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Friday services begin at 8:00 p.m. except for the Family Service which will start one hour earlier, at 7:00 p.m.  Family Services, where children and youths are encouraged to attend and participate, occurs every third Friday of the month. 

Saturday services begin at 10 a.m.  For confirmation of these times, please see our Calendar for specific dates that may have a time change for special events.

The list of visiting rabbis is currently being compiled and please check back for the latest update.

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 RITUAL  CODES
(revised and approved by Board of Directors, January 2008)



A. Synagogue Decorum and Etiquette

1. Temple Beth Shalom does not mandate or reject the use of kipot or
taletot during any of its services. Each member may, according to his
or her preference, pray using any, all or none of these ritual
garments, according to one's conscience.

2. To preserve the dignity of the synagogue and sanctuary, which
represents God's house, persons entering therein will be dressed
appropriately with due regard to modesty. There will be no food,
beverage or smoking permitted in the sanctuary and no smoking permitted
in the building.

3. Photography will not be permitted in the sanctuary during a service
except by permission of the rabbi. If, during a special ceremony,
photographs are desired, the procedure will be that flashbulbs or
artificial lighting is not permitted unless the artificial lighting is
turned on before the service begins and remains constant throughout. No
persons or photographers will be permitted to move through the
sanctuary taking photographs or cinematography during a service. No
flashbulbs or floodlights that are turned on or off during the service
will be permitted; but may be used before or after the service.

4. General decorum shall be maintained during religious services. Any
officer, member of the Ritual Committee or the Rabbi shall be empowered
to request anyone breaking the accepted rules of social behavior to
leave the building.


B. Religious Ritual:

1. It has been the policy of Temple Beth Shalom since its inception
that no interfaith marriage may be celebrated on the premises. The
synagogue's Rabbi, if she or he deems it appropriate, is free to
perform such ceremony outside of the synagogue.


2. Non-Jews may not be included in reading statements of faith
(b'rachot) on the Bimah. They may participate in ceremony and custom.

3. No member of the congregation may celebrate an event in the Synagogue
such as a wedding, Bar or Bat Mitzvah, or baby-naming without first
consulting with the Rabbi, who will then satisfy his-or herself that
all the criteria for the proper observance of same as established by
the Synagogue are met.

4. No member may invite a rabbi or other person to perform a service at
Temple Beth Shalom without the permission of the Temple\ Board, in
consultation with . the Ritual Committee and the Rabbi. The final
determination belongs to the Rabbi.

5. Any qualified person wishing to perform a service or part of a
service shall consult with the Rabbi to insure that it is performed
according to Synagogue guidelines.

6. Any time the permission of a Rabbi of the Synagogue is required and
the Rabbi is not available to extend that permission, the Ritual
Committee must give it.

C.  Dietary regulations.

1. No meat products of any kind, and no shellfish or other non-kosher
seafood, may be brought  to Temple Beth Shalom for purposes of
consumption therein. Only dairy and  pareve products are permitted.
Only fish that have both fins and scales are permitted.

2. All cakes and baked goods served at the Temple should be made with
butter or vegetable shortening and not with any other animal fats .

3.  In the week prior to Passover, children and adults will clear the
Temple kitchen of all foods that are not appropriate for Passover.
During Passover, no food classified as chametz may be brought into the
Temple.



D. Shabbat and Holy Days.

1. Complete decorum and respect for the Shabbat and what it represents
shall be maintained at all times.

2. Each member shall respect decorum during services being held on all
Holy days.

3. The TBS Judaica Shop may not be open for business transactions on
Shabbat or Yom Tov, until after Kiddush and Motzi.

4. The TBS Office is closed on Shabbat and Yom Tov. No work  will  be
performed in the office on these days.

5. Volunteer projects sponsored by TBS are permitted on Shabbat and Yom
Tov, as long as they do not conflict with services. These are acts of
G'milut Hasadim and as such are permitted.

E. Miscellaneous.

1. No animals or pets of any sort may be brought on to the synagogue
premises.

2. The Synagogue's Board of Directors must approve the use of the
sanctuary by any private groups for other than religious purposes.

3. Whenever the Synagogue is without a Rabbi, consent for the
performance of activities set forth in these guidelines shall be with
the consent of the Ritual Committee and/or the Board of Directors.

________________________________________________________________________

Requirements for Bar/Bat Mitzvah at Temple Beth Shalom

1. Minimum of three years of religious school education al TBS or the
equivalent in Jewish education.  What is equivalent is to be determined
by the Rabbi. The Bar/Bat Mitzvah will continue attending religious
school at least until tile end of the school year his/her Bar/Bat
Mitzvah. Test of basic knowledge is required before beginning the
preparation.

2.  Attendance at services on a regular basis during the year preceding
the Bar/Bat Mitzvah. (At least one evening and one morning service per
month as well as on the holidays).

