Come celebrate Pesach with us at BUMC. Come read the Passover story, do the rituals, have dinner, and welcome Elijah. All with joy and conviviality and humor.
Feel free to bring a Passover-compliant vegetarian or fish pot-luck dish.
The omer is the 49 day span that goes from the second night of Passover until first night of Shavuot. It is a time of inner spiritual growth and introspection.
The term "omer" refers to an ancient measure of grain. In ancient times a new barley crop could not be utilized until an omer of barley was brought as an offering to the Temple of Jerusalem. The counting of the days of the omer became a ritual of physical and spiritual redemption. After the Temple was destroyed the Counting of the Omer continued as a spritual practice.
The Counting of the Omer is a systematic process where each of the 49 days has its own spiritual theme. The process takes us on a journey of reflection and discovery as we wander the desert following the Exodus.
Rabbi Menachem Cohen will explain how and why we count the Omer at our next event as follows:
Come usher in Shabbos with Lani’s unique musical and vocal stylings. A rare treat!
Shabbat oneg to follow.
At BUMC, 3338 N. Broadway.
THIS BOOK CLUB MEETING HAS BEEN POSTPONED. NEW DATE TO BE DETERMINED.
Book Club: Davita's Harp by Chaim Potok.
Hosted by Linda and Joe Touchstone, 6033 N. Sheridan, Chicago.
Continental breakfast and conversation. And a very involving story!
Tu B’Shvat Seder — celebrating the new year of the trees. A Jewish tradition involving nuts and berries. Led by Rabbi Menachem Cohen and Maggid Al Goldberg.
At Beit Yichud, 6932 N. Glenwood, Chicago. Seder starts at 7:00, doors open at 6:30.
Shabbat services Friday evening at BUMC.
Led by Rabbi Menachem Cohen and cantor Rhonda Levy-Wehner.
Annual meeting of Makom Shalom congregation. We will vote for officers and board members, as well as get updates and hear people’s ideas for the coming year.
Shabbat Services at BUMC, led by Rabbi Menachem and cantorial soloist Rhonda Levy-Wehner. Come join us for a warm and spiritual evening.
Led by Al Goldberg, at Beit Yichud, 6932 N Glenwood Ave
“When we drum, chant, dance, we may be able to create a confluence of Nefesh, Olam and Shanah and maybe, if we can can, experience a taste of unity, connection, oneness.”
Rabbi Chava Bahle will lead a discussion on the Israel-Gaza conflict, an opportunity for each of us to process our feelings and contradictions and safely hear other people’s feelings also.
Conversation will be on Zoom.
A zoom discussion of the war and our relationships to the people and and place. It has so many people on edge. Rabbi Chava Bahle will moderate.
𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙗𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 starring Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams.
Upon the death of her father, Ronnie (Ronit) returns from New York to her observant community in London, where she has not been since leaving suddenly as a young woman. She observes Shabbat with her childhood friends (now married) Esti and Dovid. It turns out that Esti knows why Ronnie was banished from the community. (Note: date was changed.)
Movie club meets at 7:00 PM via zoom.
Watch the movie ahead of time.
Shabbat by the Beach, in the park at the east end of Greenleaf in Rogers Park. With Rabbi Menachem and Rhonda Levy-Wehner. Come and do something Jewish, be a little spiritual, and enjoy bringing in Shabbos.
Bring something to sit on. Pot luck oneg, you can bring vegetarian (or fish).
Makom Shalom’s 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗶𝗰𝗻𝗶𝗰, 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝟮𝟵, in Millennium Park.
Picnic at 6:15
Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus will play a concert of Broadway tunes at 7:30. in the Park.
Meet on lawn in front of Pritzker pavilion. Bring your own grub and chairs/blankets
RSVP to Roberta Cohen for more detailed meet-up instructions: chicagomakom@gmail.com
Shabbat in the park, led by Rabbi Menachem and Rhonda Levy-Wehner. Friday evening.
Find us in the park at the east end of Greenleaf in Rogers Park. Shabbat services followed by oneg/kiddush.
Bring your own chair to sit on.
Oneg is vegetarian, you are invited to bring a vegetarian dish (fish is OK). Paper plates and utensils will be provided.
Makom Shalom’s incomparable book club meets to discuss The Lost Shtetl, by Max Gross.
A tiny Jewish town is lost in the forests of Poland, untouched by the modern world. The 11th lost tribe!
Winner of National Jewish Book Award. Also the Jewish Fiction Award from the Association of Jewish Libraries.
