Sunday, July 29, 2007

Outdoor Friday Evening Musical Kabbalat Shabbat Services at the Tel-Aviv Seafront

Beit-Tefila, is a diverse, pluralistic, non denominational Tel-Aviv congregation, in the spirit and format of Bnei Jeshurun in NYC. The congregation celebrates together musical Friday night Kabbalat Shabbats, holidays and Jewish Lifecycle events. Beit-Tefila is home to secular and traditional Israelis in greater metropolitan Tel-Aviv. Its member are from all walks of Israeli life.

Services are based on the traditional text, accompanied to melodically arranged tunes, both traditional and more modern ones. In addition a few modern inserts are interjected into the abridged traditional liturgy including Modern Hebrew poetry, modern classic Israeli song standards, and even an occasional universal one like Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World, sung in its Hebrew translation.

This summer as part of its outreach to Tel-Aviv, Beit-Tefilah has teamed up with the management of the Tel-Aviv Port, which runs the beautifully renovated old Port district now home to an expansive wood boardwalk lined by restaurants and cafes. In a quieter section of the boardwalk, at its southern edge where the Port runs into Metzitzim Beach, Beit-Tefila in the spirit of outdoor summer homes and events is conducting outdoor public Kabbalat Shabbat services every other week during the months of July and August (details regarding dates can be found at their site: http://www.btfila.org/)

An article about Beit-Tefilah from the local Hebrew edition of Timeout can be found here: http://www.btfila.org/5767/newslet/timeout.htm

Short video clip of highlights from the service


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