ZOOMPA BOOMPA PURIM
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 28 @ 10:00AM
* Matanot L’Evyonim-Gifts for the Poor
* Megillah Reading / Purim Shpiel
* Mishloach Manot-Portions for Our Friends/Family
* Seudat Simchah-Festive Meal
DETAILS VIA EMAIL REGARDING JUST HOW WE’RE GOING TO PULL THIS OFF-BUT WE WILL NOT LET THE CONSTRAINTS OF OUR TIME GET IN THE WAY OF OUR ANNUAL CELEBRATION
It’s been almost a year and we’re still gathering on Zoom for religious school, Shabbat morning services and holiday celebrations.
If you would like to connect with us via Zoom, please be in touch with via our email – jewishtaunton@gmail.com – and we’ll help you get on board.
Upcoming celebrations include Zoompa Boompa Purim on Sunday, February 28th at 10:00 AM and our Annual Community Seder on Sunday, March 28th at 5:00 PM.
Our regular, weekly Shabbat morning services are at 9:00 AM and last for about one hour and 15 minutes.
See you soon !!!!
Cantor Reaboi looks forward to being with you for 5782! After a year off, we’ll be holding services LIVE this year, as well as on zoom for those who are physically unable to attend services in person. Cantor Burton will also be with us live.
For the first time we will be having a Rosh Hashana Evening service on Monday, September 6th at 7pm. Rosh Hashanah Morning Services are Tuesday, September 7 & Wednesday, September 20th beginning at 9:00am. Child care and Youth Services will be provided in the Vestry. Please contact the office to sign your child up if you plan on attending.
For congregants who wish to attend via zoom, here is the link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82254625517?pwd=anlQOHJmS1hpRWlqaFJSUDJmZ3pCZz09
Shana tova,
Cantor Colman Reaboi
*NOTE: If the link above doesn’t work for you then you don’t have access to our PRIVATE congregation Facebook page and would need that for access. If you have Facebook and are a member of the congregation then I can help get you access. Just email us here and we will make sure that you get the Zoom instructions to join us!
Please join us online for a very special Shavuot/Shabbat morning service & Religious School Celebration on Saturday, May 30th at 10am. What makes this Shabbat even more special is that it will be the last Shabbat service that Rabbi Heath will be presiding over before retiring this Sunday! Because this Shabbat is also the Festival of Shavuot, we will study from the Torah portion designated for the festival and not the one in our week-by-week order.
If Shavuot, Shabbat and Rabbi Heath weren’t enough, we will be honoring all of our Religious School Students, teens and teachers as the school year comes to an end. Don’t miss this exciting and very special morning at Congregation Agudath Achim!
Thank you Rabbi Heath for over 18 years of service to our congregation and community. On behalf of everyone in the congregation I wish you the best of luck in retirement and hoping for a safe and exciting journey to your new home and next chapter in your life. Enjoy those grand babies!! You will be missed!
After the service we’ll remain online for maybe 15 minutes so people can chat and converse. This “virtual Kiddush” continues to be a success. Feel free to have your own wine or grape juice and challah (or other bread) available as we do the blessings.
ADDITIONAL INFO FOR SHABBAT SERVICES:
The virtual Shabbat Services continue again this week (Saturday, May 30) with the the Morning Shavuot/Shabbat Service at 10am (lasting about 30 minutes) followed by a religious school celebration honoring our students, teens and teachers. Please consider joining us as we all work together and try to add a bit of normalcy in an otherwise crazy time! At this point, you should have received an email with information on how to connect to our services or if you are on our private Facebook page you should have received an Invite to an Event for each service with a Zoom Link to the Service in the event.
While Zoom is best used with a laptop or computer, it can also be used with a smart phone for video or even a flip phone if you just want to call in to listen. Whatever your technological abilities we can find a way to help you connect to our services. If you haven’t received an invitation or are not on Facebook please send an email to Mike Peckman and I’d be glad to help you out (don’t forget to tell me who you are in the message in case you are not in my contacts).
Chag Sameach & ShabbatShalom,
Mike
*NOTE: If the links above don’t work for you then you don’t have access to our PRIVATE congregation Facebook page and would need that for access. If you have Facebook and are a member of the congregation then I can help get you access. Just text me!
This evening, Monday, April 20, at 7:00 PM, we will gather online using Zoom for a Yom HaShoah v’HaGevurah Memorial Service to honor those who perished in the Holocaust and those who perished in the struggle against the Holocaust. Our siddur will be available online as it is during Shabbat services. It would be appropriate for you to have a small candle available (if safely possible) for this service.
Shalom,
Mike Peckman
*NOTE: If the link above doesn’t work for you then you don’t have access to our PRIVATE congregation Facebook page and would need that for access. If you have Facebook and are a member of the congregation then I can help get you access. Just email us here and we will make sure that you get the Zoom instructions to join us!
Our weekly online services using Zoom have been a tremendous success with 12 participants at today’s 9am Children’s Shabbat Service and over 26 participants (most with video) at today’s 10am Morning Shabbat Services. It even included Carol calling in from Florida, so don’t let any distance keep you from attending any of our virtual services! We’d love to see you or at least hear your voice as we pray together virtually! We are all in each other’s living rooms for services and will get through these trying times together as a community! Folks have asked and YES, we will be holding 9am and 10am Shabbat services via Zoom each week moving forward for as long as we need to. Check back here and on our private community Facebook page for continued links and to join us in the future.
