Havdalah with the Moshav Band and with Reb. Shlomo Carlebach

Shabbat's almost here and it's time for some good liturgical music to help us get in the mood. Half the fun for me is the time I spend thinking about Shabbat, trying to decide what prayer or zmirot I'm most in the mood for. This week I realized that I'd never posted anything related to Havdalah. From one perspective, that's pretty reasonable. Havadalah is the service that closes out Shabbat. That would be a bit like going in the out door, right?

But, honestly, there's another reason why I've never posted anything related to Havdalah. I don't do the Havdalah service. I light candles (mostly) every Shabbat, but I'm not Shomer Shabbas. Even as my religious practice has improved over the years, I've felt very uncomfortable taking on Havdalah. For me, Shabbat is basically over once the Friday night candles burn out (or once I'm back from synagogue on Saturday on the rare occasion I make it there). So, for me, performing the Havdalah ritual would be strangely dislocated from the Friday night rituals by a day of secular errands and whatnot.

That doesn't mean I'm not aware of what I'm missing. The few times I've participated in it were moving experiences. An experience I was thinking a lot about this morning, for some reason. And so, without anymore whining about the problems I cause myself, here are lovely examples of exactly what I and my family are missing every Saturday night.

Moshav Band Live @ Makor 3/17/07 Havdalah Service


Havdalah of Reb Shlomo Carlebach

Hat tip to YouTube users asilver8 and sewy18 for posting the videos.