SHABBAT B’YACHAD

Prayer Services at Agudas Achim

In response to recent feedback as well as ongoing questions, we have begun a new labeling system for our service styles.  We hope to clarify our intentions and enable you to choose the service style that is most comfortable for you.  Of course, everyone is welcome to our services at all times.  Please check our newsletter or website for schedules and dates.  All services are followed by an Oneg Shabbat (on Fridays) or Kiddush (on Saturdays) to which all are invited.

Friday Services

Shabbat B’Yachad Friday - Welcome back dinner and program

Please join us Friday, September 12 for our first Shabbat B’Yachad Friday program of the year.  Family services, geared toward our youngest members and their families, will start at 5:45 pm.  A catered dinner follows at 6:30 ($15/adult; $5/child, 5-12; $35 family cap).  Please RSVP by Friday, September 5. 

Erev Shabbat Services are at 7:30 pm and will include an address by Robert Barkin, President of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation. Come to reconnect with the community and meet new friends. 

Shabbat B’Yachad at Home needs YOU!

Once again, we will be matching up families for in-home Shabbat dinners four times this year.  No need to be a gourmet cook– make it a potluck or order in for pizza.  Don’t know the blessings? We will provide you with all you need to create a meaningful Shabbat experience and even provide Shabbat guides, when requested, to help lead the way.  Please let us know if you are available to host or would like to be a guest on the following days: October 17; December 19, February 20, May 1. 

General Friday Night Information:

Family Services, 5:45 pm, meets once per month.  This 45-minute service is geared toward our youngest members and their families.  Led by Rabbi Elyse or another member of our faculty, this service provides a gentle and fun introduction to Shabbat worship in a child-friendly atmosphere. We use our children’s prayer book, Kol HaNoar, to help us welcome Shabbat with songs, movement, instruments and stories.  A catered Shabbat dinner to which all are invited (reservation and pre-payment required for dinner) follows this service.

In the Round, 7:30 pm, meets most Friday nights.  This is our “regular” service to welcome Shabbat with singing, meditation, silence and prayer.  Our chairs are arranged in a circle and the leader sits among the community.  While the leader may offer a short teaching or d’var torah, this service emphasizes ending the workweek and preparing the mind, body and spirit to enter Shabbat, the day of rest.

Traditional style, 7:30 pm, meets once per month.  This service has more of the flavor and feel of a traditional Conservative or Reform service.  The chairs are arranged in rows. The prayer leader leads from the front of the room and offers a more formal sermon/teaching on these evenings. 

Saturday services

SHABBAT B’YACHAD IS BACK
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20TH @ 9 AM

Our award winning Shabbat B’Yachad (Shabbat Together) programming resumes on Saturday, September 20th @ 9:00 a.m.  Our Shabbat B’Yachad initiative, funded in part by the Legacy Heritage Foundation, helps bring our school community together with the general synagogue community for a morning of learning, praying and fun.  Electives start at 9 a.m. and services begin at 10 followed by a community potluck lunch.  See the enclosed flyer for lunch assignments and elective choices.  For more information, contact Kim Bodemer, principal@agudasma.org

Reintroducing…Melissa Schick

You may know her as our cantorial soloist but now Melissa Schick has joined our Shabbat B’Yachad program team as an Educational Program Associate. Melissa will be leading one of our Shabbat morning minyanim on a rotating basis as well as leading electives, some singing and assisting with some of our intergenerational programming.  She will also be working behind the scenes with material preparation.  We are excited to welcome her in this new role and invite you to reintroduce yourselves to her when you see her!

General Saturday Information:

Shabbat services, 10:00 am, most Saturdays. Our Shabbat morning service is often described as informal, interactive, and participatory.  While we go through the prayer service, we may stop to discuss an interesting reading or point of liturgy.  Instructions or comments are added throughout the service and the Torah reading is always followed by a lively discussion of the week’s portion.  All are encouraged to add their voices and participate regardless of background and familiarity with the liturgy.

