Shabbat Services
Shabbat – Our Weekly Holiday
When we normally think of holidays, we think about annual celebrations, like Thanksgiving or New Year’s Day. But in Judaism there is one holiday that occurs every week – the Sabbath. Known in Hebrew as Shabbat and in Yiddish as Shabbos, it begins at sundown on Friday and ends on Saturday evening with Havdalah, a short ceremony that separates Shabbat from the rest of the week.
Inspired by the Torah’s story of God resting after creating the world (Genesis 2:1-3), Shabbat celebrates creation and offers a respite from the hectic pace of the rest of the week. Shabbat is a day of rest, and also a day of pleasure and delight. Shabbat is a time that is set aside to take notice of the wonders around us.
Shabbat is central to Jewish life. As the great Jewish writer Ahad Ha-Am has observed: “More than the Jewish people has kept the Sabbath, the Sabbath has kept the Jewish people.” Shabbat has truly been a unifying force for Jews the world over.
Kabbalat Shabbat Services
We welcome Shabbat every Friday evening with a service that begins at 7:30 PM. Our services feature beautiful music, meaningful prayer, and an inspiring D’var Torah or sermon from the Rabbi. We invite you to join us in person or online. All of our services are livestreamed.
A number of times each year, we have a Shabbat Live service which includes a full band and is a lot of fun.
Tot Shabbat Services
Once a month, we celebrate Shabbat with families with younger children. This service integrates music, movement, and learning through age-appropriate songs and prayers. It's an opportunity for parents, grandparents, and young children to have their first taste of the warmth and joy of the Shabbat experience. Each service includes a Shabbat or holiday themed arts and crafts project led by our Director of Education, Gayle Maller.
Shabbat Morning Services
On the 3rd Saturday of each month we hold a Shabbat morning service beginning at 9:00 AM. We also have Saturday morning services on various dates at 10:30am for our families celebrating a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, a Jewish lifecycle event for young adults at the age of thirteen. Shabbat morning services also feature a reading from the Torah scroll, a handwritten sacred text written on parchment that contains the Five Books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus Numbers, and Deuteronomy.