Drunk On Their Love For G-d
Part 19 of a Multi-Part Series “Towards Religion and Meaning”
Note: This is a multi-part series, if you haven’t read the previous posts, I highly recommend checking them out to catch-up before proceeding, here.
- Part One: Why I Turned Away From G-d
- Part Two: Declaring My Atheism
- Part Three: The Repugnancy of Religion
- Part Four: The Superficiality And Thoughtlessness of Religion
- Part Five: The Silencing of Religion
- Part Six: It’s Cool To Be An Atheist
- Part Seven: “Culturally Jewish”
- Part Eight: I Am The Seeker
- Part Nine: Stealing Fire
- Part Ten: Phish — The Ultimate Spiritual Experience
- Part 11: Chained to the Loom
- Part 12: Quitting My Job To Pursue My Dream
- Part 13: The Hell of Entrepreneurship
- Part 14: Suffering From Too Much Freedom
- Part 15: Are You Committed?
- Part 16: The Simple Formula For Purpose
- Part 17: The Need For Community
- Part 18: My Reintroduction To Judaism
Just a few weeks into beginning my studies with my friend and his Rabbi, I was invited to a Shabbaton a few hours away in Houston. A Shabbaton, as I understood it, is a weekend program focused on education and celebration around Jewish culture that centered around Shabbat.
I had never been to one of these, but I had heard about them while I was in college and figured I would try to rearrange my schedule to at least make the Friday night of the event (I had just found out about the event two days prior). So, I drove to Houston that Friday to arrive at a house where services were to be held.
I got caught in some pretty bad traffic and had to change once I got there. While changing, services began and I heard dancing, clapping, and multiple people singing in their own unique way. When I finished and joined the rest of the group, I was warmly greeted by both those I did and didn’t know.
Never had I been a part of something so incredible as what was going on, here. To me, it was like the first time going to a Phish concert. In the past, the Jewish services I had been to were akin to the concerts I used to go to where people stand in place and know just a few songs. At this service, everyone was animated, hugging, clapping, dancing, etc… it was the Phish concert of Jewish services.
After services had ended , we did some learning with a local Rabbi before walking down the street to another Rabbi’s house for dinner. What I didn’t know was that this was an entirely Jewish neighborhood — nobody was using electricity and plenty were walking between other houses in full Hasidic garb. Never before had I seen a community like this in the United States and I felt a deep connection and appreciation for the closeness of everyone within it.
Once we got to the other Rabbi’s house for dinner, I was greeted by more people from the community and plenty of kids. I wasn’t used to being surrounded by this many children and it really drew out the fact that most people I knew (myself included) didn’t really know how to interact with kids / toddlers or play with them. What a strange concept — not knowing how to interact with a child… needless to say, that’s changed over the past few months.
There were a lot of highlights to the dinner service, but a few that really stuck out in my head included:
- When the Rabbi and his wife blessed each of their kids and kissed them on the forehead.
- When everyone broke out into a solid 20–30 minutes of what I could only call a ‘prayer medley’.
- A recent story by the Rabbi about the people within the neighborhood and how they supported each other, as Jews.
Just like with Phish, this loving and passionate energy drew me in and had me hooked. Throughout the rest of the night, I would continue to be smitten by the piety and wholesomeness of this group. The people were so unified and happy, and I wanted more of it.
Although I had to leave that night, this event stuck with me and saw me to begin praying and connecting with that group in my mind on a regular basis. In a few weeks, I would even stay with my Rabbi and fully observe Shabbos for the first time in my life.
