By Alex Metchnek
This Shabbat was amazing and very fun! We started off by waking up late and having breakfast at 10:30. We then got to have an amazing service with some singing and a Torah reading. Everyone was all dressed up and looked really nice.
Services were followed by Kiddush, and we had more delicious food!
We then split into different small groups and got to talk about the resilience of the Jewish people in the past, and our ability to be here 100 years from now.
This was followed by Rabbi Yitz Staum of St. Louis speaking on the topic and expressing his admiration for our generation’s continuation of the Jewish people.
After that, we had a two-hour break where people got together to play games, talk, and have a good time with their friends, old and new. We then had even more food for a special meal for the end of Shabbat.
After our third meal we got to hear once again from Disney animator and Hollywood director Saul Blinkoff. He gave an amazing talk about his journey through Judaism, relating it to a book that he had learned from.
This was followed by some songs to say goodbye to Shabbat. And we had Havdalah after that and sang the prayers over the wine, spices (which smelled really good), and the candle. It was beautiful and everyone had such high energy and it was great! Everyone was dancing and jumping, and just having a great time.
We then all changed into comfortable clothes and got our phones. (We dressed nicely through the day intentionally, and we all limited our use of technology, in order to create a proper Shabbat atmosphere).
After we changed, we headed off to The Grove shopping mall to run around and buy clothes and juice; there were lots of juice buyers for some reason.
After that we made our way to Hollywood Boulevard for some sightseeing. I don’t know which was better, the people intentionally dressed up, or the crazy people who were just living their life! I haven’t been in such a loud place since the last concert I went to!
All in all this Shabbat was one for the books, and I’ll never forgot how much fun I had.
Alex Metchnek is a senior at Wayzata High School in Minneapolis, MN.