On the First Friday of each month, Ma’alot hosts a musical service in the round to welcome in Shabbat. Each service is followed by a dairy potluck. Shabbat in the Round means there isn’t just one leader, but a circle of song-holders elevating our prayer. The circular seating is an invitation to everyone to bring their whole selves to the moment. In this service, you are invited to be yourself. And anyone can be a song-holder in the center- you just come the evening before to sing together in preparation.

We believe that it’s better to offer a few words of prayer with kavvanah (intention and feeling) than many words without it. (Rambam agrees). So we sing just one verse from various psalms of Kabbalat Shabbat, and we sing it over and over so we can really feel it. No need to flip through a heavy prayer book, all the words you need are on one sheet, complete with English transliteration and translation. You could dance and jump, cry, laugh, or sit in silence and stillness. We embrace it all, the highs and lows, the joy and the grief, together.

Venue: Candler Park neighborhood, exact location is shared 12-24 hours in advance of the event.