Programs - Page 49 of 50 - Makom

Shabbat in the Park

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watermelon, shabbat, shabbat in the park

Saturday Aug 15

5-7pm at Vermont Square Park – 819 Palmerston Ave.
It’s Shabbat in the Park time again!
watermelon, shabbat, shabbat in the park

photo: Matt Raoul

Come chill with some watermelon and Makom

5:00 Adults hang out & kids play in Vermont Square Park (Palmerston, south of Dupont)

5:30 Get ready for High Holidays: Adult learning with Rabbi Aaron Levy

PJ Library storytime and activities for school-age kids with Jen Turack, Makom’s Director of Education and Family Programming

A taste of Shabbat Family Party for preschoolers & their grown-ups, with Kohenet Annie Matan of MNjcc

6:15 Picnic: Bring your dinner and a blanket – Makom will provide watermelon. Feel free to bring kids’ bathing suits for the wading pool.

All are welcome. Hope you can join us!

In the event of rain, the program is cancelled.

Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur 5776

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Makom High Holidays, Makom Rosh Hashanah, Makom Yom Kippur, Makom 5776
Makom High Holidays, Makom Rosh Hashanah, Makom Yom Kippur, Makom 5776

photo: Sabrina Malach, Shoresh

* CLICK HERE for the detailed schedule of services *

Need last minute tickets? available here 

Makom High Holidays
Sept 14-15 & 22-23

Makom is once again delighted to offer warm, meaningful, participatory and song-filled Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services.

We will be returning as a community to the beautiful Hart House space on the University of Toronto campus to meet the Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe) with joy and awe.

Services will be led by Rabbi Aaron and returning guest prayer leader Steven Goldstein. He’s on faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music and a long-time member of The Carlebach Shul in New York, and we look forward to Steven helping us elevate our Days of Awe prayers with his beautiful voice and extensive repertoire of participatory melodies.

Steven’s husband Rabbi Steve Greenberg will also be present to inspire us with thoughtful teaching. Steve is Senior Teaching Fellow at CLAL: The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership and a founding Co-Director of Eshel: Community for LGBT Orthodox Jews. Author of the award-winning book Wrestling with God & Men: Homosexuality in the Jewish Tradition, he has worked to make communities around the world more inclusive.

Full childcare provided throughout services – and we also offer engaging, thoughtful, and fun services for children, in two age groups. Parents are welcome but not required to attend the children’s services with their kids.

You can purchase tickets online here. 

Want to plan a break-fast? Read Torah? Schlepp stuff? Set up or Tidy up? Anything else? We need volunteers for both logistical and ritual roles. Please let us know how you can help.

The Most Important Jewish Books

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A Crash Course in the most significant Jewish sources
Daytime (11:00 am to 1:00 pm)

3 Consecutive Tuesdays, Aug. 11-25

Location: Bathurst & Dundas
$60 for the series

Want a better background in the history and basic features of the most significant Jewish sources, from Genesis to the present day? Unsure of the differences between the Mishnah, Mishneh Torah, and Mishnah Berurah?

This summer class will be a fast-paced romp through Jewish literary history, held in Rabbi Aaron’s home to make use of his library.

Email to enrol now and keep your summer brain happy!

 

Email Rabbi Aaron with any questions, or if finances are an issue.

Tish`ah be-Av Eve

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Saturday, July 25

Join Makom and the Kiever to usher in Tish`ah be-Av, the ninth day of the lunar month of Av.

This date marks the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem and other tragedies in Jewish history. It is traditionally observed by fasting, refraining from wearing leather, and other mourning customs. For more background, see here.

tisha

10pm – Doors Open
10:15 sharp – Services Start
11:30pm – Program Ends (approx.)
Location:
The Kiever Synagogue
25 Bellevue Ave., Toronto
* BRING FOOD + A FLASHLIGHT

We’ll pray the brief evening service (including an abridged havdalah to end Shabbat) and listen to the Biblical book of Eikhah (Lamentations), hauntingly chanted by a number of community members.

It is customary to sit on the floor of the synagogue with the lights dimmed, so please BRING A FLASHLIGHT. We’ll also sing some songs, kinnot (elegies), and niggunim (wordless melodies).

If you’d like to chant a chapter of Eikhah, please contact Rabbi Aaron ASAP.

Please BRING ONE OR MORE FOOD ITEMS for the St. Stephen’s Community House Corner Drop-In kitchen, in keeping with the spirit of Isaiah 58:6-7, “This is the fast I desire … It is to share your bread with the hungry.”

Fresh vegetables, grains, and canned or boxed foods are all welcome.

FYI, the fast begins Saturday at sunset, 8:48pm, and ends Sunday at nightfall, 9:38pm. There will be a low partition between women’s and men’s seating for the evening service, which will be removed for Eikhah and the rest of the evening’s program.