So with that being said we are excited to announce that we will be holding a Virtual, Online First Night of Passover Community Seder on Wednesday, April 8 starting at 6pm (arrive at 5:45pm to iron out any technical issues). All of the seder details and what you need to celebrate with us should have been sent to you via email or is available on our private Facebook event page titled Virtual, Online First Night of Passover Community Seder. There is a handy Passover Seder checklist that you can use to prepare for the Seder or if you prefer, sit back, put your feet up and just bring your matzah, Manischewitz, Gefilte Fish and whatever you’d like to celebrate with. Rabbi Heath will lead the Seder and provide the virtual Haggadah for us to follow along with.
We look forward to having you join us for our virtual, online First Night of Passover Community Seder. The more the merrier. See you on Zoom next Wednesday!
“Chag Pesach Sameach!” (Happy Passover Holiday)
— Mike Peckman
*NOTE: If the links above don’t work for you then you don’t have access to our PRIVATE congregation Facebook page and would need that for access. If you have Facebook and are a member of the congregation then I can help get you access. Just email me here!
Our site is updated for 5780 / September 2019 – June 2020. Feel free to catch up with what’s new – even if you’re a long-time member.
If you have questions, be sure to be in touch by calling the office (mornings) and speaking to our office administrator Lori McCloud or by emailing us at jewishtaunton@gmail.com
We look forward to seeing students and parents (grandparents, too) at religious school.
There are many fall holiday experiences that are intergenerational and a wonderful time for all to gather.
Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah are – amazingly, once again – just around the corner.
Welcome fall, welcome all. Welcome or welcome back !!
Congregation Agudath Achim in Taunton, MA, serving Taunton and surrounding communities, cordially invites you to join us on Saturday morning, November 3, 2018, at 12:00 noon for a Sabbath of Peace Memorial Gathering in Memory of Our Jewish Brothers and Sisters Murdered at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh last Saturday. All who come in peace are welcome.
We will meet at our synagogue, located at 36 Winthrop Street (Route 44) in Taunton, just west of Taunton Green. Parking is available on the street, across the street on the Winthrop Street Baptist Church lot which they graciously share with us on an ongoing basis, and at our Jewish Community House at 133 High Street. There is also City of Taunton public parking on lots in various downtown locations.
The first part of our gathering will be a traditional Jewish service (in both Hebrew and English) as conducted in a “House of Mourning”. Following this service, selected religious and civic leaders will have an opportunity to offer brief statements of condolence, peace and hope. We plan to keep the entire occasion to under an hour.
At the conclusion there will be time set aside for photographs, but not during the service and remarks themselves.
Please note that our 105-year old synagogue building is not yet handicapped accessible. There are about half a dozen stairs into the building through the front doors. These front doors and the interior doors to the sanctuary on the main floor are wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs, but that person would need to be carried into the building and would have no access to the restrooms, which are located downstairs. We also have a balcony, upstairs, overlooking the main sanctuary. We apologize in advance for this bar to anyone’s participation.
It is our custom for men to wear a head covering/yarmulke/kippah, though not an absolute requirement. These are available when you enter the synagogue. Our worship service attire preference is “business casual” at a minimum. We do, however, count on your own good judgment and aim to welcome everyone.
We will be posting this notice on our website www.jewishtaunton.com and on our Facebook page, A Family of Friends at Congregation Agudath Achim in Taunton and distributing to organizations and news outlets. Please feel free to share this information as you see fit.
Shalom, Rabbi/Cantor Anne Heath
Join us at the synagogue on Saturday morning, October 27, 2018, at 9:00 AM for services and then stay for the Alef Beats a cappella performance from 10:45 to 11:30 AM. We’ll end with a festive Kiddush/social time in the vestry/lower level. All are welcome. Of course, it’s Shabbat, there is no charge. We’re part of Greater Boston JArts Arts Matter Shabbat programming. More here.
Coming from Brown/RISD Hillel, the Alef Beats perform for us every couple of years and it’s always great to have their musical presence and energy enliven our community. Learn more about them by clicking here. Their repertoire contains some contemporary Israeli songs in Hebrew, a Yiddish classic or two and some recent American offerings.
One featured song for this visit by the Alef Beats is “There Must Be Another Way” which was the Israeli entry to the 2009 Eurovision music contest with Israeli musical artists Noa (Jewish) and Mira Awad (Muslim). The lyrics are in Hebrew, Arabic and English (English translation below the video).
The lyrics “speak” for themselves:
There Must Be Another Way
There must be another
Must be another way
Your eyes, sister
Say all that my heart desires
So far, we’ve gone
A long way, a very difficult way, hand in hand
And the tears fall, pour in vain
A pain with no name
We wait
Only for the next day to come
There must be another way
There must be another way
Your eyes say
A day will come and all fear will disappear
In your eyes a determination
That there is a possibility
To carry on the way
As long as it may take
For there is no single address for sorrow
I call out to the plains
To the stubborn heavens
There must be another way
There must be another way
There must be another
Must be another way
We will go a long way
A very difficult way
Together to the light
Your eyes say
All fear will disappear
And when I cry, I cry for both of us
My pain has no name
And when I cry, I cry
To the merciless sky and say
There must be another way
And the tears fall, pour in vain
A pain with no name
We wait
Only for the day to come
There must be another way
There must be another way
There must be another
Must be another way
Shabbat October 13, 2018—Services @ 9:00 AM
Shabbat October 20, 2018—Services @ 9:00 AM — Book Discussion at 11:30 AM
Shabbat October 27, 2018—Services @ 9:00 AM—JArts Shabbat—Alef Beats – A Cappella from Brown/RISD Hillel
Congregation Agudath Achim 
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