Saturday, November 21 | 10:30 am – College & Bathurst Register now!
Join us for an upbeat, kid-friendly Shabbat morning family service followed by Shabbat lunch! Services are geared for kids in Grades 1-5 and their parents, but all families with kids are welcome.
Services are egalitarian with mixed seating, and will include prayers, songs, a Torah story and discussion to meaningfully engage adults and children together.
At lunch, we’ll enjoy a delicious vegan & kosher meal together.
Registration required! We have various price options so that finances aren’t an impediment to participation.
Free if you’re coming just for services and not staying for lunch, but registration’s still required.
Makom welcomes participants of all abilities. Makom’s main space is wheelchair accessible; unfortunately, the washroom and playroom are not. If you have an accessibility need or require any accommodations, please reach out to us.
Any questions? Contact Dani Wohl, Youth Programming Coordinator.
Saturday, November 14 | 7:00 pm – College & Bathurst Register now!
Come sing, learn, and snack at a Melaveh Malkah – literally, escorting out the (Shabbat) queen!
We’ll begin with a musical havdalah to end Shabbat, followed by some spiritual singing, an interactive class taught by visiting scholar Rabbi Deborah Anstandig, and then dessert and schmoozing.
This event is FREE! Please register by November 13 at 12 noon.
Schedule
7:00 pm Doors open 7:15 pm Musical havdalah 7:30 pm Singing 7:45 pm Rabbi Deborah Anstandig teaches on Shipwrecked Rabbis! 8:30 pm Dessert & schmoozing 9:00 pm Lilah tov – good night
Everyone is warmly welcome! No Makom or TPM affiliation necessary.
Shipwrecked Rabbis! What Can We Learn About Survival?
What do we do when the world feels unsteady and so much lies beyond our control? In this class, we’ll explore rabbinic texts and contemporary voices that offer different ways of meeting uncertainty and disruption. Together, we’ll ask what it means to endure difficult moments, where resilience comes from, and whether upheaval can sometimes open up new ways of living.
Rabbi Deborah Anstandig is the Educational Director of Engagement at Pardes, where she began her Jewish education career nearly 20 years ago through the Educators Program and later served as a mentor. She has taught and mentored at SAR High School and The Heschel School in New York City and has participated in fellowships in pedagogy, facilitation, and Jewish learning. Ordained as a rabbi by Hebrew College in 2025, Deborah also served the Kehillath Israel and Temple Emunah communities and completed chaplaincy training at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She is a graduate of Yeshiva University, Hebrew College, and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Deborah is passionate about teaching Torah that speaks to today’s challenges, including polarization in our communities. She enjoys biking, swimming, Hebrew conversation, and making music with others.
Accessibility Information
Makom welcomes participants of all abilities. Makom’s main space is wheelchair accessible; unfortunately, the washroom and playroom are not. If you have an accessibility need or require any accommodations, please reach out to us.
Makom is a diverse and inclusive community that welcomes participants with many different approaches to Judaism, from secular to traditionally observant. Our services blend traditional and progressive practices, so our community can join together without regard to denominational labels.
We offer men’s, women’s, and mixed (all-genders) seating sections. All genders may lead parts of services. We need an egalitarian minyan of 10 Jews and a non-overlapping traditional minyan of 10 men to start the maariv service, so we encourage you to come on time.
Accessibility Information
Makom welcomes participants of all abilities. Makom’s main space is wheelchair accessible; unfortunately, the washroom and playroom are not. If you have an accessibility need or require any accommodations, please reach out to us.
Supervised childcare will be provided in Makom’s playroom during services.
At lunch, Professor Alan Verskin will lead us in thought-provoking, interactive learning session about “Life and Love in the Medieval Jewish World.”
There was once a Jewish community that saved nearly every piece of paper: love letters, grocery lists, children’s doodles, anxious notes between parents and teachers, as well as all of their sacred books. These papers became known as the Cairo Genizah. Come explore the writings they left us. Step into the everyday lives of Jewish men, women, and children from centuries ago: messy, moving, and startlingly familiar – all in their own words.
