Events
July 4th at Israel Congregation
Come one, come all! Everyone is invited to the lawn of Israel Congregation.
Bring your own dairy picnic, drinks, chairs, and blankets.
Don't miss the Taconic Young Artists perform Americana Music!
Bid on amazing delectables in our fabulous baked goods auction!
Special holiday Shabbat service to follow at 7:30 pm.Come one, come all! Everyone is invited to the lawn of Israel Congregation.
Bring your own dairy picnic, drinks, chairs, and blankets.
Voices From the War Zone
Project COMMON BOND 2025
Program Overview:
In 2025, Project COMMON BOND will be a 7-day program held at Kripalu, a retreat center. The program will include the following:
Daily dignity groups facilitated by trained mental health clinicians
Daily electives in art, sports, and peace-building
Opportunities to meet new friends, learn and grow
Become a part of a global community dedicated to the practice of peace and dignity
In this setting, each participant shares the experience of loss, which allows the young people to bond with one another while experiencing the dignity and humanity of different cultures.
Alfred Dreyfus: Antisemitism and Jewish Identity at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
Join us as Maurice Samuels draws from his recent biography of Alfred Dreyfus, delving into the Jewish dimension of the Affair, focusing on Dreyfus's own Jewish identity, the role of antisemitism in the case, and its profound effect on Jews around the world.
Maurice Samuels is the Betty Jane Anyan Professor of French at Yale University, where he also chairs the French Department and directs the Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism. A recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Cullman Center Fellowship at the New York Public Library, he is the author of five books. Alfred Dreyfus: The Man at the Center of the Affair, is published in Yale's Jewish Lives Series.
PJ Library In Vermont 18th Birthday Party
🎉 PJ Library in Vermont’s 18th Birthday Party! 🎉
📅 Date: Sunday, June 29
🕐 Time: 1:00–3:00 PM
📍 Location: Manchester, Vermont (exact location provided upon RSVP)
Come celebrate 18 years of PJ Library in Vermont with a fun-filled afternoon for all ages!
🎭 Entertainment:
🎨 Activities Include:
Craft your own puppet & bookmark
PJ Library book walk
Cupcake decorating
Interactive adventures
Yummy snacks!
📲 RSVP Required — click to register and receive the event location.
🧁 Fun, friends, and festive activities await—don’t miss it!
Hebrew Kirtan (Devotional Singing)
Local soul-singer Rachel Lovins, joins Kirtan artist Richard Gans in a transformative, meditative musical experience that bridges the physical world and the world of spirit.
Rachel and Richard led Kirtan (devotional singing) together for many years in Connecticut. Join them in Vermont for a special reunion evening, accompanied by guitarist Xavier Serrano, percussionist Stephan Brandstatter, and flutist Marsha Stern.
No vocal talent, Hebrew knowledge or religious affiliation necessary – just bring your good spirit!
Suggested donation $10-$20
Chair and floor seating provided. Feel free to bring your own cushion or BackJack.
ANNE FRANK: A HISTORY FOR TODAY
Due to great interest and a generous donor, another opportunity to experience Anne Frank: A History for Today will be available for the Woodstock Vermont area community! Join together for Community Night at Woodstock Union High School on Thursday, May 29th at 5pm.
*Appropriate for ages 12 and up
For more information: VermontAnneFrank@gmail.com
A FIRST HAND ACCOUNT OF THE SHOAH
Rena Bernstein returns to Israel Congregation to share her story, open up to you for questions and to discuss her feeling about the rise of worldwide anti-semitism in the wake of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Refreshments will be offered following the presentation
Yom HaShoah Commemoration
Yom HaShoah Commemoration with speakers Ari Gradus, Ellie Roden & Tony Eprile
Yom HaShoah Memorial Service
Join us on Wednesday, April 23rd, at 5:30 PM in the College Chapel for a Yom HaShoah Memorial Service.
Together, we’ll honor the memory of those lost in the Holocaust through reflection, readings, and yahrzeit lighting as we commit to remembrance and resilience.
