Shabbat Worship.
Temple Israel offers a weekly Shabbat service.
Our rabbi leads both in-person and zoom services twice a month. In between we have lay led services which can also be either in-person or on zoom. Our prayer book is Mishkan Tefillah, the siddur published by the Reform movement. At our service you will hear prayers recited in both Hebrew and English. There is plenty of singing, often accompanied by guitar; we invite you to join in. It is a treat when our volunteer choir leads our music, or when our Hebrew students help to lead a service. The service usually includes a reading from the Torah scroll, followed on Friday evenings by a d’var Torah – a word of Torah or brief sermon – based on the text.
Childcare is not currently provided; you are welcome to have your child with you during services. If the child becomes restless, you can hear the service while letting your child move about in the social hall.
Our Friday evening service is followed by an oneg Shabbat provided by congregants.
Interested in attending?
We welcome visitors to our service; we suggest that those who have never attended a Jewish service attend on a Friday evening. If you plan on coming as a group of 5 or more, please contact the Temple office at least one week in advance so that we can welcome you and make sure that we have enough handouts.
For information about worship on Jewish holidays, please click the button below.
The Temple Israel Choir
The choir belongs to the congregation and anyone in the congregation can participate in the choir. All that is required is a love of Jewish music and a willingness to come to occasional rehearsals. Although small, the choir has been well received by the community as well as the congregation. The choir sings at most of the major holidays and special events, like b’nai mitzvot and services to honor the teachers of the Sunday and Hebrew School classes. The choir director is Ken Burstin and the accompanist is Mark Rushefsky. Most of what the choir sings is liturgical music with some contemporary Jewish music as well. Although almost all of the choir music is in Hebrew, the choir learns by doing and no knowledge of Hebrew is necessary.