Dear Lab/Shul Community,
שֶׁבֶת כּוּלָם גַּם יַחַד
Last Thursday evening, the Lab/Shul community gathered with intention and joy to celebrate the milestone of our B Mitzvah. It was one of the sweetest celebrations of our thirteen-year journey.
As we began a pre-event toast with our staff, Board, and honorees, Lab/Shul’s Spiritual Leader, Shira Kline, opened by singing this beloved psalm. It struck me as curious — “Hinei Ma Tov” isn’t part of Lab/Shul’s regular musical repertoire. But the excitement of the evening carried me away before I had a chance to ask her why she chose it.
As I began preparing what I wanted to share with all of you today, I found myself returning to that familiar verse and, in particular, to the Hebrew word שֶׁבֶת (shevet) and its root, ישב (yashav) – to sit, to dwell, to remain present.
And I began reflecting on how increasingly and painfully difficult it has become for so many to simply sit together in Jewish community.
This week’s local Democratic primaries here in New York City did not make that any easier. Many of us in the Lab/Shul community, and in other communities of which I am a part, are elated and hopeful because of the election outcomes. And many of us in the Lab/Shul community, and in other communities of which I am a part, are disappointed and fearful. Too many of us are no longer able to remain in relationship with those who do not share our views, experiences, or outrage.
But Jewish tradition asks something different of us.
It asks us to sit.
To stay at the table. To remain in relationship. To listen before reacting. To hold complexity instead of certainty. To resist the urge to reduce one another to headlines, hashtags, or voting records — in service of גַּם יָחַד (gam yachad), being together.
Not in the absence of disagreement. Not in uniformity. But in the willingness to remain connected in spite of it.
Lab/Shul is an anti-divisivist community where we recommit each day to building bridges in a moment that rewards walls. We know the “messy middle” is uncomfortable, but it is precisely there that curiosity replaces certainty and relationship outlasts ideology. It is there that healing, belonging, and transformation become possible.
Next week, the Lab/Shul office will close for another kind of שב (shev) —a brief sabbatical. Just as shevet teaches us to sit together, Shabbat invites us to stop, rest, and renew ourselves so that we can flourish within a healthier ecosystem. While our office will be closed, we remain here for one another in moments of genuine need.
If you have a time-sensitive pastoral need during our office closure, please call 212.908.2527, and a member of our ritual team will follow up with you.
When we reopen on Monday, July 6, we will return committed to creating sacred gatherings for meaning-making and connection; to cultivating spaces of belonging through our artist-driven, everybody-friendly, God-optional ethos; and to holding difficult conversations with courage, compassion, and dignity. We will return ready to meet all that this moment asks of us.
It has been a remarkable and demanding programmatic year. We are deeply grateful to our extraordinary staff, ritual team, artists, musicians, educators, and volunteers whose leadership, care, and creativity make this community possible.
I wish you a restorative Shabbat, and look forward to seeing you in July.
With gratitude,
Sarah Sokolic
Co-Founder & Executive Director