BAJC Community Seder
This year’s Seder will again be catered by Chef Gretchen Hardy from The Porch with a bit of help from some of us. Below is the registration / reservation form, the Shalom Cloud payment link and a Sign Up Genius link for items not provided by The Porch – such as Charoset, Gefilte fish, karpas, maror, desserts, hard boiled eggs, horse radish. Due to the caterer’s increased supply chain costs our costs have gone up. Based on an estimate of 65 participants, the actual cost per person including security and space rental is $68.00 but we are only asking $35 for adults. The net difference (> $2000) will be partially covered by BAJC’s Pesach budget ($1000). We hope to make up the remainder with a grant from the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, but there is no guarantee. If you’d like to contribute more than $35, BAJC will be grateful.
Online registration and payment information at this link.
Or register & pay via snail mail as described below. You need not sign up for a specific entree. As was the case last year, everyone may have some of each dish.
Leonard Cohen, 9 Years Gone
At this community event we will remember
the life, poetry, and music of Leonard Cohen (1934-2016) Middlebury Professor Shalom Goldman will speak about Cohen's religious and spiritual ideas, and his ties to both
the Jewish and Buddhist traditions. We will listen to recordings of Cohen's songs and
watch videos of his great performances.
Good will offerings gratefully accepted.
Light refreshments will be served.
Scholar-in-Residence, Jared Goldfarb
Jared Goldfarb is an independent educator and licensed tour guide who teaches the history of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, biblical geography, and the geopolitical history of Israel/Palestine, to religious leaders of all faiths educators, university students, and seminarians from around the world. Based in Jerusalem, he teaches throughout Israel and Palestine and has served as Scholar-in-Residence in many communities across North America. After raising three wonderful children. Jared now devotes his free time to peace activism, sustainable zero-waste living, hiking the Holyland, vegan cooking, and genealogical research.
Purim Palooza
Costumes Encouraged! Fun For All Ages! Free!
Donations Appreciated
Music & Dancing
Hamantaschen & Refreshments
Craft Projects
Juggling Workshop & More!
BUILDING RESILIENCE AND COMMUNITY IN THE FACE OF ANTISEMITISM
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: DR. SUSANNAH HESCHEL
FOLLOWED BY WORKSHOPS
Susannah Heschel is the Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College and chair of the Jewish Studies Program and a faculty member of the Religion Department.
Prof. Heschel and her Dartmouth colleagues from Israel, Lebanon, and Egypt, have been widely commended for their swift and academically rigorous response to the Israel-Gaza crisis that exploded on October 7, 2023. The forums they led, on October 9 and 12, while other campuses were in turmoil, drew huge audiences of students and members of the general public who wanted to understand what was happening. “We have friendship, and we have trust,” Dr. Heschel said of the panel of experts, “and when this happened, we knew we had to do something.”
Breakout Session:
Yoga- Laurie Greenberg
Creating Art as a Process of Exploration and Discovery- Kathy Parsonnet
Dialogue Circle - what is the intersection between growing resilience regarding antisemitism and collective trauma?- Pam Steiner
Israeli Dancing- Diane Roston
Healing Circle- Gene Kadish
The Poetry of Resilience and Resistance “in the midst of life” —in the Face of Antisemitism - Doris Ferlerger & Beth Kanell
Equanimity through Chant - Peggy Kasden & Shari Borzekowski
Community Interfaith Dialogue- Rev. Amy Spagna, Rev. Leon Dunkley, Rev. Jonathan Hauze,
Symposium Sponsored By :
Shir Shalom VT & Upper Valley Jewish Community/Kol Ha'Emek Learning will be as part of our combined responsibility under the auspices of the Memorial Scrolls Trust, The Gravitz Family Shir Shalom VT and the Roth Center.
With support from JCVT and Harold Grinspoon Foundation.
Service with Rabbi Rena Blumenthal
Rena Blumenthal is a free-lance rabbi and first-time author.
From 2003 - 2014, she worked at Vassar College as Assistant Director of Religious & Spiritual Life and Adviser to Jewish students. She is a 2003 graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Prior to rabbinical school, Rena worked as a psychologist for fifteen years in New York City and Jerusalem.
Those who attended Rabbi Rena's service last year appreciated her warm and inspiring service. We look forward to another wonderful Shabbat with Rabbi Rena.
Please join us on Saturday!
