KVETCH AND KVELL
Thursday Jan 4 at 7:30 pm via Zoom
Hang out and share your Kvells and Kvetches
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 850 3979 8832
Passcode: 29825
Torah Study, Saturday January 6th 8:30 AM
Please contact Suzanne (suz_darby@hotmail.com) for study guide.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 845 9030 4211
Passcode: 524459
Friday, January 26, 6:30 p.m.
Mark your calendars for our annual Cold Shabbat (the winter, indoor version of Hot Shabbat). Come to the synagogue at 6:30 p.m. for a free spaghetti dinner sponsored by the Men’s Group, followed by a condensed Friday evening service starting at 8. The dinner will include fresh-cooked spaghetti with a variety of vegetarian sauces, garlic bread, salad, wine and other beverages, and dessert. Please RSVP to Mark Holt at mark.edward.holt@gmail.com
COMING SOON
Rabbi Gail is planning to start a quarterly program surrounding a Havdalah service, all on Zoom. It will be held on Saturday nights at 7:30 PM (regardless of when the sun goes down). Since the service is very brief, only about 5 minutes, it will be followed by a brief teaching. The whole program is intended for adults and children alike and should take only about half an hour (depending on any questions that participants might have). The first such program will be on Saturday, January 27, 2024. The Zoom link and specific topic will be sent closer to each program; this is just a heads-up about the series starting.
| SAVE THE DATE |
Oxon Hill Century Ride is back!
LABOR DAY 2024 Sept. 2, 2024
This is a big Fundraiser for Congregation Sha’are Shalom. We work at a rest stop for the Oxon Hill Century Ride.
The last time we did this we earned $1,500.00.
Be waiting for Mark Holt to give out more information as the time gets closer.
LOOK WHAT IS BACK
HAMANTASCHEN
Be looking for the order form here in the next few weeks. This is another great fundraiser for Cong. Sha’are Shalom
Mark your calendar for Pot Luck Sedar April 23rd. More information will be coming.
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Lead a Friday evening Shabbat service — we’ll help you!
We at Sha’are Shalom are proud of our long tradition of member participation in everything our synagogue does — including leading Friday night services. While we’re fortunate to have Rabbi Gail Fisher on the second Saturday morning of most months, it’s our own congregants who lead the evening service on the fourth Friday.
Our prayer book makes it easy — just choose your favorite reading from each two-page spread, either in English or Hebrew, spoken or sung. We even have some pre-chosen plans to use. The pressure is very low — the audience is usually small and supportive. If you’d rather not write a brief d’var Torah (a mini-sermon on how something from the week’s Torah portion might apply to our lives today), Suzanne Darby has volunteered to write it; and if you’re hesitant about leading songs, I can help out with that.
We’d just like more of our members to come up and play a part in services, and so we’re eager to help any way we can.
You don’t have to know Hebrew, and you just have to be past bar/bat mitzvah age. You can even enlist your spouse and/or kids to be your co-leaders. We’re looking for volunteers for Fridays February 23, March 22, April 26 , May 24. Please contact me at myerspat@gmail.com to sign up or for more information.
See you at our next service, Saturday, January 13, at 10!
HELP WANTED
Dates Available for Oneg Sponsors
Shar’are Shalom each Saturday morning (every 2nd Saturday) and Friday night (every 4th Friday) service at the temple ends with the pleasure of fellowship. A little nosh usually makes this fellowship last longer and adds to its delightfulness. Each post service nosh or oneg requires an Oneg Sponsor. Whether it is wine, juice, a challah, and some cookies, or even more – it is always appreciated by those in attendance.
Contact Mike Green, VP, at mrgreen@csmd.edu or (240) 210-1064 (text or call and please leave a message if I don’t answer) if you would like to sponsor an oneg or lead a Friday Night Service or have any questions about doing either.
It’s Time to Start Preparing the 2024 Congregation Directory
This is the time of year for updating and publishing the annual Congregational Directory. Our Directory is not only a very useful address book that most of us keep by the telephone or computer but is also a major fundraiser for our synagogue.
Our publishing date is targeted for February 2024, so we will need to move expeditiously to update the directory information, renew the advertisements, and procure additional ads.
Everyone’s support is essential for the continued success of this valuable publication. Please carefully check your contact information in the current Directory, either the printed version or as posted in the Member Area of the Sha’are Shalom web site (https://shaareshalomsomd.org/
member-area). Corrections can also be made on the printed copy in the lobby of the synagogue. If you would like to see the ads and other information in the Directory (without names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses), a public version is on the Congregation web site at https://c0l27f.a2cdn2. secureserver.net/wp-content/ uploads/2023/04/Shaare-Shalom- 2023-Directory-Public-Edition. pdf. You can also send pictures of Congregation activities during the past year to Mark Holt at the address below for possible inclusion in the 2024 edition. There are two ways that everyone can help make the Directory a fundraising success. One is to place a personal greeting in the Directory—a great way to wish everyone a happy New Year or to remember a loved one. The second way to provide support is to ask local business people to place an ad in our Directory. Our success in previous years has shown that it’s not hard to get your dentist, doctor, veterinarian, dry cleaner, and others you do business with to place an ad in our Directory, which more than 100 families will use throughout the year. Feel free to send the public version above (or the link) to prospective advertisers.
If each one of us places a personal advertisement or obtains just one business advertisement we can raise over $3,000 for our congregation. Please provide your support by sending your ad copy to Mark Holt by January 31, 2024. Checks should be made out to Congregation Sha’are Shalom. Mark’s address is:
13413 Kris Ran Court
Fort Washington, MD 20744
mark.edward.holt@gmail.comThe prices for personal (non-business) ads are:
Inside cover – $200
Back cover – $200
Full page (8”x 5”) – $150
Half page (4” x 5”) – $75
Quarter page (2” x 5”) – $50
1/8 page (2” x 2 ½”) – $25The prices for business ads are:
Inside cover – $250
Back cover – $250
Full page (8”x 5”) – $220
Half page (4” x 5”) – $120
Quarter page (2” x 5”) – $75
1/8 page (2” x 2 ½”) – $50Remember also to patronize the businesses that have already placed ads in our Directory, and be sure to let them know you are from Sha’are Shalom. This will make it much easier for us to get them to renew their ads this year!