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Shabbat Shalom: A Guide to the Erev Shabbat Service

Shabbat shalom and welcome to Congregation B’nai B’rith’s Erev (Evening) Shabbat service! Whether you plan to attend a Shabbat service for the first time or you would like a "refresher course", we hope this guide will help you gain an understanding and appreciation of Shabbat and the Shabbat liturgy.

As you begin, please note the following:

Candles Kabbalat Shabbat: Welcoming the Sabbath

Our service begins with Kabbalat Shabbat ­ the welcoming of the Sabbath. This part of the service sets the stage; we are coming together as a community to greet the Sabbath with song and words of thanks and praise.

The service begins as the Rabbi and Cantor enter the sanctuary, with the Cantor leading us in song; perhaps a simple melody like Bim Bam/Shabbat Shalom or a song such as Hinei Ma Tov ("How Good It Is"):


 How good it is, and how pleasant, when we dwell together in unity.

Lighting the Shabbat Candles
A congregant or family is invited to light the Shabbat candles and recite the following blessing in Hebrew: "Blessed are You, Adonai our God, ruler of the universe, who commands us to bring forth the light of Shabbat". Originally, Shabbat candles were only lit at home, but it became common practice to light them in the synagogue as well so that travelers could take part in the mitzvah (commandment) of lighting the Shabbat candles (note: during summer, candles are lit after the service, during the Oneg Shabbat). Now this tradition has become a standard part of the Erev Shabbat service.

The Sabbath Bride and L’cha Dodi ("Come, My Friend")
Having ushered in Shabbat with light, we are ready to greet Shabbat with the singing of L’cha Dodi. We welcome Shabbat as if we are welcoming a bride standing under the chuppah (wedding canopy). The notion of a Shabbat bride stretches back to 16th century Safat in Israel. There, mystics - imagining Shabbat to be a bride or queen - walked toward the setting sun to greet the arrival of the Shabbat bride. We continue this tradition by rising from our seats at the last verse of the song and turning to face the door to the sanctuary, symbolically greeting the Sabbath bride.

We sing in Hebrew:


 Beloved, come to meet the bride; beloved, come to greet Shabbat.
Keep and Remember: a single command the Only God caused us to hear; the Eternal is One, God’s name is One, for honor and glory and praise.

Beloved, come to meet the bride; beloved, come to greet Shabbat.
Come with me to meet Shabbat, forever a fountain of blessing. Still it flows, as from the start: the last of days, for which the first was made.

Beloved, come to meet the bride; beloved, come to greet Shabbat.
Awake, awake, your light has come! Arise, shine, awake and sing; the Eternal’s glory dawns upon you.

Beloved, come to meet the bride; beloved, come to greet Shabbat.
Enter in Peace, O crown of your husband; enter in gladness, enter in joy. Come to the people that keeps its faith. Enter, O bride! Enter, O bride!

Beloved, come to meet the bride; beloved, come to greet Shabbat.

At times, in place of L’cha Dodi, we may sing the words of Shalom Aleichem ("Peace Be To You"):


 Peace be to you, ministering angels, messengers of the Most High, of the supreme Sovereign, the Holy One, every to be praised.
Enter in peace, O messengers of the Most High, of the supreme Sovereign, the Holy One, ever to be praised.
Bless us with peace, O messengers of the Most High, of the supreme Sovereign, the Holy One, ever to be praised.
Depart in peace, O messengers of the Most High, of the supreme Sovereign, the Holy One, ever to be praised.

Reader’s Kaddish

We now rise for the Reader’s Kaddish. The word kaddish means "sanctification". The kaddish prayer praises God’s greatness and echoes Ezekiel 38:21, "Thus will I manifest My greatness and My holiness, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations. And they shall know that I am the Lord". The kaddish is written not in Hebrew, but in Aramaic, the language adopted by the Israelites during their exile in Babylonia in the 5th century BCE. We read in Aramaic:


 Let the glory of God be extolled, and God’s great name be hallowed in the world whose creation God willed. May God rule in our own day, in our own lives, and in the life of all Israel, and let us say, amen.

Let God’s great name be blessed for ever and ever.

Beyond all the praises, songs, and adorations that we can utter is the Holy One, the Blessed One, whom yet we glorify, honor, and exalt. And let us say, amen.
morning.gif The Sh’ma and Its Blessings

Having set the stage with the Kabbalat Shabbat, we are ready to formally begin our worship service.

