Services

Friday Family Service June 11

The mysterious four-letter name of God, Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey, is the only word in Torah that we never actually pronounce. Why do we say “Adonai” every time we come across these four letters? Do these four letters have a meaning? Can we understand what God’s mysterious name signifies?

Join us for a lively family Friday night service and find out!

Event: Family Friday night service
Date: June 11
Time: 7 pm
Location: McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord.

This next Shabbat we read the parsha which includes instructions for how the priests shall bless the people Israel. How ancient is this well-known formula? What hidden meanings are behind the words (even the number of words) in each of these three verses?

Please join us Saturday, May 22, for a Shabbat morning service that explores the power and art of blessing.

Afterwards, we’ll head off to nearby Dorton Park for our annual Shavuot picnic. We’ll supply the paper plates and napkins. Congregants and guests – please bring picnic lunches for you and yours. We’ll hold a brief memorial service and take the time to enjoy a little Torah study. Our subject? The very thing Shavuot celebrates: The giving of Torah in the first place!

This next Shabbat we read the parsha which includes instructions for how the priests shall bless the people Israel. How ancient is this well-known formula? What hidden meanings are behind the words (even the number of words) in each of these three verses?

Please join us Saturday, May 22, for a Shabbat morning service that explores the power and art of blessing.

Afterwards, we’ll head off to nearby Dorton Park for our annual Shavuot picnic. We’ll supply the paper plates and napkins. Congregants and guests – please bring picnic lunches for you and yours. We’ll hold a brief memorial service and take the time to enjoy a little Torah study. Our subject? The very thing Shavuot celebrates: The giving of Torah in the first place!

Date: May 22
Time: 10 am
Note: If it’s rainy, we’ll stay at the church and have our picnic lunch inside.
Location: McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Rd, Concord

The reward of a mitzvah….

Join us for Kabbalat Shabbat Family services this Friday, May 7, at 7 pm. Complete with story and song that will explain just exactly why the reward for a mitzvah is… another mitzvah!

Event: Kabbalat Shabbat Family Service
Date: May 7
Time: 7 pm
Location: McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord.

On Friday, April 23 we read from the portion of Leviticus called Acharei Mot “after the death…” The chapter begins with grief and warnings: Aaron, the High Priest, is given instructions on how to come before God safely. In this reading, we also examine the commandments around observing an annual Day of Atonement – Yom Kippur, of course. Six months after we celebrate High Holy Days, Acharei Mot reminds us that we are striving to reach for our better selves all year around – not just one day of the year.

The Zohar also comments on Aaron’s purpose and role in this parsha – this Shabbat we’ll learn how that mystical text treats the ancient biblical one, and what we can learn from both readings.

Join us for a joyous Kabbalat Shabbat service! Details below….

Shabbat Morning Singalong and Temple Or Olam Tot Shabbat on April 10.

We’ll begin with Tot Shabbat at 10 am (our older children are welcome to attend and help Reb Shulamit sing prayers with and for the little ones). Thereafter, we’ll hold a Shabbat morning singalong to learn new tunes to ancient prayers, hear a little drash, and nosh a little at the oneg Shabbat.

We hope to see you there!

Event: Tot Shabbat and Shabbat Morning Singalong
Date: April 10
Time: 10 am for Tot Shabbat / 10:30 am for Singalong
Location: McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord.

This Friday, March 19, marks our entry into Vayikra, Leviticus. Over the next few months, we will travel through a text that reminds the Israelites again and again that they are one community, one kahal (community).

What does it mean for a community to be united by a common destiny, by a holy way of life?

Join us for a joyous Kabbalat Shabbat service. We’ll see if we can discover answers to these questions… as a community, of course.

Date: March 19
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Rd, Concord

This Shabbat marks the last parsha of Exodus. The Tabernacle is now complete, Aaron and his sons have been invested as High Priests, and the congregation has created all they need to travel towards the land promised them.

What did these new Jews learn from the making of the Tabernacle? We’ll explore this intriguing question at our Shabbat morning service this March 13th. We look forward to seeing you there!

Tot Shabbat will begin at 10 am; Shabbat services begin at 10:45.
Oneg following.
Location: McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord.

Update: There was a confusing error in the last message that went out. Please refer to this one instead.

Shabbat Services will be held Friday, February 5th at 7PM. This is a change from the originally scheduled date of February 12th. Babysitting will be provided.

If the weather prohibits us from holding services on February 5th, then the raindate will be February 19th. Please check the front page of the website before driving to services. If the February 5th service has to be cancelled, we will update the website.

“And God hardened Pharaoh’s heart…”

It seems in these past two weeks of Torah readings that God is acting strangely, even cruelly. Apparently, God is willing to force Pharaoh into a harder stance than he might have taken. The Israelites’ pain is prolonged and additional and terrifying plagues are visited on the land of Egypt. Innocents suffer on both sides.

What is God up to? Can we make sense of these passages? Why does God harden Pharaoh’s heart? What does that enigmatic phrase mean?

This Saturday’s service will include a look at this thorny theological question. Feel free to join us in our ruminations, and please don’t forget: Temple Or Olam’s Second Tot Shabbat is this Saturday, too! We look forward to seeing our little ones chanting, dancing, and singing their way through a lively children’s service. (Older children are welcome to come, but please keep in mind that this service is being designed for ages 1-3.)

Date: January 23
Time: 10 am for Tot Shabbat; 10:40 for Adult Service p.m.
Location: McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Rd, Concord