RS Visioning Initiative Weekend with Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman, March 4-6

Please learn about our Visioning Initiative, and join us for the visioning weekend opportunities with Rabbi Hoffman, listed below!

RS 2020: Creating Our Vision Together
6:00pm Shabbat Service, 7:00pm Dinner & Discussion 
RSVP for Dinner to Marcia Biggs at 215-627-6747 x12 or mbiggs@rodephshalom.org. Cost for dinner is $20 per person.

Torah Study with Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman
Saturday, March 5, 2011 at 9:15am

RS 2020: Why the Next Generation Will Be Jewish
Sunday, March 6 at 10:30 AM

Please read more here for full descriptions of these conversations.Continue reading

RS Visioning Initiative

The leadership of Rodeph Shalom, along with the assistance of synagogue transformation expert Rabbi Larry Hoffman, has been engaged in conversations about what we envision for our congregation in the future.  We would like for every RS individual to participate in this initiative to ensure that our process is inclusive and reflects the perspectives of our membership.  Please read here to learn about two ways you can participate.

What is this Visioning Initiative?

Buerger Early Learning Center Invites You…

The Buerger Early Learning Center: A Joint Program of Congregation Rodeph Shalom and Federation Early Learning Services, is preparing to open!

There will be an Open House for parents interested in learning more about the center (619 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA.  19123) on Thursday, July 22, 4-7pm and on Sunday, August 1, 10am -12noon.  You will have an opportunity to meet the center director, see the furnished, equipped classrooms and the onsite playground.  If you are interested in attending either of these events, please RSVP to Director Megan Nachod, mnachod@felskids.org.  Parking is available onsite and refreshments will be served.  We hope that we have the opportunity to meet you and your child.Continue reading

Supplementary Security Income & Today’s Economy

By Rabbi Michael Holzman

Every year when our elected officials have to pay the bills they make choices.  In a year when tax revenues are way down, they must wrestle with their decisions.  In Pennsylvania, this year, the choices were brutal, and the budget process drawn out.  What finally emerged was grim:  a substantial cut in the state contribution towards Supplemental Security Income. Monica Yant-Kinney reported this on January 24, 2010.  So, in case you are keeping score, in the same year that President Obama is cutting 47% of the federal contribution towards unemployment and 25% towards child support, the state of Pennsylvania is cutting their share by 20-25% as well.  All of this in a down economy, which means these funds are more necessary than ever before.Continue reading

Martin Luther King, Jr. Shabbat

By Rabbi Bill Kuhn

On Friday evening, January 15, 2010 at our 7:30 p.m. Shabbat Service, we will celebrate the national holiday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday.  In what has become an annual event at Rodeph Shalom, we will share one of the most meaningful interfaith services of our calendar year as we welcome Reverend Kevin Johnson and the Bright Hope Baptist Church.  Reverend Johnson will give the sermon that evening as we also welcome many members of his congregation and his choir.  Those of you who have heard him speak and have heard their magnificent choir know what an unforgettable experience this is. Continue reading

Open Tent Initiative

The “Open Tent Initiative” is a wonderful way to build a strong sense of community.

Congregation Rodeph Shalom (RS) recently won an award given by the Union for Reform Judaism (the umbrella organization for all of the Reform Jewish congregations in North America) for our “Open Tent Initiative.” This initiative asks every member of the congregation to do one (or more) of the following five acts:

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Connecting in Our Open Tent

by Rabbi Jill Maderer

When it comes to city living today, many of us are living on top of one another while we don’t even know each other. The neighborhood is so transient; one of the greatest challenges of our day is to make meaningful, lasting connections. Such ties are the inspiration for our new RS Empty Nesters group that draws members who want to share their experience in their new chapter of life. And such ties are the promise for our plans for the RS Buerger Early Learning Center, where we hope families will begin life-long shared journeys together. In so many different forms, RS members’ lives are enriched by sharing their experiences in community.

Personal stories are such a powerful way to invite others into our open tent. How do YOU connect at RS? Why did you join and how does congregational life bring you meaning?

The Torah of Blogging

by Rabbi Jill Maderer

Do you feel comfortable commenting on a blog article publically?  What would Moses do?

One internet scholar explains that when social networking was first introduced, teen-agers were the most comfortable with it.  Children of the internet, teens commented on any blog post that so moved them and often exposed their private feelings.  Their parents, and adults over the age of 45 were more likely to expose nothing on the internet.  Adults were accustomed to communicating with one person and not with the public. Continue reading

Early Learning Center at RS

by Rabbi Jill Maderer

An Early Learning Center at RS:  “From the lips of babes and infants you have established strength” (Psalms 8:3).  Next fall, our “youngest generation” will strengthen our community with its daily presence at a Congregation Rodeph Shalom of Center City Philadelphia Jewish preschool.   The Congregation’s new property across Mt. Vernon Street will open as the starter location for the Rodeph Shalom Buerger Early Learning Center in September 2010.

The Vision: Totally integrated into the life of RS, the ELC will promote the intellectual, physical, social and emotional development of each child while celebrating the rich traditions of Jewish life.  Rodeph Shalom’s rabbis will establish the Jewish content with the goal of preparing students and families for a lifetime of Jewish practice.   Not simply a day-care center, the ELC will offer Philadelphia families a full early learning curriculum while providing child care hours.  Once open, the ELC will be able to work towards current standards of naeyc accreditation and Keystone Stars.Continue reading

Welcoming You to the High Holy Days

Rabbi Jill L. Maderer

At last night’s “Taste of the New Year,” Philadelphia’s wine-tasting and synagogue-matching program for young adults, I met many people who are seeking a congregation.  If you are a young adult (22-40), missed the event but would like an invitation to High Holy Day services (“High Holy Day tickets”) at RS, please contact our Membership Director Catherine Fischer.  Thank you to Deborah Gordon Klehr, Ivy and Matt Olesh for representing RS and inviting so many new-comers to High Holy Day services this year!  We were proud that Deborah was interviewed on KYW during the event!   We look forward to joining together on Rosh Hashanah to celebrate the new year and on Yom Kippur to experience the depths of spiritual connection.  L’shanah tova–a sweet new year.

Welcoming is Not Only a Jewish Thing: We Are Obligated to Do It

By Catherine Fischer, Director of Programming and Membership

The Torah, our Jewish guide to living, teaches over and over again, more times than any other mitzvah (commandment), that we are supposed to welcome the stranger (aka a person whom we do not know).  Being welcoming, showing compassion and doing acts of loving kindness are just some of the mitzvot that Jews are instructed to adhere to.

Congregation Rodeph Shalom works hard to live up to our obligation.  Our rabbis, staff, president, lay leadership and every congregant of RS share in this responsibility.  We work together to assess and reassess our efforts so that everyone who walks through our doors is personally welcomed.  Our goal is that no one will ever come into this building and leave unnoticed and unappreciated.

As the High Holy Days approach, we carry our welcome with us.  Many are used to buying High Holy Day tickets to attend services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  At Rodeph Shalom, we try to distill the notion of purchasing tickets as we don’t see that as the role of a synagogue.  Rather, we invite our prospective members to come as our guests and become acquainted with our community.  We hope that once they have a chance to get to know us and begin building relationships and memories here, they will want to be part of our community.  Being part of a community is analogous to being part of a family.  A family does not purchase tickets to attend Thanksgiving; however, there is a healthy give and take and a sense of responsibility that one has for another. Continue reading