Shabbat

Friday and Saturday Shabbat Services - Except for the first Friday of each month, Erev Shabbat service begins at 7:30pm and Shabbat morning service, at 10:30am. We celebrate two different types of Shabbat services at the Village Temple. Check the VT calendar for the exact schedule of each type of service.

Kabbalat Erev Shabbat is a music-filled Friday night service for "tuning the soul". It incorporates an alternative siddur created by Rabbi Koster, with music and readings from all over the Jewish world to welcome in the Sabbath Bride with joy and dance. We begin with niggunim -- melodies without words. The prayers and readings are in Hebrew accompanied by transliterations, and in English. The following morning, is our Oneg Shabbat service. Continuing in the same prayer book, we participate in the morning service, with music designed to wake us up, physically and spiritually in stages, as we approach the Torah service and closing prayers.

Classical Erev Shabbat service uses the classical Reform siddur, Gates of Prayer. Our prayers are music, new and old, are familiar within the Reform movement liturgy. By tradition in our Congregation, there is usually a Torah reading on these Friday nights, harkening back to the days when the Reform movement did not have Saturday morning Shabbat services. Our Classical Shabbat morning service follows the Reform siddur and musical style, including the Torah service and closing prayers.