We also want to invite you to check out the 473K Conference: A Belonging Experience for an immersive experience of virtual learning, dedicated to helping our Jewish communities build a culture of belonging for all. View all the presenters, including Rabbi Copeland!

Shabbes Beat with Cantor Bernstein. D'rash by Karen Schiller. Register Here. Meeting ID: 452 290 988.

Our interactive morning services are led by Sha’ar Zahav members Ron Edelman and Alan Gordon. Join the Zoom Meeting. Meeting ID: 365 434 855 and Passcode: 068575.

To join by phone for either service, dial +1 669 900 9128 or find your local number.

With our Green Shabbatot (twice a year), Sha’ar Zahav’s Climate Action Committee raises up the ecological underpinnings of Judaism, bringing our whole Jewish selves to the challenge of climate change.

Join us to welcome Shabbat and honor Earth Day on April 23 as we explore what we need to live sustainably within our means and in harmony with the planet. Led by Rabbi Copeland and Micah Lubensky. D’rash by Maggid Elias Ramer.

Join us to celebrate those in our community who are part of multifaith, multicultural, and multiracial families! 

We will lift up our ancestor, Ruth, whose book we read at the Shavuot holiday, as a“fellow-traveler,” a Moabite who chose to live in community with the ancient Israelites.

Are you new, or new-ish to the Friday night service? Or have been going for a long time, and have questions? Do you wonder what are the different parts, or why or how things are done? 

Please join us for this one-off class covering key structural and thematic points of the Friday night service, designed to help us navigate our ways, practically and spiritually, through the Friday evening prayers.

Are you single? If your answer is yes and you'd love a little community during these isolating times, you have found the right place! Sha'ar Zahav member Tamar Gershon is championing a virtual space to meet, chat and develop a support system.

Ultimately, when we can, we'd love to meet for in-person activities, and maybe some will meet their Bashert (soulmate), who knows?? For all ages, all genders, all sexualities and abilities. Questions, feel free to email Tamar Gershon.

Join the Zoom Meeting: Zoom link

The John Lewis Memorial Voter Engagement Group will be working with Andrea Miller's organization, the Center for Common Ground. If you would like to be part of this effort by writing postcards please contact Tirtza Pearl. These postcards will help voters turn out for the June 2021 primary election in Virginia.

If you would like to be part of a small group making phone calls with text message follow-ups to voters for an important state election in Texas (district 6), please contact Ruth Schoenbach.

The Social Action Committee is working on advancing the “Equality Act” (federal LGBT rights) and the “For the People Act” (assuring national fair elections). Want to join us? Contact Nancy Wecker or Geri Kahn.

Calling all small landlords: Do you know about the covid Tenant Relief Act which can provide delinquent rent benefiting landlords and tenants for stable communities? For information see Faith in Action Bay Area Small Landlords Website or contact abby@faithinactionba.org. 

Be part of an Accompaniment team for a newly arrived gay Russian asylum-seeking couple. For information, contact Nancy Wecker. 

Join the Zoom Meeting: Zoom link

Mussar is a very practical and flexible spiritual discipline to help you balance soul-traits (Middah/Middot) such as Humility, Loving-Kindness, Generosity, and Silence. Drop-ins are always welcome! For more information, contact Mark Pressler.

Join the Zoom Meeting: Zoom link

Study the weekly Torah portion with Rabbi Copeland and lay leaders. For the first half hour, we’ll talk, learn and share thoughts about the portion. In the second half, we will practice our Hebrew reading skills in a compassionate environment! Join for either or both parts of the study.

Join the Zoom Meeting: Zoom link

Jews love to say we are “God-strugglers,” so let’s explore the rich Jewish landscape of God-talk, from the classics like Buber, Kaplan, Heschel to feminist and queer Jewish theologies. We will explore how theology, pantheism, and atheism attempt to answer the most profound questions of our time.

Sign up for the whole class or drop in when you’re able. We'll be counting the omer. Open to all.

Free to Members and $15 for Non-members. Register Here.

Adult B’Mitzvah Program

Many of us did not become B’Mitzvah as children and feel like it might be time to make that connection. Our Adult B’mitzvah Program (ABP) is a monthly group educational program, which runs for approximately 8 – 12 months. In the ABP you will learn about the history of the ritual and explore what it means to become an adult B’mitzvah. You will have practical classes in giving a D’var Torah, reading/chanting from the Torah, leading services, and learning the prayer service.

