About Our Services

Whether we pray together or find space for individual reflection, services at Beth El offer a combination of joy, high energy and quiet contemplation. With a continually developing mix of tradition and creativity, our prayers reflect both the powerful hold of our history and the immediate feelings of the day.

  • Click here for service times, Zoom links, and study materials.

“First Fridays” starting with Tot Shabbat

It’s Shabbat with multi-level engagement built in! Come for any or all of it, and invite your friends. Held on the first Friday of every month.

  • 5:15 p.m.  — Shabbat for tots age 0-5 and those who love them
  • 5:45 p.m. — Free dinner for all (reservation needed)
  • 6:30 p.m. — Candle lighting, singing a story
  • 6:45 p.m.  — Interactive musical Kabbalat Shabbat

Tot Shabbat

Congregation Beth El places a special focus on families with young children as they participate in our educational and social programs. On Friday evening once a month (generally coinciding with “First Fridays” above), we begin the evening with a special Tot Shabbat segment. This family-focused program welcomes Shabbat with blessings and singing, embracing friends, grandparents, siblings and other extended community members.  We want you to join us, bring friends, and make Beth El your second home!  Stay as long into the evening as you can or wish!

Kabbalat Shabbat

Kabbalat Shabbat at Beth El is an opportunity to connect with each other and enter the sacred time and space that is Shabbat. A niggun, a lilting wordless melody, is an invitation to enter our peaceful sanctuary. We light the Shabbat candles, awaken our senses with a blessing over fragrant spices, and sing psalms as we greet Shabbat and one another. Our unique prayer book, Vetaher Libenu, grounds us in our tradition while allowing for personal meditation. A teaching draws inspiration from the week’s Torah portion. As the service concludes, we put our arms around as many people as we can reach, and pray for peace with Oseh Shalom.

Shabbat Rinah

Imagine a Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat service without prayer books. Imagine you are surrounded by beautiful images of nature, complementing the peaceful view through the sanctuary’s windows. Imagine a choir comprised of your friends and family, fellow congregants and guests all raising their voices in song and prayer. Now open your eyes. You have found all this at Shabbat Rinah (Shabbat of Joyous Song) at Beth El. The third Friday evening each month, we welcome Shabbat in this way with music and dance, prayer, poetry and meditation.

Shabbat Morning – Bagels, Torah Study and Services

On Shabbat mornings before services, Beth El comes alive with song and spirited discussion. Strains of Ma Tovu and blessings beckon learners to immerse in the study of Torah. Three study groups parse the parasha (Torah portion of the week) or explore the meaning of a Hebrew commentary or Midrash. All who are interested in participating are welcome to attend.

Services at Beth El are spirited and participatory. Our clergy guide us through the siddur (prayerbook) and lead us in new and traditional melodies. Members of the congregation are called to the Torah for Aliyot, and read or chant the week’s Torah portion, often in memory or in honor of a loved one or a significant event. Then, with arms around as many people as we can reach, we call out for peace with a rousing Oseh Shalom. Having passed from joy to sadness, and back to joy, we begin our Kiddush luncheon with blessings over wine and challah.

Thursday Morning Minyan

Join us Thursday mornings at 7:00 a.m. for a congregant-led Shacharit (morning) service. Hevra Yom Hamishi (Fellowship of the Fifth Day) has been meeting weekly for nearly three decades. There is a brief 30-45 minute service. The minyan (quorum) provides an opportunity for people to say Kaddish (memorial prayer) for a loved one and mishaberach (healing prayer) for ailing family and friends.