Alan Verskin is the Samuel J. Zacks Chair of Jewish History at the University of Toronto. His areas of research include religious, legal, and social history in both Jewish and Islamic contexts, from the middle ages through the nineteenth century. He is particularly interested in travel, translation, and the migration of ideas between religious communities. He is also interested in intellectual responses to religious persecution and minorityhood. What unites and connects all of these areas is an emphasis on paying attention to the first-person stories of those whose perspectives have been marginalized. Read more…
Makom is a diverse and inclusive community that welcomes participants with many different approaches to Judaism, from secular to traditionally observant. Our services blend traditional and progressive practices, so our community can join together without regard to denominational labels.
We offer men’s, women’s, and mixed (all-genders) seating sections. All genders may lead parts of services. We need an egalitarian minyan of 10 Jews and a non-overlapping traditional minyan of 10 men to start the maariv service, so we encourage you to come on time.
Accessibility Information
Makom welcomes participants of all abilities. Makom’s main space is wheelchair accessible; unfortunately, the washroom and playroom are not. If you have an accessibility need or require any accommodations, please reach out to us.
Makom is a diverse and inclusive community that welcomes participants with many different approaches to Judaism, from secular to traditionally observant. Our services blend traditional and progressive practices, so our community can join together without regard to denominational labels.
We offer men’s, women’s, and mixed (all-genders) seating sections. All genders may lead parts of services. We need an egalitarian minyan of 10 Jews and a non-overlapping traditional minyan of 10 men to start the maariv service, so we encourage you to come on time.
Accessibility Information
Makom welcomes participants of all abilities. Makom’s main space is wheelchair accessible; unfortunately, the washroom and playroom are not. If you have an accessibility need or require any accommodations, please reach out to us.
Supervised childcare will be provided in Makom’s playroom during services.
At lunch, Professor Sara Verskin will teach on “Interfaith Spa Night! The Bathhouse as a Social Experience for Medieval Women.”
In the medieval world, the bathhouse, hammam, or mikveh was a venue where women congregated together for medical and life-cycle events, away from the supervision of male religious leaders. We’ll explore writings by Jewish, Muslim, and Christian authorities about the social significance of the bathhouse and their belief that it was a place where women developed close ties with women from other religions and where they formulated their own, separate framework for understanding what the religious commandments meant to them.
Sara Verskin is an assistant professor at the University of Toronto in the departments of Religion and of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, where she teaches courses on Islamic family law, the history of medicine, and medieval social history.
Join us for a joyful, family-friendly Shabbat in the Park!
We’ll begin with a relaxed arrival time for connection, playground play, and settling in together, before gathering for a Shabbat program with stories, songs, Shabbat-themed activities, and challah and grape juice. Afterward, families are invited to stay for more playground time and a bring-your-own picnic dinner.
Please note that this program is designed to give parents and kids a chance to celebrate Shabbat together (not a drop-off program). Geared for families with children ages 0-10.
All families welcome, including LGBTQ+ and interfaith/intercultural families!
Any Qs? Email Talia Levitt, Makom’s Youth Programming Coordinator, at youth@makomto.org
Presented by Makom: Creative Downtown Judaism, MNJCC’s Families @ the J, and PJ Library
Posted on by Ben in Class, Programs, Shabbat | Comments Off on June 27: Shabbat Morning Services + Lunch ‘n’ Sing
Saturday, June 27 | 9:30 am – College & Bathurst Register now!
Join us for soulful and song-filled Shabbat morning services, followed by a delicious Shabbat lunch. After lunch, we’ll sing zemirot (table songs) together. Rabbi Aaron will teach them first, so even if you’re unfamiliar with the words or melodies, you’ll learn them and can join in!
Lunch registration required by Thursday, June 25.
Services don’t require registration – no need to register if you’re not staying for lunch!
Makom is a diverse and inclusive community that welcomes participants with many different approaches to Judaism, from secular to traditionally observant. Our services blend traditional and progressive practices, so our community can join together without regard to denominational labels.
We offer men’s, women’s, and mixed (all-genders) seating sections. All genders may lead parts of services. We need an egalitarian minyan of 10 Jews and a non-overlapping traditional minyan of 10 men to start the maariv service, so we encourage you to come on time.
Accessibility Information
Makom welcomes participants of all abilities. Makom’s main space is wheelchair accessible; unfortunately, the washroom and playroom are not. If you have an accessibility need or require any accommodations, please reach out to us.