Hosted and led by Linda Touchstone.
Bring your own Bit o’ Bible, a piece of the Jewish Bible that speaks to you or you are curious about.
Ascher Levy will lead us in a renewal-style examination of our bits of bible, in celebration of the Jewish People receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai.
Join us for Renewal style Shabbat service led by Menachem Cohen, with the strong pure voice Layni Katz-Myers bringing everybody into the singing.
Service will be at Broadway United Methodist Church, and also available on Zoom. Write to chicagomakom@gmail.com for the zoom link, or see the newsletter. from Makom or Mitziut.
Come join us for our warm and spiritual Shabbat evening service, renewal style, at Broadway United Methodist Church.
Also streamed on zoom.
(7:30 Start time is tentative — check back before the day.)
We will be hosting a community Passover seder on the 2nd night, at BUMC, on April 6.
Pot luck. Please RSVP to Linda Touchstone, Handman4906@aol.com
Finding and experiencing the spirituality within Shabbat morning prayers.
Ascher Levy will lead a deeper dive into the structure and prayers of the Shabbat morning service, informed by the spiritual understandings of Jewish Renewal.
This is part 1 of a two part event.
A zoom event.
Shabbat morning services, in the renewal fashion with great renewal music.
Rabbi Menachem Cohen will lead services, with his signature renewal mix of spiritual and very practical take on Judaism.
Layni Katz Myers will bring her lovely and participatory music.
All are welcome! Services will be simultaneously broadcast on Zoom.
There will be oneg Shabbat munchies afterward.
(Corrected from earlier posting: starting time is 10:00.)
Our Makom Shalom book club will consider An Unorthodox Match by Naomi Ragen.
It is a compelling novel about a young Jewish woman who has it all in her unorthodox world, and then falls in love with an ultra-orthodox man and enters his community.
Come join us for the discussion and brunch.
RSVP to Linda: handman4906@aol.com.
Steve Rothschild will lead our Homelessness Program with abbreviated Shabbat Service
Since it will be Shabbat, we'll open with our traditional Shabbat prayers. This will be followed by a review of the very relevant Torah portion for that week. Parshat Mishpatim twice includes the commandment to not oppress the stranger in our midst.
Steve will show how this all relates to homelessness. Steve will also discuss strategies to reduce Homelessness that have been implemented throughout the country, and a proposed strategy specific to Chicago known as Bring Chicago Home
We will close with Aleinu, the Mi Sheberach, and Kaddish
RSVP for directions to Bob Sallinger, bsallinger@gmail.com
Shabbat Friday night service led by Rabbi Menachem Cohen and Cantor Anita Silvert.
Great music, renewal style. And Rabbi Menachem Cohen’s down-to-earth and deeply spiritual take on Jewish learning.
BUMC, 3338 N. Broadway, Chicago.
Reva Freedman will lead the discussion on parashat Re-eh, a truly juicy portion. In this Torah portion Moses gives the Israelites instructions on many issues, including those pertaining to idol worship (forbidden), the laws of kashrut, tithes on produce, treatment of slaves, and pilgrimage festivals. Participants are invited to bring their favorite bibles.
We'll close with a blessing for the month of Elul, followed by a prayer for healing and Kaddish.
The book is The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer. It's an entertaining and inspiring story of a young woman, the daughter of an orthodox rabbi, who is infatuated by Christmas and writes and sells books about Christmas romance stories under a pen name.
Her life is disrupted when her romance novel publisher gets tired of Christmas-themed novels, and the frenemy-guy friend from her youth is comes to New York to produce the fabulous Matzah Ball, a Jewish singles event.
This event will be in-person at the home of a Makom Shalom member. See the TWAMS weekly newsletter for details.
Discussion of Israeli movie The Other Son. Two children, one Jewish, one Palestinian Muslim, were switched at birth. Much later the switch was discovered.
Picnic in Millenium Park, followed by the free concert.
Come stretch out and schmooze with your Makom Shalom friends you haven’t seen in a while. The concert will feature Broadway show tunes.
Contact us for instructions on how and where to to meet up.
Renee Harrison will describe a revival of a Yiddish play she designed the costumes for, with a history of Jewish Theater and an emphasis on the needs of Jewish immigrants for certain types of entertainment.
Our guests at this event will be welcome to share stories and photos of their ancestors in their new land.
We will end with Havdalah, Mi Sheberach, and Kaddish.