3. Knowledge of Prayer Book and ability  to lead evening and morning
Shabbat services, preferably including the cantorial.
4.  Ability to chant or read in Hebrew at least verses of Torah and the
Haftarah, including the appropriate blessings, as assigned by the
Rabbi.

5. Comprehension of the Torah and Haftarah portions, as well as the
relationship between them. Preparation of a sermon (written principally
by the  Bar/Bat Mitzvah) with the emphasis on the significance of the
portions to the celebrant.

6. Involvement in a social-action project during the year preceding the
Bar/Bat Mitzvah (in consultation With the Rabbi).

7. Parental participation in the preparation (in consultation with the
Rabbi, with respect to services, learning, social-action project,
celebration).

8. The Rabbi and Religious School Principal have final say in
preparation of  Bar/Bat Mitzvah (readiness of the child to begin
preparation, determining the date, and the preparation process). When
more than one rabbi is involved  in the preparation of a Bar/Bat
Mitzvah, the rabbi who will officiate at the Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremony
is the person who defines the ritual and directs the Bar/Bat Mitzvah's
preparation, and all other rabbis should coordinate with him/her.

________________________________________________________________________

Conversion

1. Conversion is an individualized process between the rabbi of record
and the potential convert, within the framework established by the
CCAR.

       2. TBS will maintain current archives which include copies of all
life-cycle events transpiring in the congregation (weddings, b'rit
milah and baby-namings, consecration, b'nei mitzvah, confirmation,
conversion, deaths, etc.).

       3.      Visiting rabbis should ensure that they accurately record the
progress of current candidates for conversion and that this information
is passed on to the rabbi who follows them at TBS. The chair of the
Ritual Committee will ensure that this information is transmitted to
the first rabbi of each Jewish calendar year.  

4. In the event that someone comes to TBS and claims to have converted
previously with a Rabbi elsewhere, it is required  that a document be
produced, photocopied, and kept in the archives of the congregation.
The document must be validated by a Rabbi. If there is no Rabbi in
residence, then, a copy of the document should be validated by the
Regional Director of the URJ. The written validation by the examining
Rabbi will be attached to the photocopy of the document in the Temple's
archives so that there will never be a question of validity in the
future.

    Service Leadership

Assignments for the selection of Service Leaders and/or Cantorial Assistants are listed above. Please check our schedule of rabbinic visits in order to know whether service leadership or cantorial assitantship is required. Please check with rabbis to find out if/when they desire cantorial assistants.

Lay Service Leaders are responsible for the selection of their own Cantorial Assistants (if desired.) Please advise all members of the Ritual Committee and this website of who has been assigned service leadership or cantorial assistance for each service in the month you have been assigned. Notify the website via email to Webmaster@tbspr.org in time for the information to be updated

We are currently in the period of the Jewish calendar between Pesach and Shavuot. Pesach is the great festival of freedom, celebrated with seders and the reading of the Haggadah. Shavuot is the great festival of the giving of the law, specifically the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses at Mount Sinai, and we celebrate it by reading the Ten Commandments during Shavuot. In Reform Judaism, it is also the time for young adults to affirm their commitment to Judaism with the ceremony of Confirmation. It is a ceremony that was introduced to Reform Judaism in the early 19^th century by Israel Jacobson. He realized that the entrance of a young man into his Jewish majority through his becoming a Bar Mitzvah (Bat Mitzvah for young women didn’t begin until the 20^th century when Mordecai Kaplan invented the ceremony for his daughter Judith) ended Jewish education too soon. Furthermore, women were excluded. Today, many conservative and even a few orthodox congregations have confirmation ceremonies in order to create a goal for young adults that is past Bar/Bat Mitzvah.

For me, the Confirmation ceremony is a quintessential Jewish rite of passage. We ask young people who have studied for a few years past Bar/Bat Mitzvah to stand and accept the responsibility of being Jewish as our ancestors did at the foot of Sinai. We say “Na-aseh v’nishmah”, “We will do and we will listen”. Our faith and our loyalty to our tradition and our people are unconditional. We accept the responsibility before we even know what it is. The reality is that history frequently didn’t give us a choice. All too often, our ancestors had to answer for their being Jewish by the world in which they lived. We live in a world where choice is possible. How much more elevating it is for us to accept that responsibility willingly rather than because the world gives us no option.

Robin and I wish you all a good Shavuot, even though we will be back in Maine. However, we are looking forward to spending next December and January with you.

Shalom,

Rabbi Laurence H. Rubinstein

By Rabbi Frank Waldorf

The contrast between what I experience in my daily life and what transpires in the world boggles my mind. I live in Newton, reputed to be one of the safest cities in the country. Yet, almost daily, I read about random murders in nearby Dorchester.

I read that the national health care delivery system is in tatters; yet the medical care I and my family receive is thorough and efficient.

