Prayer Services

Fostering Belonging and Dignity

Building LGBTQ-affirming community.

Maariv Aravim: Bringing Awareness to Change

This prayer recited as day turns to night helps to acknowledge moments of transition we often miss.

Words to the Shema and Its Blessings

Text in English for the Shema and the three blessings that accompany it.

Yom Kippur 2017

Yom Kippur begins at sunset on Friday, September 29 and ends at sundown on Saturday, September 30.

Sharing My Shabbat Table

One of the most empowering things I have done since living on my own as an Orthodox Jewish “single” is ...

Candle Lighting’s Power to Connect and Transform Us

I’m thinking a lot about Shabbat candle lighting nowadays, in part because I’m awaiting the birth of my first grandchild ...

Bat Mitzvah as Rite of Passage into Self and Community

My daughter Ktoret Ashira was born on Yom Kippur in Jerusalem in 2001. Two and a half years ago we ...

Between the Holy and the Frustrating

It’s Friday afternoon in a quiet Maryland suburb. Cars pull into driveways and kids get off school buses, ready to ...

Yom Kippur 2016

Click here for more questions and answers about Yom Kippur.When is Yom Kippur?Yom Kippur 2016 begins at sunset on Tuesday, ...

A Powerful Woman

As this summer, and this Jewish year wind down, I’m completing the painting and writing for my fourth illuminated book ...

What Is A Gabbai?

Gabbai (pl. gabbaim) is an Aramaic word that means tax collector, but today a gabbai is someone who assists with the reading of the Torah.

Barekhu

The formal call to worship in morning and evening services.