Erev Shabbat Jewish Blogging

[gnomi]

This week, Shabbat Z'mirot

Z'mirot (singular: z'mirah) are liturgical songs. Specifically, Shabbat z'mirot are the songs we sing on Shabbat at the three meals commanded for the day.

Because Hebrew calendar days start in the evening, the three meals at which we sing z'mirot are Friday night dinner, Saturday lunch, and a meal on Saturday called "se'udah shlishit" (which translates as "third meal" and is traditionally eaten after mincha (the afternoon service) on Saturday afternoon).

Each meal has a set of songs that are associated with it, but people tend sing whichever of the z'mirot they want to at either dinner or lunch (while there are specific ones that are traditionally only associated with se'udah shlishit). The texts of the z'mirot traditionally speak of the laws of Shabbat, or of the Jews' relationship to Hashem through Shabbat observance.

There are CDs of Shabbat z'mirot available. Because I love a cappella music, I highly recommend West Side Z'mirot from Beat'achon.

Shabbat shalom!

***

An administrative note -- if people have topics they'd like me to cover in future Erev Shabbat Jewish Blogging posts, please let me know. As mabfan can attest, I sometimes have trouble coming up with topics.

Comments

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

I have a couple of suggestions for things I'd like to hear your take on, at least. :)

Easiest is probably that I want to hear more about Jewish music. I didn't grow up with it, and I only tend to be exposed to that which has English on the cover, and a tiny fraction of that. What's good? What's classic? What brings back memories?

I'm also curious how you guys see yourselves within the various circles of friends. You've got poly friends, ultrageek friends, even-more-observant friends (I assume) ... I guess I've been struggling with this integration myself, recently, and would like to hear someone else's take on it, particularly from within the Orthodox world.

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

Oh! I thought of another one, too! What's your take on eating in someone else's home? How do you decide where you can eat, and where you can't? I have O friends who come over and eat anything off my meat set because I only use glatt meat, but don't eat off my dairy set because I use Tablet K. I have O friends who don't eat off my dishes at all, and there are those who come over to cook the meal we later eat. Then there are those who will eat off the dairy dishes, but won't eat dishes with non-OU cheeses in them. And I think one of my friends has stopped eating at my house because my housemates put their non-kosher meat (double bagged) in the refridgerator and eat it off plasticware/paperware. It's all somewhat confusing at times. How do I make it so that the most possible people will eat at my house, while still enabling my housemates to use the kitchen in a reasonable fashion?

I'm still trying to figure out how I eat at others' homes, too, since I have a lot of non-observant friends and non-Jewish friends. I generally eat vegetarian when out, but I do eat things cooked on non-kosher dishes in order to spend time with non-kosher friends and family. And I'm not sure if that's supportable from an O or C standpoint, or where I might look in halacha. I know I'm more observant about kashrus than your average Conservative Jew, but that leaves me with less precident to fall back on, sometimes.

So ... food for thought?

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Another good question. I'll have to think a lot about this one, since what I do and how I explain it is a very personal kind of thing (not personal as in "I don't want to share it" but personal as in "it's uniquely me and I don't expect it to necessarily work for/make sense to anyone else."

[angwantibo.livejournal.com]

These are wonderful questions. My girlfriend brings leaves a couple of kosher pots and pans at close friends and family to solve the problem. She keeps glatt at home, but has guests that won't eat her dairy because she does not keep chalav yisrael. For some reason, none of issues bother her. I'm constantly amazed at how much these issues bother the rest of us.

The halacha is that if someone else keeps kosher, you give them the benefit of the doubt until you have a reason to doubt. That coupled with the desire for unity means that I would never refrain from eating at another's home unless I have a real reason to doubt the kashrut. I also hold more by the principle than the letter of the law allowing for more wiggle room.

Unfortunatley, not everyone does this and it sometimes irritates me until I realize how special it is that they are so concerned with doing God's will. The differences between us melt.

I'm always amazed at how much we spend on the details instead of the bigger picture.

Isn't that thought for food?

[magid.livejournal.com]

I would never refrain from eating at another's home unless I have a real reason to doubt the kashrut.

Does the person's level of Shabbat observance factor into this? So if you know someone who is kosher enough (for whatever level of enough), but doesn't keep Shabbat at all, do you still eat at their house?

(Not meaning to pry; I'm just curious.)

[angwantibo.livejournal.com]

That's a tough one. Halachically, if a person keeps shabbos, then you can trust them with kashrut. If they don't keep shabbos, the trust is not there as they are not vested in halacha. This is one of the areas where I give myself more wiggle room than halacha, especially in the case of family where shalom bayit, a torah mitzvah, should take precedence.

