WEEKLY NEWS

Yigdal Service (Ages 5-7, Family or Drop-Off): Saturday, 11am in 2 South

Family Beit Midrash (3rd - 5th Grade): Saturday, 11am in the Mayer Cavalier Chapel (RSVP, walk-ins welcome)

TeleTefila Havdallah: Saturday, 7:52pm on Zoom

Follow Ansche Chesed on Instagram and Facebook for photos, events and more. 

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Mazel Tov to Lori Skopp & Michael Schmidt on the birth of a grandson to their daughter, Adiel Schmidt, and Matthew Weinreich. Baby Jonah Howard (Yonah Tzvi) Weinreich and his parents are all a bit sleep deprived, but well!

Kiddush this Shabbat is sponsored by Helane Rosenberg and Yakov Epstein in honor of the Aufruf of their son, Nathaniel Epstein, and Miranda Cooper. Nathaniel will also be leyning the first aliyah from Parshat Vayakhel, as he did 19 years ago when he and his twin sister, Allegra Epstein, celebrated their Bar/Bat Mitzvah at AC in March 2006.

Thank you to Jeff French Segall for the photos

Purim Photos

We had a great time celebrating Purim at AC: Defying Royalty in our Wicked Shpiel, booing Haman during Megillah reading, and enjoying our creative community's amazing costumes! Relive the memories with the photos in our Facebook album -- and feel free to tag people and share the fun! We also have a Facebook album for our family Purim Carnival.

A Visit to Jewish Rome, with Leah Koenig

This Evening (March 20) at 7pm in 5 North

Award-winning author Leah Koenig will discuss Portico: Cooking and Feasting in Rome’s Jewish Kitchen. Koenig will recount a lively history of Jewish life in Rome and highlight an array of Roman-Jewish recipes designed for the home cook. Learn more and RSVP

Shirei Shabbat Musical Kabbalat Shabbat

Friday, March 21 at 6:30pm in the Mayer Cavalier Chapel

Join Hazzan Hirschhorn, our choral intern Marc Szechter and Shirei Chesed singers for an evening of song and prayer as we support and elevate the voice of our community with rich harmonies. Come to hear our special musical surprise!

Blood Drive at AC

Sunday, March 23 from 10am - 4pm in 5 North

Come donate blood with the New York Blood Center. It's a mitzvah, and it's easy: it takes only about an hour, and each donation can save up to three lives. Remember to eat, drink and bring your donor ID card or ID with name and photo. Make an appointment

Children's Book Drive for PS 145

Sunday, March 30 from 11am to 1pm in the AC Lobby

Share our love for reading with our neighbors at PS 145! We warmly invite all congregants to help fill the PS 145 Bookshelf by donating new and gently used children’s books. Students will “shop” for books from the Bookshelf to take home, keep, and enjoy.

Please refer to the following guidelines; members will be asked to take any books back home that do not meet the criteria for acceptance. We especially need books for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. Due to storage limitations, please do not drop off books on other days or times. Can't make it to donate on this date? Not to worry, there will be future book drives!

You can also sign up as a volunteer to help collect and sort books.

Intergenerational Mitzvah Knitting Group

Sunday, March 30 from 10 - 11:30am in the Mayer Cavalier Chapel

Knitters needed! Experienced and new knitters of all ages welcome: bubbies, bring your grandkids; kids – bring your parents. We will be making a sampler blanket, where we each do a square or two and then put them together into a blanket. Yarn and pattern will be provided. Please RSVP by emailing Emily.

See our Pesach webpage for more info, including service times.

Pre-Pesach 'Meet Your Neighbor' Dinner

Tuesday, April 1 from 7 - 9pm at AC

Every year at the Seder we say “Let all who are hungry, come and eat.” Join us Knock Kock Give a Sock as we get ready for Pesach by bringing together the AC community and our neighbors living in local shelters to enjoy a meal sitting side-by-side. There will be ice breakers and delicious food. This is an opportunity for us to share and listen to one another, so that ultimately we can live in a community where we better know our neighbors. Learn More and Register

Thank you to Nicole Rothschild & Leonard DiPietra and their family, and Bruce and Ava from Chef’s Table, for their generous support of this event.

Make Your Own Matzah

Sunday, April 6 from 10 - 11am on the 5th Floor

“Rabbenu Asher would work hard himself on baking matzot for the seder, encouraging and assisting the bakers, and so it is proper for every person to do, engaging in this mitzvah themselves.”- Shulhan Arukh 460.2

This year, we'll empower you to make Kosher-for-Passover matzah for the seder night with your very own hands. We are partnering with Mitzvah Matzos, a great organization dedicated to fighting human trafficking at our holiday of liberation. When it's over, you'll walk away with organic matzah that more closely resembles a soft wrap than a crunchy cracker -- but is totally Kosher! Learn More and Register

Questioning and Kashering with Rabbi Kalmanofsky

Monday, April 7 from 6:30 - 8:30pm in the Kitchen

To get ready for Passover, please bring your Kashrut questions and your pots and pans. We’ll help you prepare for the feast of freedom by boiling away the chametz.

Community Second Seder

Sunday, April 13 at 7pm in Hirsch Hall

This year consider joining us for an engaging participatory intergenerational Seder celebration. Rich in songs in many languages, rooted in tradition, highlighting and weaving together unique stories and experiences of everyone around the table. No one leaves a stranger!

