SAVE THE DATE! We are excited to share with you that we will be hosting Rabbi Robbie Harris for a Shabbaton this winter, the weekend of January 11-12.
The weekend will include several opportunities to learn with Rabbi Harris: Friday evening, there will be a catered dinner and a talk by Rabbi Harris on gender in the Joseph narrative, Joseph and his Amazing Rainbow Dreamcoat. Saturday morning, he will offer a d'var Torah on the week's parsha, titled The Cow that Laid an Egg, followed by an in-depth Lunch + Learn text study over dessert, continuing our learning about the Joseph story.
Motzei Shabbat/Saturday evening, we will enjoy havdalah and dinner, with Rabbi Harris' ever-popular Ask the Rabbi!
This promises to be a great weekend of learning, and huge thanks go to Carol Ehrlich, David Sandberg, and Leah Robins, who have helped us get to this point! This Shabbaton is an opportunity to spend more time learning with Rabbi Harris, our shul's beloved High Holiday leader.
We welcome your participation to help sponsor this weekend at a variety of levels; click here for more details.
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Tomorrow, we will be hosting Noa Yuval-Hacham from the Schechter Institute in Jerusalem for a Lunch + Learn on the topic Prayer and Polemic in the Ancient Synagogue of Naaran: Ancient Synagogue Art.
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Filming this Sunday!
We are expecting to host a filmmaking production of what a Torah service looks like, and we are looking for people to participate in the film. The project has been rescheduled to this Sunday, December 16 at 10:00am, following morning services. If you're interested in participating, please contact Peter Squires.
Note: although this will be an enactment of an Egalitarian Torah service, that all are welcome and invited to participate! Professor Stern plans to be at shul Saturday morning, so he can answer questions about the project then. If people wish to email me ahead of time, they certainly may do so, but people are also very much welcome to "just" show up. Filming will be starting at 10am, and we expect to be done by noon, if not before.
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...or, just go to the movies!
Members of Tremont Street are going to Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel in West Newton on Sunday at 1 pm. Buy tickets here!
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Becoming an Inclusive Community
As you may remember from our weekly update earlier this month, Tremont Street recently signed on as one of the newest partners of CJP's Ruderman Synagogue Inclusion Program. It was an evening of learning and conversation with a panel by Gateways* and CJP staff about many types of inclusion and best practices that synagogues are adopting and a keynote by author Anita Diamant who spoke about the universal design at Mayyim Hayyim. We're looking forward to sharing these learnings and working together with you to continue to cultivate greater inclusion in our shul. Our community was well represented by Leah Gordon, Sarah Magidson, Barbara Model, Leah Robins and Director of Community Development Rabbi Emily Mathis. Please ask them about the event and how you can get involved in our Inclusion Committee.
* Boston's organization dedicated to an inclusive Jewish community!
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Leyning Request
If you are available to leyn an aliyah (or two) on December 22 and/or December 29, Linda Kasten would love to know -- or sign up here!
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Blood Moon Tu BiShvat
Join us Sunday, January 20 for a Tu BiShvat Seder, followed by a movie, learning and a viewing of the Blood Moon (Lunar Eclipse). Please contact Rabbi Mathis or Brian Eisenstein if you are interested in helping out or planning the event. Details to follow in the coming weeks.
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ShulCloud Login/Member Information/Dues Statements
In the next several days, you will be receiving a reminder email to log into your account to set up your member information (if you have already done so, thank you!) -- and, if you have a balance for dues and/or your Kol Nidre pledge, an email with a year-end statement. There are still details of ShulCloud that we are completing, and it will be helpful to have all of our members on board -- thank you in advance!
By mid-January, we hope to have tax-deduction letters to you, so keep an eye out for that once it's 2019.
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If you are interested in joining those who are contributing to the kiddush on December 22 in honor of community member Julie Weinrach, please go to the Donate tab of the shul website, choose Kiddush Fund as the Donation Type, and write Julie's name in the In Honor Of section. Many thanks in advance!
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