Kabbalat Shabbat at The Kitchen

Return to Eden

קבלת שבת: חזרה לגן עדן

1. A New Moment

We’ve all heard it: “Religion isn’t relevant.” But deep down we know it isn’t true. Many people who yearn for community, spirituality, god, and tradition. In fact, at The Kitchen, we’ve proven religion is more necessary than ever: we’ve built a thriving Jewish religious community in one of the most secular cities in the world.

Hundreds of individuals and families show up in person on Friday nights and Saturday mornings to sing, pray, and learn Torah. They show up even though it means skipping the farmer’s market or getting off the couch. But that’s the point: showing up is what makes it work.

“I’ve been to Shabbat services in other places,” some might say. “It’s never anything like this. What makes yours so special?”

2. Shabbat Is How

Of all the holy experiences we create at The Kitchen, Shabbat is where we begin. There’s an elegant genius in Shabbat—it can bring all kinds of people together, no matter what we need. We show up, mark our weeks, and decompress from our screens. We get to know one another beyond likes and follows. We feel the sweetness of life and support anyone who needs help. Shabbat is how we keep all the disparate pieces of our lives together. When we enter Shabbat, we remember Eden is real. And when we have each other and the experience of building a holy place week after week, we realize that while the gate to the garden looks locked, if we want to enter, we can. Shabbat is the key.

Shabbat Playlist

3. What It Is We Do

There’s a difference between tourists and pilgrims. Tourists stand on the side out of the way, pilgrims get as close as possible. We don’t start by asking if your mother was Jewish, we just want to know if you’re ready to show up as a pilgrim. We call this ‘tradition for everyone,’ and living this philosophy in every corner of our shabbat is what makes it special.

We sing forgotten Sephardi and Ashkenazi melodies and prayers, accompanied by two ouds, the best percussionist in the land, not to mention a suite of Gen X and Millenial vocalists. Community members, musicians, and clergy from many backgrounds, religious and otherwise – all sit and pray together. And this year, we’re taking this tradition and accessibility further than ever with a completely reimagined Kitchen Siddur.

The Kitchen is known for pushing boundaries, and our project of creating a third edition of our Siddur is no different. This spiritual guidebook will be the first ever in North America to include Sephardi and Ashkenazi prayers.

It will include 20+ piyyutim, prayer poems, many of which are being translated into English for the first time. Some are even brand new, written by our poets in residence.

Our translations are egalitarian (read: not sexist). And even if you can’t read Hebrew (yet), we’ve transliterated every word to ensure first-timers can sing and pray alongside long-timers. Everyone should have the chance to pray.

The new Siddur isn’t just rich in content but beautiful in form. We asked Israeli artist Chen Blume to reimagine what a prayer book could be, and she designed an astounding object of art.