath uplifts men from the gloomy depths of the earth
into the splendor of the heavens, that they might know the God of truth and
become seekers of truth and doers of right.

(taken from My Beloved is Mine: Judaism and Marriage, Supplement A on page

293. Written by Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn, UAHC Press.)

Scripture Readings

Proverbs 31:10-31 (recited by husband to his wife)

An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels. The heart of
her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good
and not evil all the days of her life. She looks for wool and flax and works with
her hands in delight. She is like merchant ships; she brings her food from afar.
She rises also while it is still night and gives food to her household and portions
to her maidens. She considers a field and buys it; from her earnings she plants
a vineyard. She girds herself with strength and makes her arms strong. She
senses that her gain is good; her lamp does not go out at night. She stretches
out her hands to the distaff, and her hands grasp the spindle. She extends her
hand to the poor, and she stretches out her hands to the needy. She is not
afraid of the snow for her household, for all her household are clothed with
scarlet. She makes coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple.
Her husband is known in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land.
She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies belts to the tradesmen.
Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future. She opens
her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks
well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her
children rise up and bless her; her husband also, and he praises her, saying:
“Many daughters have done nobly, but you excel them all.” Charm is deceitful
and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.
Give her the product of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.

Deuteronomy 30 (we will be changing this as we go through the year, Deu 30 is

one of my all time favorite passages.)
This week’s Torah Portion (we follow First Fruits of Zion)

The Fruit of the Vine

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheynu Melech Ha-Olam, boray p’ri hagafen.

Blessed are You Lord our God, King of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the
vine.

Amen

Glass is poured and passed between family to drink

Scripture Reading
John 15:1-17

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. “Every branch in Me that
does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He
prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. “You are already clean because of the
word which I have spoken to you. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless
you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and
I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. “If anyone
does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they
gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. “If you abide in
Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for
you. “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to
be My disciples. “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide
in My love. “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I
have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. “These things I
have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be
made full.

“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
“You are My friends if you do what I command you. “No longer do I call you
slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called
you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known
to you. “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you
would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you
ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. “This I command you, that
you love one another.”

Blessing of the Children

Holding the child(ren) in their arms, the father speaks over the boys and the
mother speaks over the girls. Since we only have Isaac right now, I spoke this
over him.

Y’seem-cha Eloheem K’eph-ra-yeem V’chee-M’na-Sheh.

May you be like Ephraim and Manasseh

May the God of our Fathers bless you. May He who has guided us unto this day
lead you to be an honor to our family, a blessing to God’s community and to all
mankind. (Taken from Gittelsohn page 294)

Amen.

The Bread
Baruch atah Adonai Eloheynu Melech Ha-Olam, hamo-tzee lechem min ha-
aretz.

Blessed are You Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread
from the earth.

Amen.

The bread is passed and pieces torn to eat.

Scripture Reading
John 6:35-40

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger,
and he who believes in Me will never thirst. “But I said to you that you have
seen Me, and yet do not believe. “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me,
and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. “For I have come
down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
“This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose
nothing, but raise it up on the last day. “For this is the will of My Father, that
everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I
Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

Closing Blessing

Baruch atah Adonai Eloheynu Melech Ha-Olam, Ha-zan et Ha-Kol.

Blessed are You Lord our God King of the Universe, who provides food for all.

Amen.

Blessings and prayers to God close off our night.