Shabbat B’Yachad Saturday, 9:00 am, once per month. Our award winning intergenerational Shabbat program includes an array of programming for all ages.  The morning begins at 9:00 am with electives for children, adults or both.  Electives may include yoga, meditation, drumming, a nature walk, singing, Torah discussion, games or schmoozing in the kitchen.  At 10:00 am, services begin in three locations: adults meet in the sanctuary while children meet in two classrooms for age appropriate services of their own.  At 11:00 all return to the sanctuary for a community-wide Torah service and intergenerational learning and singing.  The entire morning ends with a potluck lunch at 12:15.

Bar/Bat Mitzvah Services, 10:00 am, as scheduled throughout the year.  B’nai Mitzvah services at Congregation Agudas Achim are a community event and all are welcome.  Because of the relative size of the crowds, we sit in rows and the service is led from the bimah.  Family members and friends of the bar or bat mitzvah often participate and take honors in the service.  However, since we believe that children become Bar or Bat Mitzvah within the context of our community, this is by no means a private event – all are welcome!  Our b’nai mitzvah families are delighted to have you join with them in worship and celebration.

Celebrate Shabbat! is funded in part
by a grant from STAR (Synagogues: Transformation and Renewal)
and is a member of STAR's Synaplex™ network of synagogues.

Please note our new labels for Friday night services

In response to recent feedback as well as ongoing questions, we have begun a new labeling system for our service styles.  We hope to clarify our intentions and enable you to choose the service style that is most comfortable for you.  Of course, everyone is welcome to our services at all times.  Please check our newsletter or website for schedules and dates.  All services are followed by an Oneg Shabbat (on Fridays) or Kiddush (on Saturdays) to which all are invited.

Friday Services

Family Services, 5:45 pm, meets once per month.  This 45-minute service is geared toward our youngest members and their families.  Led by Rabbi Elyse or another member of our faculty, this service provides a gentle and fun introduction to Shabbat worship in a child-friendly atmosphere. We use our children’s prayer book, Kol HaNoar, to help us welcome Shabbat with songs, movement, instruments and stories.  A catered Shabbat dinner to which all are invited (reservation and pre-payment required for dinner) follows this service.

In the Round, 7:30 pm, meets most Friday nights.  This is our “regular” service to welcome Shabbat with singing, meditation, silence and prayer.  Our chairs are arranged in a circle and the leader sits among the community.  While the leader may offer a short teaching or d’var torah, this service emphasizes ending the workweek and preparing the mind, body and spirit to enter Shabbat, the day of rest.

Traditional style, 7:30 pm, meets once per month.  This service has more of the flavor and feel of a traditional Conservative or Reform service.  The chairs are arranged in rows. The prayer leader leads from the front of the room and offers a more formal sermon/teaching on these evenings.  

Saturday services

Shabbat services, 10:00 am, most Saturdays. Our Shabbat morning service is often described as informal, interactive, and participatory.  While we go through the prayer service, we may stop to discuss an interesting reading or point of liturgy.  Instructions or comments are added throughout the service and the Torah reading is always followed by a lively discussion of the week’s portion.  All are encouraged to add their voices and participate regardless of background and familiarity with the liturgy.

Shabbat B’Yachad Saturday, 9:00 am, once per month. Our award winning intergenerational Shabbat program includes an array of programming for all ages.  The morning begins at 9:00 am with electives for children, adults or both.  Electives may include yoga, meditation, drumming, a nature walk, singing, Torah discussion, games or schmoozing in the kitchen.  At 10:00 am, services begin in three locations: adults meet in the sanctuary while children meet in two classrooms for age appropriate services of their own.  At 11:00 all return to the sanctuary for a community-wide Torah service and intergenerational learning and singing.  The entire morning ends with a potluck lunch at 12:15.

Bar/Bat Mitzvah Services, 10:00 am, as scheduled throughout the year.  B’nai Mitzvah services at Congregation Agudas Achim are a community event and all are welcome.  Because of the relative size of the crowds, we sit in rows and the service is led from the bimah.  Family members and friends of the bar or bat mitzvah often participate and take honors in the service.  However, since we believe that children become Bar or Bat Mitzvah within the context of our community, this is by no means a private event – all are welcome!  Our b’nai mitzvah families are delighted to have you join with them in worship and celebration.