|
All
of our services are designed to be warm and participatory. We encourage
everyone to come, to pray, to participate, to learn, and to lead.
Anyone interested in learning more about how they can participate
should contact either Ritual Committee chair Dick
Schoeller or Vice President of Jewish Life David
Lintz.
Weekday
Evening and Sunday Morning Minyan:
Maariv services are held in the Chapel at 7:30 PM in the
evening every Monday through Thursday, from September through June.
The services last approximately 15 minutes and are led by volunteer
members of the Congregation.
Shaharit services, which last approximately
40 minutes, are held every Sunday morning from September through
June at 9:00 AM . We encourage all to attend these services, especially
those parents who are dropping off their children for the 9:00 AM
session of religious school or those planning to attend an Adult
Ed or Men's Club breakfast afterward. Men and women are encouraged
to wear tefillin. Help and instructions are available before
the service starts for those who are not familiar with performing
this mitzvah. Extra sets of tefillin (for left-handed
as well as right-handed congregants) are available at the service.
Instruction and tapes are also available for those who want to learn
how to lead this service.
We view it as the responsibility of every family to
provide a family member to attend at least four of these services
each year. As a community, we have undertaken a commitment to have
a minyan of at least 10 adults at each of these services
so that those members saying Kaddish may do so. These days
are assigned in advance. A group of Temple volunteers who have agreed
to serve as minyan captains will call those assigned a few
days ahead of time to remind them. Families who cannot provide a
family member to attend on a designated minyan are expected to find
a substitute.
For a set of lists of assigned minyan responsibilities for 5746 (2005-6), please click here.
We encourage our members to learn how to daven
all or a portion of the weekday evening and Sunday morning Minyan
services. Tapes as well as personal instruction are available for
anyone wishing to learn.
Back to top
Monday morning Minyan:
Shaharit services are held every Monday morning at 6:45 AM,
lasting about 45 minutes. The services include a short Torah service,
with members volunteering to prepare all or a portion of the weekly
Torah reading. Coffee and bagels (and sometimes Danish) are
served afterward. A small but dedicated and growing group of enthusiastic
members has found this to be an inspiring way to begin the work
week. We also encourage families with a Bar or Bat Mitzvah coming
up that shabbat to join us and to read Torah with us.
Back to top
Shabbat
Services:
Shabbat at Temple Aliyah offers an opportunity for prayer, study,
rest, and nourishment, for both body and soul, for adults and children
of all ages and levels of Jewish knowledge.
Shabbat morning services are held in the Sanctuary
throughout the year beginning at 9:15 AM. The services are led by
Rabbi Perkins and Cantor Gelman, with much participation by congregants
in leading the preliminary service and reading the Torah. The service
is highlighted by the study of the Torah led by Rabbi Perkins, sometimes
as a formal sermon but more often as an interactive discussion in
which many congregants and guests participate.
On many weeks we celebrate the Bar or Bat
mitzvah of children coming of age in the congregation, who read
from the Torah and haftarah and give a short dvar torah (word
of Torah). We also celebrate other simchas, such as baby
namings, aufrufs (upcoming weddings), and upcoming trips
to Israel, by honoring the celebrants with an aliyah.
Throughout the year we celebrate many special Shabbatot,
such as Sisterhood Shabbat and Men's Club Shabbat, with the entire
service led by members of the respective groups, as well as Shabbatot
honoring achievements by grades in the religious school. We also
have an annual Shabbaton weekend, during which we have a
guest scholar in residence who leads the Torah discussion. Finally,
one weekend each year, usually the weekend before Labor Day, we
hold a Shabbat retreat at Camp Yavneh in New Hampshire. We arrive
before sundown on Friday and stay through lunch on Sunday. The weekend
provides an opportunity to spend time in study, prayer, shmoozing
and recreation with family and friends away from the commitments
of home. Please check the calendar for
these special days. Anyone wishing to prepare a Torah reading or
otherwise participate in the service should contact Ritual Chairman
Dick Schoeller.
In addition to the regular adult service,
we periodically have a Learners Service, which is led by Rabbi
Leslie Gordon. This is a service that we used to have in the past,
but we plan to have it again from time to time. This
Service is held in the Library and goes from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM.
This serves as an introduction to those who are unfamiliar with
the structure and individual prayers of the service. Afterwards,
members join the congregation in the Sanctuary for the beginning
of the Torah service.
We also have a full line of services for children.
These include three different services by age group for children
of religious school age, led by our teachers and other professional
leaders. We also have services for families with younger children:
Shabbat Yeladim, for families with preschool age children,
meets
on the first, third, and fifth Shabbat of the month, and Shabbat
Ktanim, for families with infants and tots 3-years-old
and younger, meets on the second and fourth Shabbat. All of
these programs begin at 11:00 a.m. Please check the Calendar
to see if these are offered on any given Shabbat.
Following services, there is always a kiddush
held in one of the social halls, where congregants and guests can
meet, eat, schmooze, and linger. We also run a fairly regular program
of Shabbat lunch study for anyone who wants to join in, studying
a section from Pirke Avot (Sayings of the Fathers).
There are certain Friday evenings throughout the year
when we have Kabbalat Shabbat services. These are usually
associated with a specific event, often with an optional dinner
or special oneg shabbat following the service. Check the Calendar
for specific dates.
Back to top
Holidays:
Evening and morning services are held for the High Holidays (Rosh
Hashanah and Yom Kippur), the three festival holidays
(Passover, Sukkot, Shavuot), Shemini Atzerit and Simchat
Torah. Check the calendar for dates
and times. For Purim we have a festive megillah reading in
both the evening and the morning services We also have the reading
of Eicha on the evening of Tisha BAv, and this
year we have begun also to chant Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) on
Sukkot, Ruth on Shavuot, and Shir Ha-shirim (Song
of Songs) on Passover. Congregants are encouraged to learn to chant
all of these special megillot. Instructions and tapes are
available for all who are interested.
Back to top
Summer Services and Minyan:
During the summer, Shabbat services are
held as usually every Saturday morning, beginning at 9:00 (instead
of the usual 9:15), in the Chapel.
Our Monday morning minyans are held as usual, beginning at 6:45.
Evening minyans
are held on Tuesdays and Wednesdays only, beginning at 7:30, and
include both mincha and maariv services.
Sunday morning minyans are not held during the summer.
Additional minyanim are available at neighboring Temples; please
click
here for more information.
In addition, maariv services are held on Tisha B'Av,
including reading of Aicha, together with a special
program.
Back to top
|