Personally, I would. But that's me, not halacha.

It sounds like you are shomer shabbat and shomer kashrut. Do you consider yourself O or C or other?

[magid.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what I consider myself these days. I'm shomeret Shabbat and kashrut. When I daven at shul, there's a mechitzah. But the kavannah isn't there like it used to be, and I don't go as much as I used to. Can I define myself as mostly orthopraxis while unsure about ortho-dox?

[angwantibo.livejournal.com]

How about Jewish? :)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Hee! Far too simple :-)

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

That's one of the tough ones. Generally speaking if I've known someone for a long time, I'll know what their level of observance is. If it's a new acquaintance I met at shul I can usually assume we're at a similar level, or I can ask a mutual friend. If it's a new acquaintance I met in a neutral context, I might try to find a gentle way to ask a few questions.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Oh, these are good, meaty post-inspiring questions. Thanks! I'll tackle some of these in upcoming weeks.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

All you need is Carlebach! :-) Seriously, Shlomo was the first to really put prayer to music, and is still among the best... his daughter Neshama has a gorgeous voice, too. Another good singer to check out is Mordechai ben David (a.k.a. MBD) - lots of energy. If you prefer groups try Dveykus to start. Hope that helps!

[angwantibo.livejournal.com]

Two things...

Although there are specific tunes for seudah shlishit (also known as shalosh seudas), most shuls that have a specific singing time will sing other shabbos zmirot as well. How about that. Shabbos Zmirot - a sav and tav pronunciation in the same phrase. I didn't know I did that.

Which m'nuchah v'simchah tune is in your head?

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Heh on (what a rabbi I know calls) Ashkesfard phrasing. And that's interesting -- I've never been to shalosh seudos anywhere that they did non-shalosh-seudos z'mirot.

As for m'nuchah v'simchah, I'm not sure how to describe which of the mellow m-v's melodies I've been humming (I know, off the top of my head, 3 m-v's tunes, one of which is much more bouncy than the others). It's the one on the Beat'achon disc, which is how it got stuck in my head.

[angwantibo.livejournal.com]

Kedimah Toras Moshe, the Bostoners, and the Weiners are 3 places I've been to that are this way.

I don't have that CD and I'm not a mind reader, yet. I can only think of 2 right now, the slow one and the Shlomo one.

[beckyfeld.livejournal.com]

There should not be such a thing as a "SAV"! It's either a "TAV" or a "SOV". That said, however, Aaron also insists that such a letter exists :-(

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Heh. I learned the art of Ashkesfard from R. Hochberg. :-)

[beckyfeld.livejournal.com]

I remember...

With Aaron, when he learned the Aleph-Bet he was taught that the last letter is "saf" and if you point to one he'll tell you that that's what the letter is called. However, since his Hebrew teacher is Israeli, he actually _reads_ the letter as if it were a taf.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

And, anyway, "sov" is what a sevivon does. :-)

[magid.livejournal.com]

No, that's what a third of a sevivon does, according to the song :-)

Okay, I have to ask:

[pisicutsa.livejournal.com]

What do all the letter/terms means?
O?
C?
OU?
halacha?
kashrus?
kashrut?
mechitzah?
kavannah?

(sounds like a wacky song when you put it all together). :)

Re: Okay, I have to ask:

[beckyfeld.livejournal.com]

O - Orthodox
C - Conservative
OU - The Union of Orthodox Rabbis - a very common Kosher-certifying body (among other things). Their "symbol" is a U in a circle.
halacha - Jewish law
kashrus - "kosherness" (Ashkenazic pronunciation)
kashrut - "kosherness" (Sephardic pronunciation)
mechitzah - the physical divider between men and women at services
kavannah - sort of a concept combining intention/focus/concentration

Re: Okay, I have to ask:

[pisicutsa.livejournal.com]

thanks! :)

[deerdancer22.livejournal.com]

Please post on how you end the Sabbath. Thanks!

[zsero.livejournal.com]

the songs we sing on Shabbat at the three meals proscribed for the day

Unless it's Yom Kippur, I don't think any meals are proscribed <grdc>

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Y'know? You're the first to notice the typo (now fixed). That's what I get for posting on Erev Shabbat Brain (that was a sentence that got rewritten about 4 times).

linky

[sanpaku.livejournal.com]

I linked to your post to explain what zmirot were for my friends who won't have heard of them. I'm really into zmirot and finding new melodies for them, which is kind of sad when you don't have people to spend shabbat with. But my daughter at age 3 can sing the whole refrain of "Tzur mishelo achalnu," so that's a start!