By Rabbi Alicia Magal
The JCSVV offers services and classes which are life-affirming and soul enriching. All are listed on the synagogue website, jcsvv.org. Visitors are welcome to attend services after security check. People who cannot attend or who live far away can access the service through zoom. Several classes, holidays, and special events are coming up in April. Check the website and plan to join us!
Erev Shabbat services begin on Friday evening, April 19 beginning at 5:30 pm in person and on Zoom led by Rabbi Alicia Magal. Rabbi Magal will chant from this week’s Torah portion, Metzora (Leviticus 14:1 – 15:32). Discussion will focus on how this relates to our modern day understanding of illness, quarantine, and participation in religious or community events and rituals. Included in the service are also healing blessings for those who are ill, a mazal tov for Simchas (happy occasions), and Kaddish, mourner’s prayer, recited for loved ones who have passed away. Everyone is invited to stay after services for refreshments and socializing.
On Wednesdays at 8:30 a.m. we offer a morning minyan on Zoom, with traditional prayers sung or read in Hebrew and English. Join through the website link to support each other needing a minyan to say Kaddish for a loved one.
Meditation class will meet on Wednesday, April 24, led by Rosalie Malter on zoom, focusing on a particular theme in this week’s Torah portion or other uplifting texts.
Torah study will be held on Thursday, April 25, at 4:00 pm on zoom, led by Rabbi Magal. The portion for that week repeats the story of the Exodus since this is during the week of Passover. Special attention will be paid to the tradition of Counting the Omer, a 7 week (49 day) practice of preparation for the 50 day, Shavuot, the Festival celebrating receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai, and also the early spring harvest in ancient Israel.
The Social Action Committee is continuing to collect food for the local Sedona food pantry. Please drop off cans or boxes of non-perishable foods in the bin provided for collections at the bottom of the stairs leading to the synagogue sanctuary. We encourage people to donate generously. Hats, visors, bug spray, sleeping bags and tents, sunscreen lotion, visors, and other items for the Summer Survival kits are being collected through April.
The Jewish Community of Sedona and the Verde Valley, located at 100 Meadow Lark Drive off Route 179 in Sedona, is a welcoming, egalitarian, inclusive congregation dedicated to building a link from the past to the future by providing religious, educational, social and cultural experiences. Messages to the office telephone at 928 204-1286 will be answered during the week. Updated information is available on the synagogue website – www.jcsvv.org.