Social Action at Temple Ohabei Shalom: January News
01/06/2020 02:58:14 PM
Social Action at Temple Ohabei Shalom
News and Events: January 2020
Read more...
A Message from Rabbi Berkman in Response to Recent Antisemitic Incidents
12/30/2019 01:25:03 PM
Dear Friends,
Read more...
Hanukkah: Honoring the Work We've Done
12/20/2019 01:44:38 PM
Hanukkah means dedication. The name for this festival comes from the actions of the Maccabees after they defeated the Greeks. After finding the temple in ruins, the Maccabees clean it up and rededicate the temple by lighting the menorah.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the...Read more...
Building an Inclusive Community
12/09/2019 01:20:14 PM
Last
night I had the privilege of attending an event with members of our synagogue inclusion committee and the Ruderman Synagogue Inclusion Project. The Ruderman Foundation has supported our inclusion work here at TOS and they've recently expanded their inclusion work to mental...Read more...
Rabbi Berkman as Guest DJ
11/19/2019 01:06:17 PM
This past Sunday, Rabbi Berkman had the chance to guest DJ for Chagigah, the WERS radio station featuring Jewish music and culture. Want to hear her guest spot? Listen below...
Read more...
Dvar Torah - Parashat Bereishit: In honor of this #ShowUpForShabbat, on the one-year anniversary of the attack on the Tree of Life synagogue
10/25/2019 01:26:18 PM
Thank you for “showing up for Shabbat” tonight. To mindfully mark time and to notice where we are now in relation to where we have been, and where we hope to go - that is a distinctively Jewish act....Read more...
Acting Executive Director & Education Director: The Role of a Lifetime
10/22/2019 06:41:48 PM
When I watched the Emmy’s a few weeks ago, I was struck by all of the thank-you’s. Every actor, writer, director, costume designer – their first reaction was to say thank you to everyone who supported them along the way. It was clear that none of them could have achieved their success without a...Read more...
Learning the Lessons of History - Yom Kippur 5780
10/10/2019 09:14:15 AM
Rabbi Daniel Schaefer - Delivered Yom Kippur 5780
In high school, I had three amazing teachers - Mr. DeBischop, Mr. Navage, and Mr. Satler, who inspired in me a love of history and changed the direction of my professional ambitions. I was fascinated by the stories of great...Read more...
High Holy Days with Children at TOS
10/03/2019 01:30:10 PM
Yom Kippur.
Often the last thing on our mind, as we prepare our homes and ourselves for this holy day, is preparing our children. And the thing is—Yom Kippur services are different from traditional Shabbat services at TOS. Having a quick conversation (or two) with our...Read more...
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5780
09/29/2019 08:00:00 PM
Rabbi Daniel Schaefer
Shana tovah. Two rabbis walk into a bar. One rabbi says:
The world was created in the fall in the month of Tishrei. In Tishrei the Patriarchs were born; in Tishrei the Patriarchs died; on Passover Isaac was born; on Rosh HaShana Sarah, Rachel, and...Read more...
On Tisha B'Av We Remember & Mourn
08/09/2019 11:31:57 PM
We are approaching the end of the three weeks, a period of time that culminates tomorrow night with the arrival of Tisha B’Av, a day of mourning. I’m incredibly grateful that Judaism sets aside sacred time for us to be sad, to feel down, and to get in touch with despair. These are emotions that we often push away because we feel obligated to be happy, distract ourselves with the busyness of life, or just...Read more...
A Message from Rabbi Berkman
11/16/2018 11:29:03 AM
Dear Friends,
Across the country, many thousands of our Jewish sisters and brothers are experiencing the horror of having lost loved ones, homes, businesses, and several Jewish institutions including camps and a Jewish day school. (See this article for more information on the impact on the Jewish...Read more...
A letter of gratitude from Rabbi Audrey Marcus Berkman
11/06/2018 07:26:03 PM
Dear TOS Community,
I am filled with gratitude for the many blessings of last Friday evening’s Installation, when we marked the official start...Read more...
Installation Remarks
11/02/2018 04:00:00 PM
My already-beloved community, cherished family, friends, colleagues: How very humbling to be called to the leadership of this kehilla kedoshah, this holy community, at this moment in history. It is not an easy moment - it is arguably the most challenging and shocking time for American Jews in many decades,...Read more...
Refugee tzedakah project
10/24/2018 12:47:32 PM
Did you know that there are refugee families in Brookline that need our help? There is one that even goes to school here at TOS. I really want to help his family as they don’t have much. With the help of Rabbi Schaefer and Amy, we are having a spare change drive here at ARS starting next week.
This is so easy. Did you know...Read more...
Rabbi Schaefer's Sermon on National Refugee Shabbat
10/19/2018 12:00:00 AM
This week’s Torah portion, Lech L'cha, begins with the famous words:
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־אַבְרָ֔ם לֶךְ־לְךָ֛ מֵאַרְצְךָ֥ וּמִמּֽוֹלַדְתְּךָ֖ וּמִבֵּ֣ית אָבִ֑יךָ
God said to Abram, “Go forth from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father’s house.”
Why does God specify three...Read more...
