hai u guyz

[vanillaghost]

I just wanted to say Shabbat Shalom to everyone!
I miss being able to go to a syanagogue on Friday nights :( (I'm "home" for the summer and the closest one is 4 hours in car).
What do you guys do when you're away from your congregation?

Comments

[llennhoff]

Since my O congregation doesn't do nearly as much singing as I like, I usually daven alone out loud, using all my favorite tunes for Friday night.

Saturday morning I indulge myself by davening Shacharit through the Amidah then making kiddush and having a short breakfast while reading the torah portion quietly to myself. Finally I finish off with Mussaf. If I'm in a mischievous mood, I go upstairs to my wife and tell her my plans for the rest of the weekend (announcements).

[mruriah]

If I'm in a mischievous mood, I go upstairs to my wife and tell her my plans for the rest of the weekend (announcements).

that made me laugh.

to the op:

my job doesn't allow me to have more than once a month at shul, so i try to daven on my own and teach Torah to a friend of mine. she's not very much into learning about G*d, but she's understanding and never backs down from a learning oppurtunity.

[funkbunny]

Shabbat Shalom!!

The beauty of Judaism is that it's portable. :)

I don't attend services every week (I'm a twice-a-month service girl) and on the weeks that I don't, I focus on making a great dinner for the family and spending time with my kids. We might watch a movie or play board games or just go across the street to the park until it's too dark to play anymore.

You could also find a book on Judaic thought, philosophy, practice, etc and read. Last week the rabbi recommended Jews and Judaism in the 21st Century as "homework" ... I'm currently reading a book about raising self-reliant children using Judaic principles.

Good luck!

[vanillaghost]

an excellent idea
actually, the book I ordered called 'Essential Judaism' just arrived from Amazon about 5 minutes ago, how convenient!

[llennhoff]

Oh, besides services. Sorry, when you mentioned being away from your congregation I thought of how I replace specifically those times.

Talmud Torah (studying Torah in the broad sense, reading Essential Judaism counts) is a great idea. So is taking walks, especially if you can get to nature without violating your Shabbat standards. Nature walks are a great way to develop Ahavat Hashem (love of hashem) through learning about the world. "Ma Gadlu Maasech Hashem" - How great are your deeds, Hashem, your thoughts are very deep (I didn't do the last half of the Hebrew because I don't have it memorized

[malkaesther]

We always made sure we had freinds join us for meals. It did not matter if they were jewish or not, it just made it more fun to have people there. Just make it a nice meal and focus on the fun stuff you can share. Good food, singing, great conversations that you have time for because you don't have other things going on.