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First Shir Shalom Annual Mitzvah Day
Mitzvah Day was a Huge Success – 150 Enthusiastic Volunteers Helped the Community!
Congregation Shir Shalom of Westchester and Fairfield Counties’ “First Annual Shir Shalom Mitzvah Day” on Sunday, May 15th was a great success! Throughout this day of good deeds, more than 150 enthusiastic volunteers reached out to help a variety of groups and connected with each other along the way. Congregants of all ages, members of the teen youth group and friends from the community made this day a memorable one.
Volunteers worked on-site and off-site in Fairfield and Westchester County townships on varied projects such as collecting food for food pantries, washing and detailing a mini-bus and baking cookies for clients of the local soup kitchen. The work benefited more than a dozen charitable local organizations including: Kids in Crisis, Neighbors Link of Mount Kisco, the Daily Bread Food Pantry of Danbury, the Community Center of Northern Westchester, Women’s Center of Danbury, Family and Children’s Aid, SPHERE of Ridgefield, Ballard Green Residences, Laurel Ridge Nursing Home, Meadow Ridge Nursing Home, SPCA of Westchester, Hope’s Door of Pleasantville, Dorothy Day Hospitality House, The Crayon Initiative and local hospitals’ neonatal units.
The organizers thank their volunteers for donating their time and energy as well as these local vendors whose generosity made this event possible: Kohl’s, Gossett Brothers’ Nursery of South Salem, Posadas Landscaping, Katonah Nursery and Party Depot of Ridgefield. Stay tuned for next year’s event! Everyone is welcome!
Membership
More than 2,000 years ago, Rabbi Simon the Just said, “The world stands upon three things: upon Torah (learning), upon worship, and upon the acts of loving kindness.” These ancient words are the basis upon which our synagogue stands. Congregation Shir Shalom is dedicated to Torah, to Jewish education, to worship (creative as well as traditional forms), and to acts of loving kindness toward our members and toward the community in which we live.
Our synagogue is as modern as tomorrow and yet finds its roots in our past. As Jews, we are proud of who we are and what we believe. Our joyful task is to keep Judaism central to our lives and to the lives of our children. We hope you will join us in this exciting adventure. We thank you for inquiring about our temple.
WHO WE ARE
Congregation Shir Shalom of Westchester and Fairfield Counties is a URJ affiliated reform congregation located in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Founded over 25 years ago, we are committed to creating a traditional, yet dynamic and innovative environment for all Jews.
Congregation Shir Shalom offers opportunities for people of all ages to feel a part of our caring congregational family. Families and individual members enjoy special programs, festivals, and activities. From our Religious School to our youth groups, our children are always involved in enriching activities. Our adult members enjoy activities through involvement with our Brotherhood, Sisterhood, and our various Temple Committees. From Social Action to Religious Services and Ritual, our committees offer a wide variety of ways to get involved in our community. Our Shabbat Services are held every Friday evening and on Saturday mornings when a Bar or Bat Mitzvah is being celebrated.
MEMBERSHIP AND DUES STRUCTURE
Of course, you want to know what it will cost to belong to Congregation Shir Shalom. Our membership dues are structured to accommodate singles and families. All regular memberships include High Holiday tickets.
Membership dues are vital to our ability to offer our members a full range of services throughout the course of their lives and to make a contribution to the future of the Jewish community. We do not want to exclude anyone from being part of this great Congregation because of an inability to pay. For that reason, a special confidential review process has been designed to consider individual dues relief situations.
For more information, contact Laura Morris, Temple Administrator at the office by telephone at (203) 438-6589 extension 10 or email her at this address Laura@OurShirShalom.org .
Our mailing address is 46 Peaceable Street Ridgefield, CT 06877
Sip ‘n’ Shop
Please join us at beautiful Rolling Hills Country Club to eat, drink and shop! The evening will include:
Passed hors d’oeuvres and hot food stations
Unlimited wine and prosecco
Great Raffle items (2 complimentary raffle tickets included with admission price)
Retail vendors including: Felice Jewelry, Bise, Groove, Jamie Lauren Designs, Traveling Boutique Bags, Audrey Road, Beauty Counter, Wildtree, Ridgefield Ski and Sport and
many more!
Come hang out with friends and meet new ones, enjoy great food and great shopping, all while supporting the Shir Shalom Sisterhood.
Save the date: Comedy Night
HHD Sermons
5780 (Fall 2019)
Archives
5776 (Fall 2015)
- Rabbi Reiner – Kol Nidrei
- Rabbi Reiner – Yom Kippur
A Pledge from the Heart
A Yom Kippur 5776 Message from the Co-Presidents
PLEASE MAKE A PLEDGE FROM YOUR HEART!
