נְקַדְּמָה פָנָיו בְּתוֹדָה בִּזְמִירוֹת נַרִיעַ לוֹ
N’kadma fanav b’todah, biz’mirot NARIYA lo
We’ll face God’s Presence with gratitude and make joyous sounds.
— (Psalm 95:2)One Friday night each month, TBZ turns these words into reality at Shabbat Nariya – Shabbat Sing Out. Hundreds Jews from across Boston come together in our sanctuary to form concentric circles of sound to welcome Shabbat in prayer and song, and share in a communal potluck.
At Nariya, All are welcome.
Shabbat Nariya – Shabbat Sing Out is a partnership between TBZ, Kavod and Base Boston. This partnership enlivens the prayer space and connects us in intentional intergenerational community.
We are also joined by guests from all over, including students from a number of local colleges, who have heard of Shabbat Nariya and want to experience it for themselves.
At Nariya, we are in it together.
There isn’t just one leader, but a circle of mehalelim (community musicians), grounding and elevating the song. Between the moments of song, participants stand up from wherever they are sitting and share their own spoken kavvanot, words of intention, bringing their hearts, ideas, and stories into the prayer.
At Nariya, less can be more.
Nariya is structured so everyone can bring their whole selves to the moment. We take to heart the saying of the Rambam (the great medieval sage, Maimonides): “Better a few words of prayer with kavvanah (intention and feeling) than many words without it.” So we sing just one verse from each psalm in Kabbalat Shabbat, and we sing it over and over so it can really move through us. No need to flip through a heavy prayer book, all the words you need are on one sheet, complete with English transliteration and translation.
At Nariya, we let ourselves feel.
At Nariya, you can be yourself. You could dance and jump, cry, laugh, or sit in silence and stillness. We embrace it all, the highs and lows, the joy and the grief, together. At Lekha Dodi, we open the doors of the sanctuary and walk out to the front steps to welcome the Sabbath with a moment of quiet pause. And then with a loud beat of the drum, we rush back inside, dancing and singing at the top of our lungs, no need to hold back our joy that Shabbat is here once again.
At Nariya, we build community.
The journey continues even after the prayers, as we share a potluck dinner, long-time TBZ members and people who just moved to Boston alike, sitting round tables together, eating, schmoozing, and basking in the spirit of Shabbat.
Come join us for an upcoming Shabbat Nariya – Shabbat Sing Out! We’d love to sing Shabbat in with you!
Nariya was started by Rabbi Micah Shapiro in partnership with Rav Claudia in the fall of 2015, based on his experience at Nava Tehila, a Renewal community led by Rabbi Ruth Gan Kagan in Jerusalem. After two years of Rabbi Micah’s strong leadership and beautiful original compositions, Noah Weinberg took over leadership of Nariya, bringing melodies from diverse modern sources including Nava Tehila (Yoel Sykes and Daphna Rosenberg), Joey Weisenberg, Shir Yaakov, Zach Mayer, and more.