Community Wide Selichot
Saturday, September 12th

Join us for a night that ushers in the sacred themes of the High Holydays through community, learning, & prayer.

8:00pm - Havdalah

8:15pm - "What Judaism Teaches Us About Living in Challenging Times".
Rabbi Edythe Held Mencher, LCSW, will leads us in an exploration of how Jewish teachings can help us develop, resilience, find inner strength, and navigate these challenging times.

9:00pm - Selichot Service

RSVP: www.TEWNJ.org/selichot

Click here for more information

Temple Update:

• Rabbi Renee and Cantor Rosenman will remain our clergy.
• The High Holy Days Information has been sent out. The services will be on Zoom using Tefillah Ha-Nefesh. Pages will be on the screen so you can follow along. Tickets are not required. You need to pre-register your guests.
• Our decisions are guided by the Jewish principle of Pikuah Nefesh, the saving of life.
• We anticipate Shabbat Services, other holidays and B'nai Mitzvah will be on Zoom until we can safely be together in person.
• A meeting has been scheduled next week for Religious School parents. Our goal is to answer parents' concerns and meet all our students' needs.
• Religious school will be on Sundays beginning in October.
• Religious School Tuition: First Child $700, each additional child $560 (which is a 20% discount)
• Membership Fee Schedule:
  • Single $750
  • Single Parent $1,000
  • Couple $1,250
  • Family $1,500
  • Long Distance $150
  • Beth El Family $481
  • Beth El Single $318
  • Associate $300
• We will continue to work with anyone experiencing financial difficulties.
• For this transition year, the Temple is subsidizing nearly half of the expenses.
• The week-long power outages in New Jersey after Isaias delayed the completion of the Purchase and Sale Agreement for the Temple Property. It is near completion.
• A search of the available properties to rent in Springfield is being conducted.

High Holy Day Information

All are Welcome! You will not need tickets to join our virtual service or Briant Park for Tashlich. Guests will need to pre-register for virtual services.

Unfortunately, this Yom Tovim, the Holy Days of Rosh HaShanah, Sukkot and Shavuot will be on zoom. We are trying to find ways to be together, six feet apart, masked for some of our fall festivities, being mindful of health imperatives.

Our services will look different. They will be on zoom. We are trying to keep each service or experience under an hour, which has been proven is the longest a person is able to concentrate on zoom. Services will look different, as rather than using our traditional books, we have the opportunity to create Power Points using the new Reform High Holy Day prayer book, Tefillat HaNefesh- prayer of the soul. The services are all set to evoke a different emotion using modern poetry and modern traditions with the ancient melodies of old. These will not be our typical services, we will create sacred moments through creative modalities.

News release

A New Vision for Temple Sha’arey Shalom

The Temple will continue as a strong Reform Jewish presence, building on 60+ years of success remaining a strong and vibrant congregation under the continued clergy leadership of Rabbi Renee Edelman and Cantor Jason Rosenman.

A new membership fee structure makes a Jewish education and belonging to a warm, welcoming, liberal Jewish community more affordable for everyone. As has been our philosophy we always welcome young families, couples, individuals, LGBTQA and inter-faith families.

Based in Springfield, the Temple serves all surrounding communities. Offering a young couples group, Shabbat and holiday services, religious school (grades 3-10), including Bar/Bat Mitzvah training and Confirmation, Shabbat morning study minyan, adult education classes, social events, social justice activities, Brotherhood, Sisterhood and Renaissance (a strong social program for Senior adults), and more.

We have operated virtually due to the pandemic with much success and look forward to meeting in person when conditions permit. To join the Temple , enroll in Religious School, or for further information, call the Temple Office at 973-379-5387 or email scroll@shaarey.org. Visit our website www.shaarey.org, our Facebook page, facebook.com/shaarey.

As The Holocaust Documentation & Education Center continues to feature a wide variety of online programs, we are delighted to add these “three powerful films” from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for you to view.

Testimonies about Rescue, Resistance, and Survival
“Why did the rescuers do it? My mother said to me, ‘You know we can get killed.’ But you know even if it’s the last thing you do, you have to do it. Because you can’t live with that injustice and not do anything and then live with yourself, knowing you didn’t do everything you could. I wouldn’t want to live in a world where nobody cares a damn.” —Tina Strobos, Jewish member of a resistance group

The Path to Nazi Genocide and European Antisemitism from Its Origins to the Holocaust introduce the Holocaust and antisemitism, providing background essential for classroom and community conversations about this history.

The Path to Nazi Genocide