…And so ends yet another successful (according to all accounts) “early Shabbat” season.
But first, before I get ahead of myself, a bit of background for the uninitiated:
As I noted elsewhere, here in TRLEOOB (=the real life equivalent of our blog), we’re huge fans of starting Shabbat early on summer Friday afternoons, and in addition, YZG has been serving as the gabbai of our local early minyan for many years now. (Check out my original early Shabbat post for further details.)
</bit of background>
Apparently, many (myself included) were somewhat surprised that the season was ending already. After all, we won’t be changing the clock for a while.
But, as YZG explained, it’s a psychological thing.
You see, on a typical week, our community’s early Shabbat minyan boasts about 50-75 congregants.
In fact, some people even walk over from other neighborhoods, where they don’t have their own early minyan.
However, as soon as minchah dips below 5:30 PM, attendance drops dramatically.
Even many regulars, who never miss a single week throughout the entire summer, feel that 5:25 (which is when minchah would have been this coming Shabbat) is simply too early for them.
Which brings me back to the beginning of this post and the fact that this past Shabbat was the early Shabbat minyan’s season finale.
When did/will your community’s early Shabbat minyan go on winter hiatus?
P.S. The latest Haveil Havalim is available here. Special thanks to Ima2Seven for including my Ein Afek post.
And here I thought you were going to say something about Srugim. Srugim, by the way, is playing (shh, it's not yet public) this fall at our Jewish film festival, and my husband expressed interest in going, so I may yet get to see what the fuss is all about.
ReplyDeleteBut since you spoke of minyanim, the early one here is at 7 pm all summer, so it's already earlier than 7 pm on Shabbat. This is just the right amount of time for me to get ready. I don't yet have that, oh, no, there's not enough time to breathe on Friday feeling.
We don't avail ourselves on the early minyan. I need every second, and we have an "empty nest." I must admit that it is much healthier to eat dinner early.
ReplyDeleteLeora - That's interesting that they're showing Srugim. I wonder if they're going to show both seasons - or just some of the individual episodes?
ReplyDeleteBatya - Ironically, as I noted here, I find that I have more time - and am certainly more relaxed - when we start Shabbat early.
Our super tiny community prefers fixed time, whatever the season. Larger communities in France usually have winter and summer times. And the places with lots of shuls have evolving times which change every week.
ReplyDeleteIlana-Davita - Our super tiny community prefers fixed time, whatever the season.
ReplyDeleteA fixed time sounds like a good solution for a small community.
Chodesh tov!