Karov’s First Shabbat Morning

Yesterday Karov held its inaugural Shabbat morning service and potluck lunch. This morning, despite it being daylight savings, I woke up feeling so inspired. 

After the Karov “Housewarming” party during Sukkot, in which seventy people attended my home, I realized we needed a larger space to gather. I asked some friends with a beautiful home in Greenwood Village if they might be willing to host and they were beyond gracious to welcome fifty people into their home, even though they had just returned from over a month of travel.

It was astounding to me that fifty people were willing to show up at 10AM on a Saturday, the morning after many of the children, teens and parents were busy trick-or-treeting the prior evening. But what was even more uplifting was how people vulnerably brought their whole selves with them into the service. 

The room was filled with people singing together, even if they had never heard the melodies before or didn’t know the Hebrew. When I invited the adults to engage with people they did not know for a discussion during the Torah service, there was no hesitation. The room quickly transformed into one buzzing with conversation. Meanwhile, I facilitated a Torah inspired game with the children in attendance, all of whom participated, even the most shy children (mine included in this category). And multiple times during the service, teens participated in leadership roles, everything from leading English readings, to singing prayers, and reading from the Torah.  

One of my hopes for Karov has been to create an intimate community, where different generations are present, and they all participate. This first Karov Shabbat service certainly felt like the beginning of actualizing that dream. 

In speaking with others seeking community, one recurring theme has been a desire to build relationships with one another. As much as I enjoy services, they don’t always lend themselves to talking to one another. But Judaism also has a rich tradition of people sharing meals, a far more compatible environment for conversation and connection. With the desire to connect in mind, it felt important to me for people to eat together anytime a service was held. Hence the potluck lunch. 

Inspired by Oscar, one of my Be Mitzvah students from this past summer, who attempted to create as little waste as possible at his reception, my dream became for Karov to do the same. Thanks to donations from friends and a Hadar Community Group grant, I’ve been building up a set of reusable cups, dishes and utensils for Karov. Guests were asked to remove any trash from their reusables, when they were up eating, and then put them into a container, which I would take home and wash. After the event ended, the host pointed out how, even with fifty community members eating lunch together, we didn’t even produce a full container of trash!  

I’ve been thinking about the small amount of trash we produced yesterday and am reminded of the idea of separating wheat from chaff. While I am as far from a farmer as possible, I don’t even garden, my understanding is that during the final phase of harvesting grain, called winnowing, wheat seeds would be placed on the ground on a windy day so that the chaff, the extra stuff that had gotten mixed in, would blow away. Separating the wheat from the chaff has come to mean getting rid of the things that don’t matter and focusing on those that do. Perhaps similar to separating the trash from the reusable materials. 

I’ve been thinking a lot over the past few months about what is essential to creating Jewish community and what is superfluous. Based on the first Karov shabbat morning service, here are some things that are clear to me. It is far easier to connect with others in a small group than in a large one. Dialogue between people does far more in building community than a sermon from a rabbi. And, there is power in sharing food with one another.

Our next Karov event will be a Shabbat potluck dinner followed by a Kabbalat Shabbat service at a beautiful space in Lone Tree. I hope you can make it! Email me to RSVP.