Visit our calendar for more information and links.
Here is an overview of activities during the Covid-19 crisis. All activities are from homes via live stream, zoom or something similar. If you are interested in joining, please contact the office at (707) 444-2846 or email at bethel@reninet.com.
Friday Night Services – Rabbi Naomi, Rabbi Bob and our lay leaders will lead a variety of Shabbat services from their homes. An abbreviated siddur and song sheets is available by request.
Saturday Morning Torah Study – via Zoom (w/opportunity to say Kaddish). Details will be in the weekly newsletter.
Tot Shabbat – May 23 – 10-11 am – Rabbi Naomi leads. Older kids welcome!
Saturday Evening Havdalah – 8:30 pm – with Rabbi Naomi and/or other leaders – 5/23, 5/30. Havdalah is a beautiful, brief ceremony marking the close of Shabbat after sunset on Saturday. Join her at, via Zoom, home for blessings, songs and a short teaching. 8:15 pm.
Counting the Omer – Nightly counting and teaching – Rabbi Naomi leads – 8:30 pm (On Saturdays this will be preceded by Havdalah) The Torah tells us to count the fifty days from Pesach to Shavuot, from the early barley harvest to the first wheat harvest. (An omer is a measure of grain; this is why Shavuot is named the festival of “Weeks”) The Kabbalist have transformed this agrarian observance into a mystical process. Starting the second night of Passover, Thursday, April 9, she will lead Counting the Omer, a brief ritual that draws our attention to the progression of days from Pesach to Shavuot. The Rabbi’s online program will start at 8:30 every night from April 9 to May 27, except for the Friday nights when Shabbat services are led by other TBE teachers. Feel free to join in through the fifty days, or drop in from time to time. We will also have time for saying the mourner’s kaddish. Beautiful materials may be downloaded by copying and pasting the following links: http://www.kblh4all.com/Siddur/Festivals/Pesach/K4A_Sfirat_HaOmer.pdf and https://reformjudaism.org/practice/prayers-blessings/mourners-kaddish.
Monday Night Torah – Weekly – 6-7 pm – taught by Phil Lazzar via Zoom.
Pirkey Avot Study – Sundays, April 19 to May 24 – 11-12:30 – taught by Rabbi Naomi – Pirkey Avot (The Sayings of the Fathers) is a wonderful section of the Talmud full of wisdom, warmth and wit. Many of us know the very famous saying from the sage Hillel: If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when? Pirkey Avot is traditionally studied on Shabbat afternoons between Pesach and Shavuot. Since we have Erev Shabbat and Shabbat morning events, Rabbi Naomi will offer a Sunday morning study session, 11-12:30. We’ll read one chapter each week. Copy and paste https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.1?lang=bi.]\
Shavuot Celebration!
Celebrate Matan Torah – The Giving of Torah
Thursday, May 28
8 pm Shavuot Study; 9 pm Candle-lighting.
Friday, May 29
8pm – Family Shavuot/Shabbat
Saturday, May 30
9 to 11 am – Torah Study – Join a lively discussion of the Ten (Very Important) Statements!
11:00 – Torah Reading & Yizkor – Come Zoom up to Mount Sinai as Rabbi Naomi, Rabbi Bob and Caroline Isaacs read the Aseret Ha-Dibrot, The Ten Statements. Brief Yizkor service immediately after the Torah reading. Rabbi Bob will be at the temple so we can see the Torah!
Join in our Shavuot events via Zoom, including discussion and reading of the Ten (Very Important) Statements. You might want to plan on making some blintzes that weekend, traditional for the holiday, because they’re shaped like little scrolls https://www.myjewishlearning.com/recipe/blintzes/