Barchu ("Praise")

We begin with a call to prayer, the Barchu. The Barchu appears in our prayer book under the heading "The Sh’ma and Its Blessings" (more on that in a moment).

In essence, the Cantor asks if the congregation is ready to pray, and the congregation responds in the affirmative. We rise and recite in Hebrew:


 Cantor (bowing): "Praise the One to whom our praise is due!"
Congregation (bowing): "Praised be the One to whom our praise is due, now and for ever!"

The Sh’ma and Its Blessings

The Sh’ma is our declaration of faith; our pledge of allegiance to the one God. While the foreign gods of old were thought to fill only one role at a time - one might cause the sun to rise while another made the crops grow - the God of the Israelites was an all-powerful God. The creation of the world, the giving of the Torah, our redemption...all are attributable to this one God.

This portion of the liturgy is composed of several sections:

This section of the service concludes with a blessing for divine providence and for the covenant of Shabbat.

Divine Providence: Hashkivenu ("Cause us to lie down...")

We read in English:


 Grant that we may lie down in peace, Eternal God, and raise us up, O Sovereign, to life renewed. Spread over us the shelter of Your peace; guide us with your good counsel; and for Your name’s sake, be our Help.

Shield us from hatred and plague; keep us from war and famine and anguish; subdue our inclination to evil. O God, our Guardian and Helper, our gracious and merciful Sovereign, give us refuge in the shadow of Your wings. O guard our coming and our going, that now and always we have life and peace.

We praise You, O God, whose shelter of Peace is spread over us, over all Your people Israel, and over Jerusalem.

The Covenant of Shabbat: V’shamru ("They shall keep...")

We sing these words, in Hebrew, from Exodus 31:16-17, in which God commands us to observe the Sabbath.


 The people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath in every generation as a covenant for all time. It is a sign for ever between Me and the people of Israel. For in six days the Eternal One made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day God rested and was refreshed.
Tefila T’filah/Amidah

T’filah means "prayer", Amidah means "standing". These are interchangeable names for our central prayer, which is recited while standing. During the week, it consists of nineteen prayers, including fourteen in which we make requests for ourselves or the community; on Shabbat, however, we focus on God alone.

The Tefila begins as we ask God to open our lips so that we may declare God’s glory. We then continue, in Hebrew, with the following three prayers:

Introductory Prayers ­ Praise of God

Intermediate Prayer

We return to our earlier theme of the Sabbath. We precede the prayer with the song, Yismechu ("They will rejoice"). We sing in Hebrew:


 Those who keep the Sabbath and call it a delight shall rejoice in Your deliverance. All who hallow the seventh day shall be gladdened by Your goodness. This day is Israel’s festival of the spirit, sanctified and blessed by You, the most precious of days, a symbol of the joy of creation.

Closing Prayers ­ Thanking God

As we close the T’fila/Amidah, we ask God to receive our prayers; we thank God for all our blessings; we ask God for peace. We read in English:
Mi Shebeirach Mi Shebeirach

At this point, the Rabbi mentions the names of those who are ill and would benefit from our prayers; Rabbi then invites us to call out the names of those we know who are ill. After a song of healing, "Mi Shebeirach" (Who Blesses), we observe a moment of silent meditation, followed by the song "Oseh Shalom" ("Maker of Peace").


Mi Shebeirach ("Who Blesses")

[In Hebrew we sing:]
May God who blesses our fathers
Who is the source of blessing for our mothers

[In English we sing:]
Bless those in need of healing with r’fua sh’leimah
The renewal of body, the renewal of spirit
And let us say: Amen.

