Become part of OUR Shir Shalom community.

The role of the ritual committee is to support the clergy and to work with them to plan the celebration of Shabbat and the many festivals on the synagogue calendar. 

Some responsibilities include decisions regarding the minhag (customs) of our congregation, the planning of special Shabbat and festival services and the short-term and long-term vision of Shir Shalom’s ritual. 

The members of the committee act as a liaison between the congregants and the clergy. 

The Education Committee is an advisory body that meets quarterly with the Religious School Director, with input from the Rabbi. Its members may be congregants with an educational background as well as Religious School parents. 

It provides an opportunity for the Religious School Director to share programming and operational details about the Religious School, and to receive guidance and feedback as needed.

The committee will also continually reassess the Religious School experience, to ensure the curriculum and its delivery remain educationally excellent. 

This Committee will focus on aspects of congregational life specifically to include attracting new congregants and recognizing the needs of present congregants in order to help maintain and continue their involvement with Congregation Shir Shalom.

The Committee will be involved in the integration of new congregants into the congregation as well as work towards developing and deepening relationships between congregants.

Shir Shalom’s Social Action Committee is the temple’s community service arm.

The Committee creates outreach programs and informs congregants about charitable causes and volunteer opportunities while connecting them with each other and with the temple. We support a variety of important efforts to help the needy and are always happy to consider new ones, 

Participation from all temple constituencies is encouraged and welcomed and volunteer commitments are flexible. 

Young teens and their families are especially encouraged to get involved as part of the B’nai Mitzvah preparation.

Join us! 

The purpose of Congregation Shir Shalom’s Caring Committee is to reach out to members of the congregation in times of need.

We believe that this is what it means to be part of a caring Jewish congregation and community.

Ways in which we can help:

• We will help by delivering or organizing delivery of food from the Caring Committee when a family is sitting shiva
• We will pick up a few items at the grocery store, or pick up a prescription for people who are homebound.
• We will organize meal trains for families that have recently lost loved ones or to help a family with an ailing household member
• We will do our best to provide rides to the synagogue when needed
• Send condolence card

The committee coordinates and plans activities associated with maintenance, repair and modification of the congregation’s physical home and property.

The committee monitors the physical condition of the congregation’s home and property, and working within budgetary guidelines, schedules repairs, maintenance and modification projects.

The committee engages and oversees vendors with respect to the above.

The committee advises the Executive Committee of short term (i.e. annual), and longer term budgetary requirements to address the needs of the congregation in the future.

Adult Programming seeks to provide experiences, be they talks, films, excursions, etc. that will interest, instruct, amuse members of our community. Our events are also opportunities for participants to socialize and hopefully might attract new members to the congregation. 

The Financial Planning Board (“FPB”) consists of certain members of Congregation Shir Shalom who have volunteered and been deemed to possess relevant financial and investment management expertise.

The FPB is authorized by the Board of Trustees of Congregation Shir Shalom to establish, subject to Board approval, and carry out, Investment Policies with regard to the congregation’s Endowment Fund and Special Investment Fund.

The FPB is tasked with recommending refinements to these Policies, monitoring and evaluating the performance of any investment Advisor or Investment Manager that may be engaged, generally overseeing investment of these funds consistent with the guidelines in the Policies, monitoring results consistent with stated objectives, and reporting periodically to the Board of Trustees. 

Congregation Shir Shalom is an inclusive Jewish community. Special Arrangements are available for those with financial need. Those unable to afford the standard Base Community Commitment amount for their membership category are asked to contact the chair of our Special Arrangements committee to confidentially discuss a Special Arrangement.

The member will also be asked to fill out a brief application form. The committee discusses each request, in a confidential and sensitive manner, and seeks to develop a financial arrangement for the member’s annual community commitment that is fair and reasonable under the circumstances. 

An agreed upon Special Arrangement is documented in writing by the committee, with a copy to the member. Special Arrangements are generally re-assessed periodically. 

We are charged with working with the Rabbi to have regular meetings to mutually review the work and relationships between the Rabbi, the Board and the Congregation. 

It is our mission to Welcome the Stranger to America as our parents and grandparents were welcomed. We want to support the refugees in our area who have been granted asylum and struggle to adjust to their new country.

We join with hundreds of synagogues throughout the US to support the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society – HIAS – in its “Welcome the Stranger Campaign.”

We are volunteering with DARA – the Danbury Area Refugee Association to help newly arrived refugees. 

Rabbi Emily is teaching our Religious School students (grade 4-7) about the refugee experience in America — past and present.

“Once, the Jewish community helped refugees because they were Jewish. Now we help refugees because we are Jewish.”