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I planned the first Guinness record-breaking Shabbat dinner. I promise I’m not too bitter about being beaten.

JL;DR SUMMARY Deborah Danan recounts the experience of organizing the first Guinness World Record-breaking Shabbat dinner in Tel Aviv in 2014 and compares it to a recent record-breaking event in New York. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Tel AvivJewish CommunityShabbatNew YorkTemple Emanu ElCultural EventGuinness World RecordOrthodox PracticesDiverse Jewish GatheringsSecular And Religious Unity

Places mentioned

Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv District, Israel
"Heremate not feeling even remotely bitter that the Guinness World Record for the largest Shabbat dinnerthe one my friends and I set in Tel Aviv in 2014has just been broken again."
New York City, New York, United States
"No, truly, Im not at all dwelling on the fact that this new record-setter organized by Temple Emanu-Els Streicker Center and held in the New York Citys convention center came with a half-million-dollar check."
Javits Center, New York, United States
"The moment The Big Shabbat broke the record for worlds largest Shabbat dinner, held at the Javits Center on Nov. 21, 2025."
Berlin, Germany
"(The Berlin Shabbat dinner that broke our record a year later was a breeze in that respecteveryone was already at the venue for the Maccabi games.)"

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