Oseh Shalom ("Who causes peace")

[In Hebrew we sing:]
May the One who causes peace to reign in the high heavens cause peace to reign among us, all Israel, and all the world.
Kiddush Cup Kiddush: The Sanctification of Shabbat

The word "kiddush" (kee-doosh´) means "sanctification". In Exodus 20:8, we are asked to "Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy." One of the ways that we do so is by sanctifying the day with a blessing said over the fruit of the vine, our symbol of joy. That blessing is known as kiddush. Anyone who is celebrating a "simcha" - a joyous occasion - is invited to join Rabbi and Cantor at the front of the sanctuary for kiddush (during the summer, kiddush is said after services, during the Oneg Shabbat).
Rabbi Sermon

At this point in our service, the Rabbi gives a d’var Torah ("words of Torah") or a sermon. In a d’var Torah, the Rabbi speaks about that week’s Torah portion (Bible reading); in a sermon, the Rabbi uses the lessons of the Torah portion to address contemporary issues. On Family Nights, Rabbi reads a story to our children and a Religious School class makes a presentation.
Ark Aleinu ("We rise")

In the Aleinu, we speak both of the present and the future. As the Rabbi and Cantor open the ark, we stand. In the first part of the Aleinu, which we recite in Hebrew, we speak as God’s people (note that in the beginning of the second sentence, we bow in respect to God).

We must praise the God of all, the Maker of heaven and earth, who has set us apart from the other families of earth, giving us a destiny unique among the nations. Therefore we bow in awe and thanksgiving before the One who is sovereign over all, the Holy and Blessed One.

In the second part of the Aleinu, we speak of the future and our hopes. We recite in English:


 You spread out the heavens and established the earth; You are our God; there is none else. In truth You alone are our Sovereign God, as it is written: "Know then this day and take it to hear: the Eternal One is God in the heavens above and on the earth below; there is none else."

Eternal God, we face the morrow with hope made stronger by the vision of Your deliverance, a world where poverty and war are banished, where injustice and hate are gone.

Teach us more and more to respond to the pain of others, to heed Your call for justice, that we may bring nearer the day when all the world shall be one.

On that day, O God, You shall be One and Your Name shall be One.

We repeat this last sentence in Hebrew, then take our seats.
Yahrzeit Candle Mourner’s Kaddish

Unlike the Reader’s Kaddish that precedes the Sh’ma, the Mourner’s Kaddish is recited in remembrance of those who have died. However, it does not speak of death; the Mourner’s Kaddish praises God for giving us life. Those who are mourning a loved one who has died within the past month (known as sheloshim ­ thirty) or who are observing the anniversary of a death (yarhtzeit) rise as the names of their family members are called; other mourners are then invited to call out the names of their loved ones and rise. In the Reform tradition, the entire congregation then rises in solidarity with those who mourn and recites the Mourner’s Kaddish as one community.

The text of the Mourner’ Kaddish begins with the lines from the Reader’s Kaddish and continues:


 For us and for all Israel, may the blessing of peace and the promise of life come true, and let us say: Amen.

May the One who causes peace to reign in the high heavens, cause peace to reign among us, all Israel, and all the world, and let us say: Amen.
Musical Note Closing Songs

Shabbat is a time of joy; as such, we never end a service on a sad note. Therefore, we close the service with a song, most often Adon Olam or Ein Keiloheinu. In Hebrew we sing:


Adon Olam ("Eternal God")
You are the Eternal God, who reigned before any being had been created;
when all was done according to Your will, already then you were Sovereign.

And after all has ceased to be, still will You reign in solitary majesty;
You were, You are, You will be in glory.

And You are One; none other can compare to You, or consort with You;
You are without beginning, without end; Yours alone are power and dominion.

And You are my God, my living Redeemer, my Rock in time of trouble and distress;
You are my banner and my refuge, my benefactor when I call on You.

Into Your hands I entrust my spirit, when I sleep and when I wake;
and with my spirit, my body also: You are with me, I shall not fear.


Ein Keiloheinu ("None like our God")
There is none like our God, our Sovereign, our Redeemer.
Who is like our God, our Sovereign, our Redeemer?
We give thanks to our God, our Sovereign, our Redeemer.
Praised be our God, our Sovereign, our Redeemer.
You are our God, our Sovereign, our Redeemer.
Challot Oneg Shabbat ("Joy of Shabbat")

Following the service, we enter the social hall for the Oneg Shabbat; the Oneg Shabbat is often sponsored by a family in honor of a simcha. Here, we say the blessing over bread; this blessing is known as "motzi" (who brings forth).

In Hebrew we say:


 We praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the universe, for You cause bread to come forth from the earth.

We greet friends and visitors over coffee and have a bite to eat...until we meet again the next day for the Shabbat morning service.

Audio files copyright © 2003, Cantor Mark Childs.