Recently in Programs for Congregations Category

As one of our readers helpfully pointed out, this Friday is...

One of our iworship listserve members, Dan Fendel of Temple Sinai in Oakland, CA reported the following:

Our synagogue has done some preliminary thinking on the subject of Shabbat, and I'm glad to give a status report.

We have a planning team of 3 (1 rabbi, 2 lay people, including myself) who have met a couple of times to think about where we might go with this. (The two lay people were recruited/volunteered at dinner with our Biennial delegation the evening of Rabbi Yoffie's address.)

Our tentative plan is to have one group, of roughly a dozen people, which will address both pieces of the initiative. We'll go to Shabbat AM services together about 8 times, both at our own synagogue - Bar/Bat mitzvah service and our once-a-month lay-led service - as well as some other local places, and also gather for a series of other
Shabbat experiences -- a Friday dinner, a Shabbat late afternoon/havdalah, an afternoon study/exploration, etc. We'll probably meet after services each time to debrief/share etc.

We're going to use some of the materials from the various study guides, but haven't yet figured out what.

That's about all I can report, except to say that quite a few people at our synagogue are excited about the whole idea.

I'd love to hear more from others on this.



Thanks Dan! So would we!

Lee Howard of United Hebrew Congregation in Joplin, Missouri writes about the interfaith Shabbat experience he shared with his congregation and the local Muslim community:

"Last fall the members of our congregation were invited by the Joplin Muslim community to visit their new mosque for a dinner. On Jan 18, we invited the Joplin Muslims to our temple for Shabbat services and a oneg.  Our student rabbi, Brian Stoller did a wonderful job in leading services and we had a great time at the oneg, meeting and greeting our Muslim neighbors. Student Rabbi Brian handed out and read the information about URJ's program concerning "Children of Abraham: Jews and Muslims in Conversation," along with the  introductory letters of Rabbi Yoffie and Dr Ingrid Matson, President of the ISNA.

We had a wonderful evening with the members of the Muslim community. When my wife and I left the oneg around 11 p.m., there were members of both congregations still engaged in friendly conversation.

We hope to continue a dialog and friendship with our new friends."

What a wonderful way to spend Erev Shabbat!  Kol Hakavod to United Hebrew Congregation and the Joplin Muslim community!