Services

High Holy Days — Our Theme, Our Schedule, Our Surprise Gift

shin-bet-ayin

Shin – Bet – Ayin.  Those three letters create a multiplicity of meanings: The completeness in the number “seven.” The courage it takes to make a promise. The hope for sustenance and abundance.

The Days of Awe focus our attention on who we are and what we were meant to be: Complete, full, in possession of an abundance we can offer the world, to preserve, repair and restore it.

This year, Temple Or Olam celebrates its tenth anniversary, the dedication of a surprise gift for the whole congregation, and High Holy Days all in one.  We will explore Shinn-Bet-Ayin in all its forms and meanings.  Come celebrate with us for any or all of our services; we can promise a warm welcome, joyous music, and thoughtful prayer.

High Holy Day Service Schedule

  • September 1: S’lichot service (2:00 p.m.)
  • September 4: Erev Rosh Hashanah service (7:00 p.m.)
  • September 5: Rosh Hashanah Morning service (10:00 a.m. – noon); followed by brunch and Tashlich in James Dorton Part Shelter #2
  • September 13: Kol Nidre service (7:00 p.m.)
  • September 14: Yom Kippur Morning service (10:00 a.m. – noon); followed by study groups for fasters and non-fasters alike (1:00 – 4:00 p.m.; Youth Fellowship Rooms)
  • September 14: Mincha, Ne’ilah, and Havdalah services (Mincha: 6:00 p.m.; Ne’ilah 6:30 p.m.; Havdalah 7:30 p.m. followed by Break Fast)

All events: McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord NC 28027

Suggested donations for non-members:

  • families: $180
  • individuals: $90
  • students: discretionary

High Holy Day donations can be applied towards membership dues if guests join within three months.  Please call 704-720-7577 for more information.

Child care provided for morning services.

Tomorrow: Congregational Dinner, Kabbalat Shabbat and Lots of Shmoozing

Join us for a potluck dinner at 6:30, followed by short and sweet Kabbalat Shabbat service at 7:30, and dessert oneg at 8:30.  The evening is an open house for visitors, so bring your friends who may be looking for a community! Religious school administrators will be on hand to answer questions.

Please bring something to share at our dinner and the oneg following.  🙂

Location: McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord, NC.

Kabbalat Shabbat Love Song Service Tomorrow: All We Need Is Love!

All we need is loveGo hunting for your love beads, your headbands, and  your tie-dye.  We’re pretty sure that there’s groovy in your closet somewhere.

Then, please join us for our Second Annual Summer Love Song Service.  We’ll be singing everything from the Doobie Brothers to Louis Armstrong, from the Beatles to Cat Stevens, from Elvis Presley to the Eagles.  This one is not to be missed.

It’s all going down tomorrow, June 14th, at McGill Baptist Church.  Bring something to share at the oneg and remember: All we need is love!

Time: 7 p.m.

Location: McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord.

Kabbalat Service Tonight – The First Sight of Our New Torah

Tonight, Rabbi Barbara will tell us what she saw of our new Torah the very first moments she saw a picture of the scroll.  We will also read from that very section of Torah this evening.   In addition,  two of our b’nai mitzvah students will help lead portions of our service as they get ready for their own ceremonies.

Please bring something to share at oneg!

Time: 7 p.m.

Location: McGill Baptist Church – 5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord

Kabbalat Shabbat Services Tonight!

Just a reminder that we will be holding Kabbalat Shabbat services tonight at our usual time and location.  Though we are reading from the Holiness Code in Vayikra, the Beagleook of Numbers, a beautiful text from Exodus will also be part of tonight’s Torah study.

“I will lift you up on eagle wings; I have brought you back to me” (Ex. 19:4).

Join us for a loving and, we hope, transformative service.  Please bring something to share at our oneg!

Time: 7 p.m. Location: McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord

Kabbalat Shabbat March 08, 7:00 p.m.

We read in our Torah about the joy and the commitment the whole community demonstrated when it came to building the desert sanctuary, the tabernacle.  Our parshiot, Vayakhel and P’kudei, describe the materials, the offerings, the skills, and the foresight Moses and the people needed to complete the work.  How did those ancient Israelites manage such a task?  By sharing it, of course!

Join us for our trademark First-Friday Kabbalat Shabbat service – musical, joyous, and sweet.  Please bring a smile and, if possible, something to share at our oneg.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Kabbalat Shabbat tomorrow night!

Join Temple Or Olam for a lovely service tomorrow night at 7pm.  Everyone will enjoy the music, and Rabbi Barbara has crafted a terrific story for children and adults.  Please remember to bring a dish to share for our oneg afterward.  Hope to see you all there!

December 8th Shacharit service and End-of-year donations

Good Shabbos!

This week will mark our first service with our new Torah.  Come be part of our joy as we chant from this new (and beautifully decorated!) text for the first time on Saturday morning, December 8th.  The service starts at 10am!

Also, just a reminder that the end of the tax year is approaching quickly, so all who intended to make a donation to the Torah fund through the causes.com page are encouraged to do so ASAP.

Chag Sameach, everyone!

Simchat Torah reminder

Dear all,

If you haven’t yet replied to the evite sent to your email, please do so ASAP.  (Click HERE to view and respond to the evite.)  We need a head count of adult attendees so we know if unwinding the scroll and holding it in a circle is a possibility.  It looks like several families are going to be out of town, so if you can bring guests, please do!  Also, please remember to bring some food to share for the oneg following the service.

This is the last time we will unroll our much-beloved Torah for all to see, so this Simchat Torah is not one that you want to miss!

Shabbat-O-Gram: How We Are Celebrating the Days of Awe

Come, come, whoever you are
Wonderer, worshipper, lover of leaving
It doesn’t matter
Ours is not a caravan of despair
Come, even if you have broken your vow
a thousand times
Come, yet again, come, come

Rumi

Our Rosh Hashanah was filled with humor  and tenderness.  We sang our way through the day; we acknowledged our gifts.  We took our intentions, our kavannah, from Torah itself.  There, this most special day was a day of t’ruah, a day of loud exclamatory sounds. Joy, in other words.

No wonder: In biblical days this was not a Day of Judgement (that title arrives a lot later in our history), but a Day of Celebration.

Tomorrow is Shabbat Shuva, when we focus on our return to the elemental — in all its forms.

Challenging work is ahead: What and who have we been in this past year, and what would we like to become.  When we step into the sanctuary on Tuesday evening, for Kol Nidre services, what would we like to forgive in others, in ourselves?  What would we like to be forgiven for?

Let us consider Yom Kippur as an opportunity for cleansing, a day when we can strive to promote wisdom and goodness in ourselves, in others, in our community.  Together, may we enter this year celebrating our hope that we be filled with both.

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Barbara