Culture, Religion

Worldwide Jewish conspiracy targets music Festival: The Shabbat Tent!

Jewlicious alerted the world today to the latest expansion area for the Worldwide Jewish Conspiracy–Summer music festivals. Apparently, the Shabbat Tent team has actually been at this for years, but I’d never heard of it until Jewlicious mentioned an upcoming Shabbat Tent at the Wakarusa Music Fesitval, which will feature Matisyahu.
The basic concept is simple. Set up abig tent at a music festival on Shabbat and let them come. Jews, goyim, whoever. Services are organized, kiddush is made, people hang out, etc. Sounds like a good time to me! It reminds me a little of the stories you hear about Carlebach in San Francisco.
I’m totally intrigued by this concept and I love it. Anyone have firsthand experiences with the Shabbat Tent that they wanna share?

9 thoughts on “Worldwide Jewish conspiracy targets music Festival: The Shabbat Tent!

  1. Music festivals have been doing this for quite some time now; it’s not a conspiracy. There are enough people to make a minyan, everyone’s in a good, relaxed mood, so why not have services? I used to participate in Shabbos services at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival in the early to mid ’90s.

  2. The conspiracy part was not meant to be serious.
    I spent high school going to the first four or so Austin City Limits Music Festivals and I always had to skip the first few hours on Saturday to go to services and then head over around lunch, so this is kind of a revelation to me.

  3. I’ve been davening at Philadelphia Folk Festival since 2004. I can remember at least twice that we had a minyan for services proper on Friday night, and there’s always been a large crowd for kiddush and havdalah (since well before I got involved). I had no idea there was an organized conspiracy for this sort of thing. I should get in touch with them! And any of you who plan to be at Philly Fest this summer should get in touch with me!

  4. i’m sad to admit i have avoided going to some of my favorite music (esp folk) festivals because they involve camping out and i have no idea how i would keep shabbos and i’m not sure there are other observant jews. i have been to some that do candlelighting and a mini-service (not a traditional one) but that’s it. i think this is a great idea.

  5. there was a group on phish tour for many years that called themselves “gefilte phish” that would set up an eruv on shabbos and would cook kosher food in the lot and at campsites and would also have minyanim.
    so this is really nothing new, just another incarnation of what jews always do and have done–find other jews to be jewy with.

  6. Our “Bonnajoo” project at Bonnaroo 2004 actually made it into the DVD that year (complete with tasteful video juxtaposition of our Israeli-flagged RV with the Confederate-flagged RV parked next to us).
    We’re actually going back to Bonnaroo this year for the first time since 2004, but haven’t had time to put together anything for Shabbat. Anybody know of anything going on Shabbat-wise at Bonnaroo this year?

  7. I’m at home in Austin this week and I was just chatting with my dad about this phenom. He told me that at our local mega-camping and music fest, the Kerrville Folk Festival, one of the local non-denom rabbis here in Austin, Kerry Baker, has been doing folksy kab shab services for years. One time Pete Seeger apparently played chazan.
    Odd that in a town with as many Jews as Austin, I never encountered something like this at ACL Fest. Though now my mother tells me she’s itching to do something like this at ACL Fest come August.

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