New Moon - May 2008 - FridayLight's e-Newsletter

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Welcome to New Moon,
the official e-newsletter of your FridayLight Shabbat community.

Candle on the Sea Summer is almost here and with its arrival, many of you will be traveling near and far. Bringing Shabbat wherever the road takes you is a beautiful way to establish consistency in your inner and outer life, and offers a chance to share your FridayLight connection with friends and family. Lakeside on a camping trip, in a new city, or even coming home from college, lighting Shabbat candles allows you to maintain the rhythm of the spiritual practice you've established. Your connection with G-d knows no zip code and needs no visa, so anywhere this summer leads, be sure to bring FridayLight with you. Our starter kits are perfect travel companions and make ideal hostess gifts.

FROM PASSOVER TO MT. SINAI, A PERSONAL TUNEUP

Check out the calendar and you'll find there are precisely seven weeks between Passover and the holiday, Shavuot, which commemorates Moses' receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai. You see, it took our newly liberated ancestors 49 days to trek from Egypt to Mount Sinai. Kabbalists acknowledge the unique importance of those days as the Counting of the Omer, and tell us they possess very special meaning.

Like those seven weeks, we humans are Kabbalistically described as having seven powers of the heart -- love, awe, beauty, ambition, humility, bonding and regality -- and like the days of the week, each one of these powers shares elements of the other seven. So, on each day of the Omer, we are advised to turn inward, examine and refine one prescribed combination of these traits. Thus, in a spiritual sense, we prepare ourselves like Moses to receive G-d's divine word.

These seven weeks can provide you with a time to take stock, to explore your individual nature, locate any stumbling blocks or weaknesses, and build a stronger, more spiritually focused you. The Omer is truly one of Judaism's best self-help guides! Even though we're part way through the count, it's not too late to join in. To learn more and explore a spiritual guide to the Omer visit their site here.

During the last few months, readers enjoyed the photographs we shared of some of our youngest FridayLighters. This pre-teen is old enough to enjoy lighting on her own but girls as young as three can be helped to light their own candle before their mothers, aunts or sisters kindle their own. Watch the delight in your little girls' eyes, at the wonderment of her candle's glow.

We welcome Shabbat with the lighting of the candles and a blessing on Friday evening, but did you know that on Saturday evening another ceremony (called Havdalah) bids Shabbat, the divine break in every week, adieu. As our special Shabbat soul leaves us, we rejuvenate our workaday soul with the scent of sweet spices. A sip of wine, the igniting of a braided candle, and special blessings round out the ceremony and launch us back into everyday life. To learn more, please click here.

This can be a very busy time of year. Students and parents of students are sprinting to the end of the semester, sporting events are in full bluster and the pressure may be on to finish up work before summer vacation. Weddings, graduation parties, and barbeques are beginning to fill calendar pages. This is the time of year when we sometimes have to consciously protect our personal priorities and what brings us inner- peace.

Getting through hectic periods is easier when you have focus and kindling your FridayLight candles can ground you. Shabbat is yours to cherish and connect you to women everywhere in the world who match wick to flame in the same way that you do. Knowing that come sundown on Friday you will have time that is expressly yours can help put things into perspective.

After you say the blessing this week, take an extra moment before re-engaging with the world around you. Savor the blissful connection you have established. It is yours and only yours.

When life presents its most difficult challenges it's reassuring to know that there are those we can reach out to for support. Your FridayLight community is always here for you and would like to offer prayers on your behalf. Click here to submit a prayer request or to answer someone else's.

Have you seen the FridayLight map lately? Take a moment to check out the lights of women around the world who are sharing your Shabbat. The candle lit FridayLight.org map of the United States has expanded to encompass Shabbat candle lighters everywhere.   Women, just like you are welcoming Shabbat into their hearts, homes and part of the planet.

Did you know that there are FridayLight communities throughout Southeast Asia now?   Watch candles in Bangkok join yours at: www.fridaylight.org/page/gmap.php.

Speaking of sharing the light, our starter kits have also spread across the globe.   Now also available in Hebrew, Russian, French, and Spanish, we have distributed nearly 100,000 to women who share Shabbat with you. If you know someone who would benefit from one, please click here.

Your first starter kit is of course, yours for free here.

It’s almost done! FridayLight is going into print with a very special book of original stories, poems, prayers, memories and meditations that relate to lighting Friday night candles. Before it hits the presses, if you have a thought or story that you'd like to share, please send it to Marina@FridayLight.org. Your piece might be as brief as 50 words or as long as 1500. Feel free to let your creativity soar and your inspiration flow onto the page.

A story recently arrived from a young woman from New Orleans. whose family left their home behind to be claimed by Katrina, but brought her heirloom Shabbat candlesticks with her to safety!

We hope that you have enjoyed this edition. Let us know your thoughts at www.fridaylight.org. If you no longer wish to receive FridayLight's New Moon newsletter, please reply to this email and enter "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject.


	Get your first kit free here – and feel free to tell your friends about it! Learn the specific time to light your candles this week here. Or log in now at FridayLight.org to have it automatically sent to your phone or email each week. Shabbat officially ends on Saturday evening and like Shabbat there is a specific time to honor its conclusion. The ceremony is called Havdalah and you can have that time sent weekly to your cell phone or in your email box! Log in now to FridayLight.org and update your membership profile. Get Text Messages Telling You When to Light Up Tell a friend

	FridayLight is focusing on expanding the FridayLight campaign by developing partnerships with various Jewish organizations. From Israeli Day Festivals to Birthright Israel trips, from military bases to college campuses, and from "Rekindle Shabbat" programs to "Teen Shabbatons", FridayLight is brightening the world.