Materialism, hooray!

A guest post by MAR GAVRIEL

We learn from the Torah portions of ויקהל and פקודי that Bezalel was a materialist לשם שמים (i.e., for the purpose of beautifying objects used in ritual or religious experience).

We learn from the Torah portions of תרומה and תצוה that God was/is a materialist לשם שמים!

So let me, too, enjoy being a materialist לשם שמים.

One of the things that I do is plan wild, 48- or 72-hour shabbatonim for various holidays, most prominently יום ויושע (AKA the Seventh Day of Pesach) and שבועות. These shabbatonim involve "seiders" (modeled after the Pesach seider) at each meal, and all-night vigils on each night (of each holiday, except for a little sleep on the first two evenings of Sukkoth), including lerning and doing the Jew thing. These are following by vosikin davvening each morning, of course with full piyyutim and everything. The idea is for them all to take place in my (future, iy"h) apartment.

So, at my Shovu`ôs shabbaton/seder, at ערבית, all the men, at least the married men, will wear hats
(not necessarily black hats)-- except the שליח ציבור, of course, because the ש"ץ has to wear a קעפּכֿן. And all the married women (or at least the married ones) will wear hats, shaitels, or headscarves.

So then we'll come over to the table, in the adjacent room / adjacent section of the big room, and all the people will keep their big head-coverings on for Qiddush. (I, on the other hand, as בעל הבית and leader of the seider, will be wearing a käppchen and a Shabbes Robe AKA tish-bekkeshe.) People will keep on their big head-coverings also for the first washing (before the appetizers dipped in liquid, such as vegetables in vinegar, crackers in ḫumūṣ (or is it ḥumuṣ?), and samosas in spiced olive oil.

Then we'll begin the "storytelling/lerning" part of the seider.

I'll tell them the medrāsh about how the Israelites received two crowns at Mt. Sinai, one for נעשה and one for נשמע.

And, because we're in the preparatory phase, the עשייה phase, we'll receve our first crowns.

I shall announce: All the men should now remove their hats, and all the married (or, for that matter, unmarried) women who feel comfortable doing so should remove their shaitels / hat / headscarves.

I'll crown my wife with a leafy garland, and she'll crown me with a leafy garland, and then I'll crown all the men with leafy garlands, and she'll crown all the women with leafy garlands.



We'll keep them on throughout the rest of the seider, until ben(t)shen. Before benshen, i'll announce: "The men are now asked to put on käppchens underneath their crowns, and the women are now asked to put shaitels or headscarves underneath their crowns." (No hats, of course, because hats won't fit). Oh, and benshen will of course be recited על הכוס, as is most probably required by halokho (though most people ignore this halokho during the week, and even on the Sabbath and Festivals). The מברך will have a beautiful large golden goblet, and each of the other people around the table will have beautiful silver goblets.

After benshen, we'll remove the käppchens and shaitels. At the crack of dawn, when we begin davvening, we will again put on käppchens and shaitels under our crowns.

The washing before the duchenen of Shacharis will be performed right there in the בית כנסת area of the living-room, in full view of the people who are sitting on the couches, or standing, while listening to חזרת הש"ץ. The washing will be performed with beautiful silver vessels, as is done at KAJ. Oh, and there will be a green Yontef פרוכת on the little Torah-ark in the room, modeled after the one at KAJ (though of course much smaller, because it will just be a small Torah-ark, the kind that can be easily wheeled-around, and fits well in a livingroom-shul.) The picture below is not great , but one can see the green פרוכת up front (though not the embroidery on it), and the silver duchenen vessels on the pieces of furniture on either side of the front of the middle section of seats.



And then, right before leynen (or perhaps right afterward, or perhaps in the middle), I'll say: "It's time for the second crown, for נשמע, when we hear the voice of God in the Decalogue!"

And I'll crown my students with silver diadems-- you know, the thin-ish ones. Lemme find a picture online.

Something like this, though preferably without the top part, even without the part which goes on top of the head / hair:



These diadems will lie slightly higher on the head than the green leafy garlands, such that each of them will be clearly visible. At the end of Shacharis, I will encourage the people to remove their käppchens/shaitels, and let the two crowns suffice as head-coverings, at least as long as they remain inside. (Obviously, people should remove the crowns if they nap. And most people probably will want to nap between 7:30 AM and 12:55 PM, if they have been up all night.)

[I'll really need a rich father-in-law or patron, or [thoroughly improbable] receive a grant from some organization, in order to fund all this. Rebbeim just don't make enough money to buy all this stuff. I mean, unless they're Chasidic Rebbeim, of course.]

The people who slept will don their two crowns again at the beginning of the lunch seider. (It is to be remembered that the texts used in the Lunch Seider, between the milchig course and the barbecue, are mainly about the שתי הלחם, and therefore the divré tora given by students will mainly be about this topic.) When benshen-time comes around, people will put their käppchens and shaitels back on, underneath their crowns.

(To be continued...)