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Henna and Shabbat, A Women's Weekend is Held in Mumbai
Spontaneous dancing circles, Shabbat candles, and henna dyeing were some features of this year's Women's Reatreat in Mumbai. Gila Ward, a JDC Jewish Service Corps Volunteer in India, organized the event which brought together 25 women between the ages of 20 to 75. The retreat took the women out of Mumbai to the small town of Lonavala by bus. Throughout the bus ride the vehicle was filled with the warmth of the women's voices singing Hindi songs. The voices would later join together again for the Sabbath prayers. Shaking their hands and bringing their fingers to their lips, the women greeted each other in the Sephardic style, wishing each other Shabbat Shalom. The daughter and granddaughter of the well-known Mumbai Chazzan (prayer leader) led Shabbat services, covering their hair with multi-colored scarves they themselves had made that afternoon. The women re-enacted a Bene Israeli engagement ceremony with Gila acting as the bride-to-be, with a friend moving her hands from her hips to shoulders three times and pretending to feed her sweets. A henna-painting party followed, with a little lime juice and sugar to deepen the color of the dye. A highlight of the weekend retreat was a reenactment of the biblical story of Ruth, which Gila divided up amongst groups of women to adapt. The women wore costumes and face paint to play different roles. They interpreted the story so that it reflected their own emotions and experiences, and later discussed how it related to their modern lives. "The women praised Naomi, the mother-in-law who assisted her widowed daughter-in-law in remarrying. They were particularly fond of Boaz, who took Ruth in, cared for her, and married her despite her widowed status," Gila wrote on her weblog. "They grasped the story in its entirety and made it their own...It was incredible." October 2006 |