Shana Tova! It was heartwarming and profoundly inspiring for all of us to be celebrating the first high holy days together as a united Jewish community.
During the high holy days, we embarked on a period of reflection and assessment, punctuated by new resolve and commitments. These days were in some fundamental way about change; about changing the way we think and act; about aspiring to do better; about taking a different, perhaps higher path.
This year has also about another extraordinary change: about bringing our area’s Jewish community together in order to build a more vibrant and more stable foundation for our future.
Looking back over the year that has just ended, it’s almost incredible how much change we’ve experienced as a community. But as Jews, we truly are one big family bound together by history, culture, belief, and tradition. Here, together, as one community, we can continue to observe our traditions, any of which have been handed down from generation to generation for over 5,000 years.
We noted from the very beginning that in building a new synagogue, there would be things we wouldn’t want to, we couldn’t change. Those were the things that define our essence; our uniqueness. We may all have different ways of expressing these attributes, but for us, the unique qualities of our legacy synagogues are our sense of family; our connectedness; our commitment to children’s education; our affection and respect for our clergy; our emphasis on music and song in our worship.
One of the values that resonated so powerfully throughout the early discussions and continues to echo so powerfully today is the commitment both legacy synagogues historically have made to extending membership to all who wish to join irrespective of financial ability. Opening the doors of our synagogue to all who seek to enter is one of those attributes that defines our essence; that is truly at the core of who we are. It is rooted in our sense of family and our sense of connectedness. It is something that cannot change.
Community and connectedness means that we need YOU, each and every one of you! We ALL have something special to offer! We need your talents, your imagination, your time and, your financial support! We need YOU to be truly engaged; to understand that without the commitment of your heart and your dollars, we each put at risk the very presence of a Jewish community! WE NEED TO LIVE OUR VALUES! The leadership of our legacy synagogues, including our rabbis and cantor, has demonstrated this commitment, and we are asking that every one of us do the same.
You may not be aware of the fact that our collective dues, tuition and fees only cover approximately 70% of our expenses; so, we must rely on your contributions at this time each year.
We’re counting on you to demonstrate your generous support as you have in years past. Whatever your circumstances, any amount and EVERY donation is greatly appreciated and needed!
On behalf of the entire board, Rabbi Burstein, Rabbi Reiner, and Cantor Katchko-Gray, may 5776 truly be a happy, healthy, peaceful, and prosperous year for each of you and your loved ones! G’mar chatimah tovah…a good final sealing!
Your co-presidents,
Gale Berman
Glenn Kurlander
Steve Landzberg
Hal Wolkin
Jewish Family Congregation merge with Temple Shearith Israel
Jewish Family Congregation merge with Temple Shearith Israel
RIDGEFIELD, CT AND SOUTH SALEM, NY TEMPLES APPROVE UNION Jewish Family Congregation and Temple Shearith Israel will unite to form one synagogue
– June 1, Ridgefield, CT / South Salem, NY –
On Sunday, the membership of Temple Shearith Israel (TSI) and the membership of Jewish Family Congregation (JFC) authorized their respective leadership to move forward to combine the two temples into a larger, stronger and more vibrant “new” synagogue.
The two synagogues held simultaneous congregational meetings, at which members overwhelmingly voted for approval.
The union of the two synagogues will result in the formation of one of the area’s largest Reform Jewish congregations. The “new” synagogue (yet to be named) will make its home at 46 Peaceable Street in Ridgefield (the current site of TSI). Rabbi Marcus Burstein and Rabbi David Reiner will serve as co-rabbis of the consolidated congregation, and Deborah Katchko-Gray will serve as cantor. Leslie Gottlieb, who has been the education director at JFC, will be the director of the combined religious school, which will begin classes this fall at 46 Peaceable Street in Ridgefield. The synagogues had previously agreed to combine their religious schools in order to benefit from enhanced programing possibilities that are possible in a larger educational environment.
“After many months of meeting and strategizing, we are very excited to form a new, vibrant synagogue,” said Steve Landzberg, co-president of TSI. “JFC is looking forward to the exciting possibilities that will result from combining our two communities,” said Hal Wolkin, co-president of JFC. “We will all certainly benefit from the leadership of two well-qualified and dynamic rabbis, as well as a progressive, energized religious school and new programming and social opportunities.”
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Eisner Visit Session 2 2016
August 9, 2016 by urjnetworkadmin • RS Blog