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 Ready to Play? Our Annual Gala has got it all.... Live Music - Vegas style Blackjack, Poker, Craps & Roulette - Food - Door Prizes - Auction - Casual Attire and Friends May 20th at 5PM - Norris Conference Center
BUILDING UPDATES - here including exterior elevations and building floor plans and Jewish Outlook article on groundbreaking
Special Thanks to Carol & Sandy Dochen for our new Torah. Click here for photos of the dedication
ONEG COORDINATOR NEEDED - More Details here
SAVE THE DATE - 2nd Annual Temple Beth Shalom Golf Tournament - Monday, September 10th at Falconhead
SAVE THE DATE - Annual Women's Retreat - February 1 - 3, 2013 - Don't miss out on the fun !
New to the community? or looking for a buddy to keep you posted on community opportunities? Sign up for a mentor.
Join the Chavurah Committee ...learn more here
Temple Beth Shalom Major Events Calendar provides a printable view of the year ahead highlighting services and events in the coming year.
Temple Judaica shop is now open online! The proceeds from your purchase go to support our own Temple!
Do you have a child who is between the ages of 2 and 5 ? If so, your child is eligible to participate in Torah Tots this year. Registration is now open for Spring 2012. Find out more...
GOT SHABBAT? - Suggest an Event or Submit a Quote
Do you have a Shabbat story, tradition, or activity to share? Help strengthen our Temple Beth Shalom community by sharing your ideas and stories with us! We look forward to hearing from congregants who can open our eyes to new journeys.
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What does it mean for God to dwell among us? And what would it mean if Reform Jews could experience God’s presence at every moment?
These are the kinds of questions that the Reform Movement’s Commission on Worship, Music, and Religious Living has been asking for years. And we have come to a remarkable conclusion: God is present when we share our stories – stories of moments of holiness, stories of tragedy and triumph, moments when we felt the embrace of community and moments when we embraced those around us.
Learn more about how to share your own story, and read stories of average Reform Jews– stories of moments when their worlds were transformed – through struggles with tragedy, encounters with the divine, moments when their communities reached out to them or when they reached out to another. Read more...
Submissions from our own Temple Beth Shalom members....
January 26, 2012 - Pastor at a Yizkor Service by Mark Wendel
October 6, 2011 - Finding Comfort in a Caring Community by Lori Freedman
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May 2012
Torah Study
Our Annual Gala has got it all....Live Music - Vegas style Blackjack, Poker, Craps & Roulette - Food - Door Prizes - Auction - Casual Attire and Friends
Torah Study
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I've always wanted to learn to meditate, but have struggled with turning my brain off for long enough to feel the peace that supposedly comes with meditation. I've tried multiple times and have almost gotten there, but inevitably I start thinking about some important issue or another and reality rears its ugly head. Shabbat, specifically singing through a Shabbat service, takes me about as close as I've ever gotten to that peaceful state of mind. The music, coupled with chanting or reciting the familiar prayers, is only enhanced by the warmth of the congregation that surrounds me. Perhaps this is group meditation? Shabbat services; my successful form of meditation, my peaceful end to the week.
Jeri Saper, Temple Beth Shalom member
Got Shabbat?....Read More
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by Rabbi Rick Schechter It’s the black sheep of the Jewish calendar—unfortunately. Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, is a holy day often overshadowed and overlooked in the contemporary Jewish world. How could this have happened? It had such an auspicious start. The Torah considers Shavuot a major Jewish festival—right up there with Passover and Sukkot. In ancient times, it was thus distinguished as one of the three pilgrimage festivals in which all of Israel would travel to Jerusalem to celebrate. Even more so, after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 C.E., the ancient rabbis renewed and deepened Shavuot’s [...]
by Rabbi Neil Hirsch While at this past year’s URJ Biennial, I attended the launch of the movement’s Campaign for Youth Engagement. As I heard the different stories, as colleagues and friends stood up and spoke of what’s going on with teens in their congregations, it resonated with my own experiences, and I realized that we all share in our struggles together. We have students and families dedicated to Jewish education that leads up to the bar and bat mitzvah experience. What about the day after the students become b’nai mitzvah? Our movement is facing an 80% drop-off rate after [...]
On Monday, May 28th, we observe Memorial Day in the United States, a time to remember the sacrifice of our Armed Forces in defense of our country. The prayer below, written by Rabbi Matt Friedman and originally published on this blog last year, may be read during your Shabbat Services next week. Let us ask God to protect, heal and comfort those who serve. And let us, by praying, raise our own awareness, sense of responsibility, and appreciation for those who defend our country. “A Prayer for Memorial Day” by Rabbi Matt Friedman Eloheinu v’Elohei avoteinu v’imoteinu – Our God [...]
by Rabbi Jeff Goldwasser Not long after I arrived in Florida, a congregant told me about the Treatment Center where he works as an administrator, a place for people whom the criminal justice system has deemed to be mentally ill or mentally incompetent. He asked me if I would be willing to visit the Center to talk with its few Jewish residents. I told my new congregant that I would be honored to help his residents. There was a long process before I could be approved to volunteer at the Center. I made my first trip to visit its residents [...]
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