Is the world going in the right or the wrong direction? Compared to what I remember of my young adult years (1955 - 1970), it feels like the Zeitgeist is running counter to what I would like to see. Income inequality in the US resembles the bad old days of the Roaring 20s. The anemic governmental response to Hurricane Katrina remains an appalling sore on our body politic. Israel is plagued with the corruption and ineptitude of public officials. Every time I read in the prayerbook, “Bless our country that it may ever be a stronghold of peace and the advocate of peace among the nations,” I shudder at the monstrous policies we have been pursuing in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York.

All of these vague feelings of being ill-at-ease came into a sharp focus the morning of Thursday, April 19. Late April has always been my favorite time of the year in New England. My neighborhood bursts alive with yellow forsythia, white magnolia, and green of the first emerging leaves. The sun arches higher in the sky, bringing earlier dawn and later dusk. The brighter light impels me to reach for dark glasses. The freshness of the air brings the promise of renewed energy and strength.

That Thursday morning, as I was reveling in this annual miracle, I was stunned to read the front page of the New York Times. How could so much be going so wrong at such an auspicious season? The news was awful. The lead story was about the Supreme Court decision giving a fetus priority over the health of its mother. To the left, a photograph of Cho Seung Hui brandishing revolvers. The stories beneath detailed how much officials at Virginia Tech knew about the disturbing writings and behaviors of this troubled student and how laws limit their options in dealing with the mentally ill. Below the center fold, a report about a record-breaking 171 people perishing in a wave of attacks in Baghdad. Finally, the Supreme Court in Iran reversed the lower court convictions of militia soldiers who killed five people whom they considered “morally corrupt.”

Once before, a similar sickening feeling had overtaken me. Back in 1966, Beth and I were driving through a beautiful spring countryside in Germany. I asked myself, How can nature dare to show her lovely face in a place where such murderous depravity once prevailed? The answer then as now was the same: Ha-ol-am no-hayg k’meen-ha-go. The world proceeds according to natural law. The immoral acts of human beings occur under the same sun and moon that inspire awe and pleasure. That is such a difficult lesson to absorb!

The words of Rabbi Tarfon (who lived in far more difficult and threatening times than do I) come to mind, prodding me forward: “The day is short. There is much work to be done. The laborers are sluggish. The reward is great. The Master is insistent. You are not obliged to complete the task, but neither are you free to desist from it.” (Pirke Avot 2:16)

On Monday, June 13, approximately 30 members of the congregation gathered in the sanctuary to pray and commemorate the first day of Shavuot.

According to Marc Schnitzer, chair of TBS’ Ritual Committee and the holiday morning service lay leader, the word shavuoth is Hebrew for "weeks." The singular form, shavuah, means "week" and is derived from the phrase Shavuah tov, "a good week," which we wish each other following Havdalah services on Saturday evenings. The final oth represents the plural suffix for feminine nouns as pronounced by the ancient Israelites. In modern times, the spelling Shavuos, representing the Ashkenazic pronunciation, is also found as well as Shavuot, which reflects the Sefardic and modern Israeli pronunciation of the Festival of Weeks or Pentecost.

“It was a lovely service and Marc did a terrific job, as always,” said Debra Reuben, ritual committee member. “It was also heartening and inspiring to see all those people on a weekday.”

Arnold Gendelman, TBS president, added, “It was wonderful sharing together for such a rewarding and important “remembering” – supporting who we are and what we have chosen to become.”

The Torah portion for the morning service was from the sedrah of Yithro, which contains the Ten Commandments. Participants rose and together recited the blessings before the reading of the Torah. When the recitation of the Ten Commandments approached, congregants rose again, in commemoration of the B'nei Yisrael standing at the foot of Mt. Sinai, and recited all ten responsively, the reader reciting them in Hebrew, followed by the congregation responding in English.

As is often the case, the Haftarah portion referred to the Torah when it mentioned the Jewish people's function in spreading the words of Torah throughout the nations.

Giving a historical perspective on the holiday, Schnitzer explained that Shavuoth is one of the three pilgrimage holidays on which the people came to the Temple in Jerusalem to bring sacrifices (the other two being Sukkoth and Passover). It is celebrated on the 6th of Sivan, which is the 50th day of the counting of the Omer. On the second day of Passover, a sheaf or omer of barley was offered as a sacrifice. Wheat is not harvested until later. After seven weeks (7 x 7) two loaves of wheat bread were sacrificed, giving rise to another name for this holiday: Chag HaBikurim, Feast of the First Fruits. We "count the Omer" for 50 days and on the 50th day we celebrate Shavuoth.He continued: As is the case of the other two pilgrimage festivals, a further religious significance has been attached to Shavuoth, namely the commemoration of the time when the Israelites stood at the foot of Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. This gives rise to a third name for the holiday: Z'man Matan Torateinu or the Time of the Giving of our Torah.

As it is typical on Shavuot to eat a dairy meal, some of the congregants joined for lunch at a local vegetarian restaurant following the service.

  http://data.urj.org/conglist/