There will also be sessions on the who, what, and why of prayer, different perspectives of G-d, everyday spirituality and much more. The process culminates in either an individual or group B’mitzvah on a Saturday morning at Sha’ar Zahav.

Contact the coordinator Mark Pressler to let us know you are interested or would like to hear more!

Drop in for a joyful hour of free art-making and connection. Everyone is welcome! The group meets every Thursday. For more information, contact Paisha Rochlin, Barbara Cymrot or AJ Turpen Fried.

Join the Zoom Meeting: Zoom link

During this time of immense loss and grief, we are holding regular Kaddish Memory Circles to support each other. Rabbi Mychal Copeland, Ora Prochovnick and Martin Tannenbaum will alternate leading these circles twice a month.

Join the Zoom Meeting: Zoom link

You are invited to a twice-a-month Shabbat morning exploration of yoga and Judaism that integrates mind, body, and spirit. Stuart Dick and Rabbi Mychal Copeland will alternate leading the first and third Saturday of every month.

Join the Zoom Meeting: Zoom link

Everyone is welcome. And you will not regret it! A typical session includes a short and longer silent sit, with chanting, movement, and a short teaching. The group meets on the first and third Saturday of every month.

Join the Zoom Meeting: Zoom link

This monthly gathering of kids age 0-2 and their families is a place to share hopes and dreams plus tips and tricks, and wiggles and giggles, and someday (soon?!) shared space.

Join the Zoom Meeting: Zoom link

Songs and prayers to set our hearts and minds! This service takes place every Tuesday morning, and is led by community lay leaders and Cantor Bernstein. For more information, contact Cantor Bernstein.

Join the Zoom Meeting: Zoom link

Va'ad meetings are open to everyone in our member community. We meet the third Wednesday of every month. Join us!

Join the Zoom Meeting: Zoom link

We Are Reading "The Book of V." by Anna Solomon and Discussing it on April 22

We are reading "The Book of V." by Anna Solomon as part of the One Bay One Book project of the Jewish Community Library. Let's read and discuss this new novel, rooted in the Book of Esther, where three characters’ stories in different time periods overlap and ultimately collide. Perfect to start reading during Purim!

A limited number of books are available on loan. If you'd like to borrow a copy, please email Liliana Peliks.

Join the Zoom Meeting: Zoom link

Join to meet others with disabilities and work towards a more accessible Sha'ar Zahav on Zoom and when we go back to the synagogue building. We are also looking forward to starting programs and events centered around queer, Jewish, and disabled identities. Want to join? Have questions? Please email Eliana Smithstein.

Join the Zoom Meeting: Zoom link

We have re-launched the theatre/movie chavurah and our second play is "Dara" available on National Theater at Home. Watch on your own, and let's gather to discuss it on Zoom.

To join the chavurah, please email Yvette Adida or Liliana Peliks. We will watch something new every month, and will decide together on dates, genres, etc.

Join the Zoom Meeting: Zoom link

This three-part session with Keshet explores LGBTQ+ language, identity, and inclusion, not only in our secular world but also in our Jewish community. Led by Keshet educators: Randi Reed

and Rabbi Micah Buck-Yael.

Learn More and Register Here. Use code "friendsofSZ" for $18 off at checkout.

Mayim Bialik, PhD, uses her celebrity platform and her Jewish values to get funny, honest, and real about the things that matter most. This intimate and timely conversation with Dr. Anita Friedman on Jewish identity, life in the spotlight, and the pandemic’s impact on mental health will shed light on what we all can do to take care of our community, our loved ones, and ourselves.

Register for free, or with a donation in support of JFCS’ mental health services for children, adults, families, and the elderly.

B’Tzelem Elokim: A Mother Discusses Her Fight for Transgender Rights. Co-presented by the Jewish Community Library and Sha’ar Zahav.

Mimi Lemay, author of "What We Will Become" will speak about her journey away from the ultra-orthodox community, and her own family's journey in affirming the chosen gender of their son, Jacob.

Please join us for two opportunities to mark grief in community with Jews of Color in this year of so many individual and community losses, during this time of heightened white supremacy and isolation.

Contact sharonh@shaarzahav.org to sponsor a Shabbat

Programs at Sha’ar Zahav are supported by the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund, the Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus Initiative for Immigrant and Refugee Justice of the Religious Action Center, San Francisco Humanities, and the National Center to Encourage Judaism.

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