Transgender Civil Rights Are Vulnerable in November
09/27/2018 07:30:00 AM
Here’s How the Jewish Community Can Help
Cherishing our friends and family in the LGBTQ community—and standing up for their safety and civil rights—is an expression of our caring and inclusive values at Ohabei Shalom. We want to ensure that all people in our community are treated...Read more...
ARS 2018-2019 Vision: B'tzelem Elohim
09/26/2018 05:48:00 PM
At ARS, we approach curriculum through a variety of ways. There’s the Hebrew and Judaica curriculum that students examine in the classroom, the tefilah questions that help students dive into prayer and theology at our weekly service, and each...Read more...
YOM KIPPUR 5779/2018
09/24/2018 07:30:00 AM
ONE SOUL AT A TIME:
MENTAL HEALTH AND TIKKUN OLAM
YOM KIPPUR MORNING SERMON
A couple of years ago, I started noticing a tremendous upsurge in ads...Read more...
KOL NIDRE 5779/2018
09/24/2018 05:30:00 AM
BUILDING ON BROKENNESS:
THE HOLINESS OF WHOLENESS
Sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug. If you use social media -- sometimes you’re the ones posting carefully curated photos of our delicious meal, our adorable kids or grandkids, our phenomenal vacation - we are “hashtag...Read more...
ROSH HASHANAH 5779/2018
09/23/2018 07:56:03 PM
FIRST DAY OF ROSH HASHANAH
INTRODUCTION TO THE HAFTARAH READING
(I Samuel 1:1-2:10)
Last weekend was the US Open’s Women’s Tennis Final, and it pitted perhaps the greatest tennis player of all time, Serena Williams,...Read more...
ROSH HASHANAH 5779/2018
09/23/2018 07:00:00 PM
SHEMA!:
HEARING AND SHARING OUR STORIES TO
BUILD A STRONGER COMMUNITY AND A
BETTER WORLD
Read more...
A Message from Our President
09/05/2018 09:42:42 PM
Dear Friends,
As part of our strategic planning process, this past June the Board of Trustees unanimously voted to adopt Tikkun Olam, Caring and Inclusive Community and Jewish and General Education as Temple Ohabei Shalom’s core values. These values were identified through our strategic planning...Read more...
A Word of Torah
09/02/2018 06:30:00 AM
Last night at Selichot, we sang the words of Hashiveinu, reminding us that this is the season for...Read more...
A Word of Torah: Elul Thoughts - The Gift & Power of Emotional Courage
08/24/2018 07:49:02 AM
It is said in a midrash that the gates of teshuvah (repentance/return) are always open....Read more...
A Word of Torah: Elul Thoughts-The Courageous Act of Waking Up!
08/17/2018 10:23:44 AM
The sound of the shofar is, it has been said, a kind of spiritual alarm clock. With the dawn of the Hebrew month of Elul, this primal sound, seeming to encompass the entire spectrum of human emotion and experience within it, calls us to mindfulness, to wakefulness, and asks us plaintively and...Read more...
A Word of Torah: The New Moon
08/10/2018 11:28:29 AM
The new moon this weekend begins the new month of Elul. By the time the moon has waxed and waned we’ll be arriving at Rosh Hashanah, the start of a new year. Elul is a time for preparing for the High Holy Days, of awakening ourselves to do the work of teshuvah.
A Midrash on the Song of...Read more...
A New Partnership & Two Events
08/03/2018 02:07:20 PM
Dear friends,
This is Lori Berry and Donna Rubenoff. We want to introduce ourselves as the co-leaders of the new temple-wide partnership that we launched in June with The...Read more...
Sun, January 19 2020
22 Tevet 5780
Our Most Recent Blog Post
Sign Up for Emails
Our Lifelong Learning Catalog
Check out our Lifelong Learning Opportunities for the rest of the year. You'll find everything from Torah study (at Shabbat Morning B'yachad) to learning about the seasons of the Jewish Year, the Shema, and much, much more. Open the catalog here.
Upcoming Events
-
Family Volunteering for MLK Day
Monday, Jan 20th 2:00p to 4:00p
-
Transformational Torah: Learning Torah for the Inner and Outer Self with Ryan Leszner
Thursday, Jan 23rd 6:30p to 8:00p
-
2020 Weekend Kallah: An Appreciation of Our Musical Heritage
Friday, Jan 24th 5:00p to Sunday, Jan 26th 2:00p
-
Housing Justice in Brookline
Monday, Jan 27th 7:30p to 8:30p
-
The Climate Crisis: What's Our Role in 2020?
Tuesday, Jan 28th 7:00p to 8:30p
Help make TOS events the best they can be!
Click here to sign up to volunteer for upcoming events. Thank you to our recent volunteers!
In the Works Now: Israel Trip!
Planning is underway for our next congregational trip to ISRAEL! The trip will take place from approximately February 11-21, 2021 (this is during the February school vacation week). Our member David Seldin is chairing the planning committee, along with Rabbi Berkman. Details.
About Ohabei Shalom
Progressive in attitude yet traditional in practice, Temple Ohabei Shalom is an inclusive Jewish community committed to nurturing, sustaining, and touching Jewish lives through lifelong learning, joyful worship, and repair of the world in word and deed.
