Brattleboro Area Jewish Community Congregation Shir Heharim

COMING SOON .... A Bissel Borscht Belt
Saturday, June 27; 7:30 PM at Vermont Jazz Center

Get your 1950’s resort wear ready! Kinetic Theory Theatre will be bringing you back to a simpler place and time. A Bissel Borscht Belt is a fun-filled tribute to the Catskills variety shows of yesteryear that truly shaped modern American entertainment. This interactive performance experience filled with live Klezmer music, dancing, comedy, juggling, acrobatics, Yiddish language and culture, schtick, spiel, kvetching, and cursing will have you kibbitzing, kvelling, and getting verklempt from all the meshuggaas! In other words, you’ll have a blast and won’t want to miss it! Complete details at https://bajcvermont.org/a-bissel-borscht-belt-yiddish-vaudeville-extravaganza/

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Kirtan Kabbalat Shabbat last Friday at All Souls Church. What a beautiful and spiritually uplifting evening!

SHEMOT SHELAH KIRTAN SHABBAT
Friday, June 5, at 6 PM
All Souls Church, 32 South Street
Brattleboro

Shemot Shelah is a Jewish kirtan band offering Hebrew call-and-response chanting with feminine and non-binary names for the Divine. Call-and-response chants allow for anyone to participate, regardless of background or familiarity with Hebrew. Chant sheets are prepared in advance with Hebrew, transliterated Hebrew, and English translations to ensure that all feel empowered to sing.

There is no charge to attend, but advance registration is necessary at this link: https://forms.gle/eEMrA1BES1eEGPoW7

Thank you to everyone who came out last night in support of the "Jews Demand: ICE OUT!" rally.

Thursday, April 30; 5:30-6:30 PM
Pliny Park, Main & High Streets, Brattleboro, Vermont

On April 30, Jews around the country will gather to demand ICE OUT. We stand with immigrants and reject ICE brutality and violence. We want ICE out of our schools and workplaces, out of our parks and streets, out of our places of worship, and out of communities everywhere. Grounded in our sacred teachings, we will make the moral case that this system is both a failure of policy and of conscience, and that it does not have to be this way.

RSVP here: https://forms.gle/dd6sX2qenQWjuuUb7

PURIM PALOOZA TOMORROW
Saturday, February 28; 4:30-8:30 PM
Event is funded in part by Harold Grinspoon Foundation. Complete details at https://bajcvermont.org/purim-palooza-2026/

SHABBAT SHALOM
Parasha Yitro; Shemot (Exodus) 18:1-20:22

When Moses tells the people at Mt. Sinai that YHVH will speak to them and tell them how they should act, the people respond "We will do and we will hear." The order is important and has prompted endless interpretations. Don't you need to hear what you are supposed to do before you can actually do it? What do you think this seemingly out of order statement might mean?

BAJC is a warm, welcoming congregation fostering Jewish pride and identity in rural Vermont. For more information on our services and events, see our website at bajcvermont.org or email [email protected].

HAG SAMEACH
Tu B'Shvat is the "Jewish New Year of the Trees," and began at sundown on Sunday, February 1. This holiday marks the time in Israel when almond trees begin to bud at the end of the winter season. Many Jewish familes and communities celebrate with a special seder designed by students of Isaac Luria in the town of Sefat in the 16th century.

According to Lurianic Kabbalah all physical forms–including human beings–hide within them a spark of the Divine Presence. This is similar to some kinds of fruits or nuts, which hide within them seeds of new life and potential growth. On Tu B'Shvat, the Kabbalists would eat certain fruits associated with the land of Israel as a symbolic way of releasing these divine sparks.

SHABBAT SHALOM
Shabbat Shira, or the "Sabbath of Song," is the Shabbat during which Parashat Beshalach is read, featuring the Shirat HaYam (Song of the Sea) that Miriam and the Israelites sang after crossing the Red Sea. It is a celebration marked by special musical, melodic, and joyful synagogue services, often including the Song of Deborah in the Haftarah.

BAJC is a warm, welcoming congregation fostering Jewish pride and identity in rural Vermont. For more information on our services and events, see our website at bajcvermont.org or email [email protected].

SHABBAT SHALOM
Parashat Bo; Exodus 10:1-13:16

BAJC is a warm, welcoming congregation fostering Jewish pride and identity in rural Vermont. For more information on our services and events, see our website at bajcvermont.org or email [email protected].

Wall painting showing Hebrews leaving Egypt, Dura Europos synagogue, 3rd c. CE