Beyond walls, without borders – that is how we roll. Temple Shirat Shalom continues to serve its congregation anywhere, anytime and any place. Our main place of worship, The Swain School, is our home base, however, on Saturday, August 17 from 4 to 8 p.m. TSS will host a Havdalah Service and picnic including an “all included” Macabbi Games.

This is a “Thank You” to volunteers and congregants for your hard work and membership. Our organization enjoys its success because of all of the people who believe there is a different way to worship.

As we enter into our third year we give thanks for the friends made, the obstacles hurdled, the goals achieved and the faith strengthened. We are strong and growing.

Want to know more about the Event? There is an Evite in your mailbox with more details. Don’t miss it.

The congregants of TSS define the word “community.” We share a common culture, historical heritage and strong spirit. Our intimacy during worship Services, our understanding during difficult times, our appreciation of one another, our joy for each other’s happiness and our collective concern for our future characterizes the community we share.

“It is like nothing I have ever experienced before in a religious organization,” said one congregant. “People are genuine, warm, friendly and caring.”

Though we may not have certain constructs of other religious organizations, we have heart. For some that may not be enough, for others it is a treasured asset not available to most.

As a congregant of TSS, we urge you to tap into your community. Get involved with the many activities that are planned. Attend Services and Onegs where we experience God in our midst among close friends and family.

In this day and age of individuality to the point of isolation, we need our community more than ever.

This week’s Torah Portion Va’etchanan contains the words to the Sh’ma. The Sh’ma is our Doxology and as the great reformers called it “the watchword of our faith”. I came across a lovely poem about the Sh’ma that I would like to share.

Sh’ma
I heard you in the soft sleeping breath of my child
As the night turned to day
You told me to come close
To listen and hear your presence
Gentle and comforting as a hand upon my shoulder
or the embrace of a returning friend
Listen, you whispered, as I drew closer
Listen to my voice
In the cries of hunger and laughter of celebration
In the help and the solutions
In the struggle and the falling down
In love and in kindness and in each other-Hear Me
Listen
Come close
I am with you
We are one
Listen

Written by Rabbi David Burstein

A small but vibrant group of congregants joined together last Friday night to celebrate Shabbat in the backyard of Audrey and Rick Nolte’s home. It was another wonderful example of how our spirituality and Jewish yearnings can move with us wherever we may be.

As the Summer season has now begun, please schedule some time – we’re asking for little more than an hour – to celebrate Shabbat wherever you may be, with us at the Swain School or a fellow congregant’s home.