SCHEDULE OF SERVICES
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23
6:30 p.m. Erev Shabbat Service
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24
9:00 am Torah Study
10:30 am Shabbat Morning Service
ADULT EDUCATION - WE'RE BACK!
Classes are Free
How to register - below!
October 6: 7 pm (Zoom) - Aaron Wolf
"Ancient words: New melodies"
A brief exploration of some of the musical interpretations of our liturgy that connect us to the words of our siddur. When we attend a service, we respond to the music. If it is familiar, we are often moved to sing along. When we hear a melody for the first time, we listen, and if it resonates, it is repeated from the Bimah over time, until it becomes "traditional". Aaron has spent over a year away from the weekly sacred obligation to bring music to the TBS Shabbat service, so it feels like an opportune time to introduce and share some melodies to the liturgy that may yet become our minhag.
Aaron Wolf and his wife Carolyn have been members of TBS for 40 years. During that time Aaron has served as a board member, temple president, Religious school teacher, Bar/Bat Mitzvah tutor, and as music director from 1999 to 2009. He is a lawyer in private practice. Aaron has two children; Rebekah, an immigration attorney, and her daughter Rafeef live in Santa Fe. Rabbi Sarah Weissman, her husband Eric and their son Maverick live in Redwood City, California.
October 27: 7 pm (Zoom) - Rabbi Jack Shlacter
A Jewish View of Voting
Vote Early and Vote Often: What do the Jewish texts tell us about the importance of voting?
There are some passages in our vast, multi-millennial Jewish text tradition that speak explicitly about voting, and there are other sources that address the topic indirectly. Does Judaism say that it's a mitzvah to vote? We'll explore some of these texts to see how attitudes have evolved. This will also be an opportunity to familiarize or re-familiarize ourselves with the different text strands (Bible, Mishnah, Talmud, Midrash, Codes, Responsa, Kabbalah, Liturgy, Commentary...) in our collective Jewish library.
Homework will be assigned and is due no later than November 3.
After receiving his PhD in physics from the University of California at San Diego,Jack Shlachter was hired full-time at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in northern New Mexico where he spent the bulk of his scientific career. For nearly two decades subsequent to his June 1995 ordination, while simultaneously working as a scientist at LANL, Jack provided part-time rabbinic support to the Los Alamos Jewish Center (LAJC). He is now Rabbi Emeritus at the LAJC, and Jack served as Rabbi at HaMakom: the Place for Passionate and Progressive Judaism in Santa Fe, until fall, 2019, when his wife, Beverly, and he relocated to eastern Long Island, New York. Jack is honored to currently serve as the rabbi of The Jewish Center of the Moriches in Center Moriches, New York, while working at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
RSVP for all classes to Ziva at
and the zoom links will be sent to you.
Our popular Yiddush Class will be resuming in the near future.
If you are interested, please email Paul Kovnat, kidneypaul@yahoo.com
Havdalah Services
Havdalah services (about 15-20 minutes long) are live streamed on Saturday evenings at sunset on Facebook Live, direct from Rabbi Neil and Rabbi Jenny’s home. You can find Havdalah services in the Video section of our public Facebook page (not the private Facebook group). They are available whether or not you have a Facebook account, by clicking on facebook.com/pg/SFTempleBethShalom/videos. (If a box appears asking you to create an account,
you can click on “Not now.”) These events are also recorded and are always available after the event is over.
You can find them at the link above.
Facebook Live Classes and Events
Classes and events that are listed as “Facebook Live” are streamed on our public Facebook page (not the private Facebook group). They are available whether or not you have a Facebook account, by clicking on the same link that you use to see Havdalah services: facebook.com/pg/SFTempleBethShalom/videos.
These events are also recorded and available on that page after the event is over.
Temple Beth Shalom Response to COVID-19
Dear friends,
In a number of places in our tradition, we are informed that whoever saves one life saves an entire world. Pikuach nefesh, the preservation of life, is an essential mitzvah. As COVID-19 spreads throughout the US, we can help save lives by temporarily changing the way our community operates over the coming weeks. After having consulted with local health professionals and civic leaders, representatives from other local Jewish communities and with the New Mexico Jewish Federation, with our staff and with the Temple Board, we are making the following changes to how our community shall operate over the next few weeks….
Our Shabbat and festival services will continue to be led by Rabbi Neil, but with all members watching online at home instead of coming to the Sanctuary. All our services are live-streamed through the Temple website, at www.sftbs.org, (click on the Shabbat Live Streaming button) by clicking here. They will also be available on Zoom links sent to members, and on our Facebook page. During this totally unique situation, we will form a virtual community of prayer instead of a physical one. The Central Conference of American Rabbis has provided a free Mishkan T’fillah flipbook, available HERE so that members who do not have a siddur at home can follow along. If you would like someone’s name to be mentioned before Kaddish, please send an email to before midday on Friday.
Our regular educational activities, such as Torah study are continuing on Zoom. Zoom is a wonderful free online gathering space, similar to video conferencing, and we will send out more information about this to members separately. Using Zoom, we will be able to connect and learn together without even being in the same room. We are even planning on using Zoom for some exciting new educational offerings and will tell you about these in due course.
Our Religious School and our Preschool are both in session. To learn more about the TBS Preschool contact Paul Gorman, Preschool Director, at 505-982-6888 or by emailing her at preschool@sftbs.org. To learn about our religious school programs please call the office at 505-982-1376.
All of our staff members will continue to work but will usually do so from home. We will keep minimal staff on site in the office during normal office hours in case of emergencies. Appointments with members of staff, including Rabbis, will only be face-to-face in very limited circumstances. If you absolutely need to visit the office, or if you have questions for office staff, please call ahead on 505-982-1376. In case of emergency, please contact Faith either at or or on 917-692-0180.
We acknowledge that this time has the potential to be frightening and isolating for some of our members, especially if anyone in our community does become unwell. Supporting each other and being there for each other is an absolutely strength of Temple Beth Shalom. Next week, we will share how we plan to increase support for our members during this unique time.
You will undoubtedly have many questions. We have started an online thread where members can ask their own questions and also see the answers to other people’s questions. Please go to www.oursermondiscussion.boards.net - the same page that we use to share and discuss the sermons.
Please be assured that we will in no way be closing - we will merely be interacting differently for a while. Through responsible and compassionate social distancing, we will do everything in our power to limit the spread of this virus. We will keep you updated as things develop.
L’shalom,
Rabbi Neil (Principal Rabbi) and Michelle LaFlamme-Childs (President)