“Let all who are hungry come and eat.” — Our seder is open to AC members and non-members, adults and children. Register by Tuesday, April 8.

Sell Your Chametz

To designate Rabbi Kalmanofsky to sell your chametz, please fill out the online form by Friday, April 11 at 10am. Contact the office with any questions.

Book of Remembrance

The Book of Remembrance lists those close to us who have passed away, but who have not been forgotten. This year we have created a virtual version of our Book of Remembrance that you can add names to throughout the year. Submit names here.

Support Asylum Seekers in NYC

As a synagogue community who recognizes the divine image of all people, is motivated by the mitzvah of welcoming the stranger, and is composed of generations of immigrants from across the world, we hope you will join us in supporting asylum seekers in our city. If you would like to hear from us about future opportunities to get involved, please join our mailing list.

Pre-Shabbat Climate Action from Jewish Climate Action Network NYC

Subscribe for weekly emails with a quick action you can take to support climate legislation, and a short reflection for Shabbat. View this week's.

Rabbi Jules Harlow Parshat HaShavuah Class

Saturdays, 9am in the Mayer Cavalier Chapel or on Zoom

Source Sheet (updated Friday afternoons)

Dedicated to Rabbi Jules Harlow, a great teacher of Torah and Jewish liturgy. Come before class at 8:45am for hot coffee and schmoozing!

Shirei Chesed Community Chorus

Tuesdays from 7:30 - 9pm in 5 North

Shirei Chesed builds community through a rich repertoire of Jewish music, bringing harmony to a world that needs it more than ever. Learn more or schedule an audition with Hazzan Natasha Hirschhorn.

Holy Books & Holy Time: Talmud with Rabbi Kalmanofsky

Wednesdays at 7pm in the Mayer Cavalier Chapel or via Zoom



This year we will study tractate Shabbat, Chapter 16, which addresses how to write and care for sacred texts.

Parsha Talk

Join Rabbi Kalmanofsky and his buddies Rabbis Barry Chesler and Eliot Malomet for their weekly Parsha Talk. Watch the latest episode

Misheberakh List

We invite you to add the names of your dear ones. Please re-submit them each English calendar month if you'd like us to keep davvening for them.

Chef's Table: Special Passover Catering Menu

Our longtime friend and kitchen tenant, Bruce Soffer of Chef's Table, offers a special catering menu for Passover. Chef's Table prepares delicious kosher meals, delivered to your door.

Contact Bruce at 917-868-7964 or his website for more information. 

Searching for the Light: Songs of Love, Justice and Peace

Thursday, March 20 at 7:30pm at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

(15 West 16th St.)

Join the American Society for Jewish Music and YIVO for a free concert of Jewish choral masterpieces, featuring the magnificent voices of students from the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion’s Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music and the Jewish Theological Seminary’s H. L. Miller Cantorial School. Joyce Rosenzweig and Cantor Natasha J. Hirschhorn will serve as conductors, with Pedro d’Aquino accompanying the choir on the piano. Learn More and Register

Israel at a Crossroads: Navigating Religion, Democracy, and Justice

Tuesday and Wednesday, April 1-2 at the Jewish Theological Seminary (3080 Broadway at 122nd St.)

This convening will examine the key challenges Israel faces as it strives to navigate a path toward greater justice, inclusion, and collective healing in the wake of profound trauma. Focusing on the events of Oct. 7 and their implications, our sessions will address pressing issues like the state of democracy and the rule of law, Israel’s identity as both a Jewish and democratic state, and emerging prospects for cultural and religious pluralism. Learn More and Register

Person in Need of Kidney Donation, from Julie Sissman

Some of you may know my friend, Nan Rubin, who is involved in various NYC Jewish non-profits, including Dorot, UJA, and Park Avenue Synagogue. Nan needs a kidney transplant, and I hope that you can help us find a donor. You can help by spreading the word and by attending an event on April 28 at 7pm at Park Avenue Synagogue. If you can't make the event, and would like to learn more about kidney donation or to see if you are a match for Nan (or anyone else), please email R26362@renewal.org or call 718-431-9831 Ext. 209. Learn more here.

Looking for a Hebrew Tutor? From Martin Sinkoff

Interested in learning Hebrew or perfecting your Hebrew? Ramit Avidan, my teacher here in Tel Aviv, works privately via Zoom. I recommend her without reservation. She is exceptional. Feel free to use my name as a reference. Click here to contact.

Lee Bearson Seeking Passover Apartment Rental

Former AC members are looking to rent an apartment for Passover (approximately April 10 through 21). Preferably, an apartment with three or more bedrooms. We would want to be able to kasher the kitchen for Passover. We are a kosher vegetarian household. Open to a house swap in Berkeley, CA. Contact Lee Bearson at 510-499-8293 or lwbearson@gmail.com.

Housekeeper/Caretaker Seeking Employment, from Corinne Boren

I am recommending my friend Anila who is seeking employment as a housekeeper, caretaker or companion. Anila is very experienced and caring. She helped me take care of my mother for over four years and truly enhanced her quality of life until my mother passed in 2020. Should you wish further information please feel free to contact me at my email address co18bo@aol.com or by phone 212 864 8163.