Remembrance Day remarks 2013

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Rabbi Aaron made the following remarks at UofT’s Remembrance Day ceremony on Monday November 11, 2013:

In Judaism, it is customary to append the Hebrew phrase “zeikher livrakhah”—“May his or her memory be a blessing”—after saying the name of someone who has died.  Through these few words, we affirm that not only was the person’s life a blessing, but even our memory of her or his life continues to be a blessing for us.

On Remembrance Day, we, as a national community, commemorate those whose lives were a blessing for the world, those who fought and died to keep it free and safe.  Zikhronam livrakhah—remembering them is our blessing.

I’ll now recite a brief memorial prayer in Hebrew and then English:

O God, full of compassion, Who dwells on high, grant perfect rest in Your sheltering Presence, in the lofty levels among the holy and the pure who shine bright as the sky, for the souls of all those soldiers and innocent civilians who went on to their world in Canada’s wars.  May their resting place be in the Garden of Eden.  Thus may the Compassionate One shelter them in God’s sheltering Presence for eternity, and may God bind their souls in the bond of life.  The Eternal is their inheritance, and may they repose in peace on their resting places.  And let us say: Amen.

High Holidays 2013

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Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur with Makom!

September 5-6 & 13-14

Makom is delighted to be providing joyous, song-filled and participatory High Holiday services again this year!  We’ll be gathering in beautiful Hart House to meet the Yamim Nora’im as a community with joy and awe.  We hope you’ll plan to join us for Rosh Hashanah, September 5- 6, and Yom Kippur, September 13-14.  Tickets will be on sale soon; watch for upcoming Makom announcements for more details.

We need your help with important volunteer roles!  Please consider devoting some time and effort to help make Makom’s High Holidays run smoothly so they can be an uplifting experience for all.  The main volunteer roles are:

  1. Pick up/Drop off (Car Required) – Sept 3-5: Pick up ritual objects from locations around the city and drop them off at Hart House or another downtown location.
  2. Pick up/Drop off (Car Required) – Sept 15: Pick up stuff from Hart House and drop off at locations around the city.
  3. Schlepping (Without a Car) – Sept. 3-5, 15: Help load/unload and move ritual objects, etc.
  4. Snack Purchase + Delivery: Purchase kid-appropriate snacks and bring them to Hart House for each day of High Holidays.
  5. Airport Pick Up/Drop Off – Sept 5, 8, 13, 15: Pick up our special guest leader and his family from the airport and drop them off at their downtown host and vice-versa.
  6. Welcome basket: Compile and deliver welcome basket of some light snacks for our guest leader and his family and deliver to their downtown host family.
  7. Set Up/Clean Up: Before and after services, be responsible for organizing/dismantling room set-up including prayer books, ritual objects, etc.
  8. Standby: Be available to help out with random last-minute tasks that arise.

Please email hhd@MakomTO.org to let us know how you can help.  We look forward to hearing from you!

Jo Frisch,

Makom High Holiday Team Leader

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The End of the Shul As We Know It?

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The End of the Shul As We Know ItOn April 11, 2013, Rabbi Aaron participated in a panel discussion called “The End of the Shul As We Know It?”. Below is an excerpt of his remarks.

Erev tov – good evening. It’s a pleasure and honour to be on this panel with my esteemed teachers and colleagues and to be speaking with you tonight about important issues in contemporary Jewish life.

Full remarks here (PDF).

Purim 2013: Illuminated Megillah

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megillahBefore Purim, community members were invited to explore the themes and scenes in Megillat Esther (the scroll of Esther) and then paint or draw their own visual depiction (whether figurative or abstract) of the theme or scene of their choice.  The art was photographed and the images projected as a slideshow during the corresponding part of megillah reading on Purim, creating our community’s own live performance, “illuminated manuscript” megillah.  We’ve turned this Illuminated Megillah into a Slideshare presentation for you to enjoy.


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Community Meeting, January 2012

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Thank you for being with us!

On Sunday January 22, 50 people joined us at Kensington Lofts to get the results from Makom’s survey and focus groups, hear about our strategic plan going forward, learn about upcoming leadership team elections and celebrate three years of Makom with champagne and cakes from Sweets From the Earth.

Your feedback has been heard, and the questions you asked following the presentation were noted so that we know what matters to you. We’ll be sharing the presentation on our website for those who couldn’t be there.

The celebration wasn’t just about Makom, it was about you too. Without you, there wouldn’t be Makom. Whether you come to Makom programs frequently, sometimes, or simply read our newsletters or online activities without ever coming to see us, we appreciate you.

Did you take photos at the event? Please upload them to our Facebook page.

Would you like to get more involved with Makom? Email Aaron to be notified of  possible opportunities. Immediate needs:  Holiday programming e.g. Purim, 2 people to be on Board’s Nominating Committee

We live tweeted the event!

 

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