Beit Chaverim Jewish Community of Greater Zion

Friday Night Services
2024-05-24 19:00 - 20:00, 2024-05-31 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Denver)
Come join us on Zoom. Our next in person service is May 10th, hope to see you there.

Lag Baomer
2024-05-25 - 2024-05-26
Lag BaOmer, also Lag B’Omer or Lag LaOmer, is a Jewish religious holiday celebrated on the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer, which occurs on the 18th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar. The holiday celebrates a break in a plague that is said to have occurred during the days of Rabbi Akiva. The Talmud states that the great teacher of Jewish mysticism Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai died on Lag B’Omer, and in modern times the holiday has come to symbolize the resilience of the Jewish spirit.

Friday Night Services
2024-06-07 19:00 - 20:00
Come join us on Zoom. Our next in person service is June 14th, hope to see you there.

Shavuot
2024-06-11 21:00 - 2024-06-13 21:00
The festival of Shavuot (or Shavuos, in Ashkenazi usage; Shabhuʿoth in Classical and Mizrahi Hebrew Hebrew: שבועות, lit. “Weeks”) is a Jewish holiday that occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan (late May or early June). Shavuot commemorates the anniversary of the day G-d gave the Torah to the entire Israelite nation assembled at Mount Sinai, although the association between the giving of the Torah (Matan Torah) and Shavuot is not explicit in the Biblical text. The holiday is one of the Shalosh Regalim, the three Biblical pilgrimage festivals. It marks the conclusion of the Counting of the Omer.

In Person Friday Night Services
2024-06-14 19:00 - 20:30
Come join us for services, we are located in the Educational Building at the Good Shepard Presbyterian Church in St. George. In person Services are the 2nd Friday of every month at 7:00 pm unless otherwise noted. If you can’t be there, come join us on Zoom.

Friday Night Services
2024-06-21 19:00 - 20:00
Come join us on Zoom. Our next in person service is July 11th, hope to see you there.

Friday Night Services
2024-06-28 19:00 - 20:30
Come join us on Zoom. Our next in person service is July 12th, hope to see you there.

Tisha B'Av
2024-08-12 21:00 - 2024-08-13 21:00
Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av, is recognized as the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. It is a day of mourning for tragedies across Jewish history, most particularly the destruction and loss of the first and second Temple and Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years ago.

Rosh Hashanah
2024-10-02 19:30 - 2024-10-04 19:30
Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew: ראש השנה), (literally “head of the year”), is the Jewish New Year. It is the first of the High Holidays or Yamim Noraim (“Days of Awe”), celebrated ten days before Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah is observed on the first two days of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar. It is described in the Torah as יום תרועה (Yom Teruah, a day of sounding [the Shofar]). There will be a service and Kiddush lunch on Thursday at 11:00am.

Tashlich
2024-10-06 11:00 - 12:00
The goal of Tashlich is to cast both our sins and the Heavenly prosecutor (a.k.a. the Satan) into the Heavenly sea. And when we shake our clothes after the Tashlich prayer, this is a tangible act to achieve the spiritual goal of shaking sins from our soul.
Needless to say, the physical motions near the water and fish of Tashlich are not what grant us atonement. But if we pay attention to the symbolism and apply the sincere desire to heal our relationship with G‑d as portrayed in the physical demonstrations of Tashlich, then it serves as a crucial part in the process of repenting and returning to G‑d in purity.
May we all shake ourselves from sin and be signed and sealed in the Book of Life for a good and sweet new year!

Torah: (Genesis 50:14-26) Haftarah: (Jonah 1-4)
2024-10-09 08:00 - 17:00
From The Rabbi’s Study…Shabbat v’Yom Kippur October 9,10, 2024/9,10 Tishrei 5785
This Sabbath is Yom Kippur, even though Yom Kippur is our “Holiest” of the Jewish holidays, it is Shabbat that is the Holiest day because it comes every WEEK!
Light your Yahrzeit candles first, then your Sabbath candles…end the Blessing with “Lehadlik ner shel Shabbat v’shel Yom Tov!”
Also, the people that need to take medication, water to drink, and are pregnant are not allowed to FAST! G-d wants people to be healthy, and menschen (all around good persons)!
Gmar Hatimah Tovah! May you be Sealed in the Book of Life for Good!

