The Moshav Has Moved to LA!

Never before had I attended kabbalat Shabbat service, meaning the praising and welcoming of Sabbath, before two months ago. Ironically, my friend who moved here from England who happens to be the editor of this very magazine deserves the credit for introducing me to the “Happy Minyan” that was just around the block from my home.

Everything about this prayer group is a few steps from ordinary, and that is meant in the absolute most praise filled sense of the phrase. Entering the group, which is located in a karate studio transformed into a synagogue each week, completely adds to the cozy experience. The minyan is flavored with the revered Shlomo Carlbach’s Moshav kibbutznick style of worship that is musically infused and deeply spiritual in many respects.

The service starts at around 7:30pm on Friday afternoons upon the commencement of Shabbat. As the weekly crowd gathers in, the chazzan takes his place at the bima (alter) to wish everyone a Shabbat shalom after quietly counting a minyan of 10 males. When looking around the group, the most eclectically members can be observed in a colorful snapshot. The minyan’s light atmosphere attracts the more orthodox black tie dressed Ashkenazi Jews, to the teenager in jeans and sandals seeking some interesting experience, to the free spirited characters with tasteful extravagant outfits that could be inspired from anywhere but the moshav itself.

The short maariv prayer is recited first without any special enthusiasm. But that is expected because that is not a prayer in any unique to Shabbat being that it is recited everyday of the week. It at the transition between this prayer and Kabbalat Shabbat, also marked by a shift change of chazanim. At this point, none other than Yehuda, the lead singer of the sensational Moshav Band, takes his place, sportily tying his talit in a shoelace like knot in preparation for the energetic praising about to take place. He jumps into what I sincerely consider the absolute most beautiful prayer within Jewish practice, yedid nefesh, a psalm pleading G-d to bring his people closer to his side in a beautiful metaphor comparing the Jewish people to G-d’s son. The congregation, that at capacity is no more than 40 women and men combined, join in unison with full soul. I swear to you, that even after experiencing at least fifteen other congregations who are all easily ten times bigger in number of bodies bodies, have I ever heard such a energetic decibel level jam packed with so much spirituality before in my 19 years of existence.

Soon after this prayer, Yehuda transitions into the following prayers that consist of the central body of Kabbalat Shabbat. After the customary repetition of prayer, which is the duty of the chazzan, the gifted vocalist leaps into what to me was the most delightfully shocking mid-prayer singing dancing only possibly at a place like this minyan. Without further adue, nearly every congregant, male and female, youthful to retired, is parading around the bima, pounding freely on the person directly in front of them in what I attest to is the most involved and moving form of Jewish practice in the vast range of forms of practice within the Jewish faith. This observant, hava nagila esque dancing in circles, often practiced within bar mitzvahs and weddings is undoubtedly the most unique characteristic of the Happy Minyan most likely named after this aspect of the group besides the fact that all members tend to be in a jovial mood in light of the coming of Shabbat, the holiest day of the Jewish week, which supercedes all Jewish holidays including yom kippur in overall importance. After ten minutes of animated dance-prayer, the crowd settles down again to then be raised out of their seats within five minutes to dance to yet another prayer.

The beautiful customs of the happy minyan most definitely are derived from the moshav in our Jewish homeland and have crossed the American border into the Pico Robertson area. This distinctive style of worship is an outlet that I have been fortunate to find to truly feel at home with a religion that may at other times seem intangible in the 21^st century.