I realize many will be attending in person for the services and some will be on Zoom.
The Torah Parsha (portion) has two parts, however the one that will be read is from Genesis. It is the final moments of Joseph’s life. This beautiful and spiritual moment for Joseph and his brothers has a theme of forgiveness and continuity. Some may not remember the whole story of Joseph, some may have seen Joseph and the technicolor coat version, however Joseph from the beginning of his life was the favorite son of his father, Abraham (Rachel was his mother). Parents should love all their children equally.
If you have not read the story of Joseph, Yom Kippur would be a good time to read it.
The story in a nutshell…
His older brothers were jealous, and they did not like Joseph’s visions and “tall tales” one may say.
The brothers throw Joseph into a pit, and they tell their father that Joseph was killed and eaten by a lion. Abraham mourns Joseph(for 17 years)! The brothers could not bring themselves to kill him and they sell Joseph to a passing caravan of slave traders. He goes down into Egypt…17 years later there is a famine in Canaan and his brothers do not recognize Joseph (Egyptian Vizier 2nd to Pharaoh)! Keep in mind this is a short version!
Joseph then reveals himself to his brothers. They bring Abraham down into Egypt. Abraham dies and Joseph receives permission from the Pharaoh to bury his father in the cave of Mapalech. Joseph returns to Egypt, and now he is dying.
Are the brothers afraid that Joseph did not really forgive them? If you guessed, Yes, you are correct. He told them that it was G-d’s intention to bring him to Egypt in order to save the Jewish people. The brothers have to ask G-d to forgive them for the evil actions they did to their brother.
Most good people in the ancient times lived to be 120 years old. So why is Joseph only 110 years old? G-d took away 5 years for Joseph not correcting his brothers that “Abraham was his servant!”
Jonah is the reluctant prophet, and his story is the Haftarah on Yom Kippur! Another great story to read on Yom Kippur! Why would anyone try to run away from G-d?
On Yom Kippur Jews run towards G-d, asking for forgiveness of all their vows, and negative ways by promising to REPENT!

Shabbat Shalom v’ Yom Tov,
Rabbi Helene Ainbinder

Yom Kippur
2024-10-11 19:00 - 2024-10-12 19:00
Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) is the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, when we fast, pray, seek forgiveness from G-d and our fellows, and come closer to G-d. It is the peak of the High Holidays. A time of introspection, abstinence, prayer and penitence. The story of Abraham is read, the ram’s horn is sounded, and special foods are prepared and shared.

Sukkot
2024-10-20 12:00 - 14:00
We are planning a lunch on Sunday, Oct. 20th. Sukkot for Hebrew Year 5785 begins at sundown on Wednesday, October 16, 2024 and ends at nightfall on Wednesday, October 23, 2024. Sukkot (Hebrew: סוכות or סֻכּוֹת, sukkōt, or sukkos, Feast of Booths, Feast of Tabernacles) is a holiday celebrated on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei (late September to late October). It is one of the three biblically mandated festivals Shalosh regalim on which Jews were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem.

Simchat Torah
2024-10-24 18:00 - 2024-10-25 18:00
Simchat Torah is about more than beginning to read the Torah all over again. It’s about the need to reexamine what we think we know, over and over again. We celebrate another year of reading and studying Torah: the first five books of the Bible—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy—which, according to Jewish tradition, were divinely revealed to Moses at Mount Sinai.

Hanukkah
2024-12-25 17:00 - 2025-01-02 17:00
In the second century BCE, the Holy Land was ruled by the Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks), who tried to force the people of Israel to accept Greek culture and beliefs instead of mitzvah observance and belief in G‑d. Against all odds, a small band of faithful but poorly armed Jews, led by Judah the Maccabee, defeated one of the mightiest armies on earth, drove the Greeks from the land, reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and rededicated it to the service of G‑d.
