Please join us for this important Memorial event, organized by Havurah community member teens Eliza & Emma Doucet, marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
6:00-6:30pm Educational Opportunities for Ages 9 and up Holley Hall, Bristol Recreational Dept. 1 South Street
6:45-7:30pm Candle Lighting Ceremony & Vigil Bristol Town Green
Childcare will be provided. Please dress warmly for outdoor portions of the event. Masking required for all participants.
This event is supported by the Vermont Holocaust Memorial.
On Sunday, September 19, we will put up the sukkah behind Havurah House, and your help is most appreciated. We will meet at Havurah House at 5pm.
It should go up quickly if we have at least 4 to 6 volunteers working together.
Hardcore construction skills are NOT required!
It helps just to have people hold walls in place while others do the attaching.
We will have some ladders and drills (but please feel free to bring your own).
A pair of work or gardening gloves is recommended.
Not a builder? That’s OK. You can help out in other ways like making/bringing some decorations (corn, gourds and mini pumpkins) or cheering on our builders from the sidelines.
Adults and kids alike can assist at our decoration station. Come help make paper chains and other crafts to hang in and to beautify our sukkah.
Construction will be followed by a bring-you-own-picnic style dinner where everyone will eat in family/individual groups at separate tables or on picnic blankets spread out in the back at Havurah. Bring something delicious to eat and enjoy an evening connecting with Havurahniks as we usher in the festival holiday.
Sarit will be joined by guest musician David Perolman (as well as some additional talent!) for a selection of Chanukah music. We will be sharing a mix of tunes, from traditional favorites, to children’s classics and even some new interpretations of the holiday music. All ages welcome!
We will be lighting Chanukah candles together towards the beginning of the program and then be lighting Shabbat Candles (with Kiddush and Motzi) to close out the evening. If you need assistance sourcing Chanukah candles please contact Sarit.
Please RSVP to HHEdDirector@gmail.com for connection info.
With health concerns at the forefront we aren’t gathering in the traditional way this year. However, we hope to have friendly faces from both Havurah, Dave’s community in Rhode Island as well as friends and relatives from far afield who wish to welcome Chanukah and Shabbat together with music and loving community.
Yom HaShoah Commemoration
Sunday, April 23 at 4:30pm
Mead Chapel, Middlebury College
Please join us for a special program, planned by Hillel students and co- sponsored by Havurah, Hillel and the Middlebury Area Clergy Association.
This year the grandchildren of Holocaust survivors will be sharing a bit of their family histories, Jack Buettner and the College Choir will offer musical selections and local physician and author, Jack Mayer, will be speaking on the theme of his new book about the Weimar and the rise of the Third Reich.
Be sure to join us for this meaningful annual commemoration.
Friday, March 31st at 6:30pm
Havurah House- 56 N. Pleasant St., Middlebury
Communal chanting is an ancient technology for awakening joy and connection with others. Join us for a very special Kabbalat Shabbat led by Rabbi Jan Salzman, Rabbi David Edleson and Dr. Rebecca Gould.
This is an opportunity to try out a different sort of spirit-filled Shabbat, when the singing will be ”kirtan-style,” meaning “call and response” with drums, harmonium, and other instruments to help us let down our hair and lift up our spirits.
Our chants will use short meaningful passages from Hebrew prayers that focus on different ways of approaching the divine. Starting slowly, we chant each one again and again as we add drums and build the tempo and energy.
Come try it out! Bring some friends who might want to try something new. We can all use more joy in our lives, and we will help that along with oneg treats of luscious chocolatey goodness.
Please bring something (nut-free) chocolate to share, any percussive instruments you might have, and your bodies ready to move. All are welcome! (Email dedleson@gmail.com with questions.)
Rabbi Ira Schiffer has been looking into the possibility of creating an “informal” Jewish section of the Middlebury Cemetery, off South Main Street, across from the College’s Center for the Arts. Since it’s not possible to “fence off a section,” if a number of individuals or families from Havurah purchased adjoining plots, this would create a de facto area of folks from our community. Apart from not being in a “dedicated Jewish cemetery,” the Middlebury Cemetery Association’s rules and regulations accommodate most traditional Jewish concerns about burial.
If you might be interested in this possibility, have other questions relating to this topic or simply want to learn more please join us for this informative session and discussion.
This is part of the ongoing discussion of the Havurah community’s pastoral needs. Even if you have not attended previous sessions you are encouraged to attend.
Sunday, October 30 at 11am 2297 Ethan Allen Hwy (Rt. 7) in New Haven
CORN MAZE
Have fun getting lost and found again in the many twists and turns of the farm’s corn maze. Adults and kids alike will have fun trying to find their way out!
S’MORES IN THE GAZEBO
Make your own ooey gooey s’mores on small hibachi grills! Enjoy a warm snack on a beautiful fall day overlooking Lester farms fields.
PUMPKIN CARVING
Learn some great tips and tricks for carving and sculpting your Halloween pumpkins. Participants will also receive some free templates to try at home!
PICK YOUR OWN
There’s a pick your own pumpkin patch at the farm so you can venture out and find the perfect addition to your Halloween display!
SNACKS, RECIPES & WELCOME CIRCLE
We’ll have snacks, cider, pumpkin recipe packets and carving templates for all participants. Gather at the gazebo (which will serve as our “home base” for the event) for our welcome circle then head off onto the farm to take part in all the fun activities:
Farm produce and small/large pumpkins are available for purchase- just in time for Halloween. Remember, you get a pumpkin with your admission fee but feel free to buy a few more for some carving fun!
Admission Fee: $5/person and pumpkin included !!
Kids under 3 are free
It’s been a beautiful Vermont summer thus far!
Come enjoy a chance to connect
with the Havurah Community
as we gather together
next weekend for a potluck dinner.
Saturday, July 30
6:30pm
At the home of Emily Joselson & Alan Hewat 23 South Street, Middlebury
Please bring a dish to share and feel free
to bring your family and friends!
We’ll be using Debbie Friedman’s melody for our informal havdalah service as we savor the last moments of Shabbat together and prepare for the week ahead.
From Here toOrlando Candlelight Vigil and Time for Prayer
Please join us at the Gazebo on the Village Green in Middlebury Tuesday, June 14th at 9pm for a candlelight vigil in memory and support of the victims of the Orlando attack.
Havurah is pleased to present a series of gatherings entitled
“Embodiment of Faith: A study of movement and metaphor within the Judaic and Taoist traditions.”
led by Rachel Edwards, currently the
Gimmel Class teacher at Havurah.
Drawing upon her experiences as a practitioner of Tai Chi Chuan and Chinese Medicine and her personal study of Jewish religious practices and mysticism, Rachel invites others to join her on a journey across continents to translate the meaning and experience of the written words of faith into the language and landscape of the human body to connect us more deeply to the source of living.
Join Rachel on
Sunday, June 5 from 3:00 – 5:00 pm
at Havurah for the first workshop of the series,
“Living Shabbat: Connecting to the Divine Feminine.”
During this time together, Rachel will create a context for sharing stories, inquiry, and contemplation beginning with her own questions:
How is the Divine Feminine represented within the Judaic tradition?
What can we learn from the Commandment,
“Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy”?
In what ways can we listen from the inside, connect to the quiet, receptive space within, bringing the essence of Shabbat into our lives and relationships?
The workshop will include an experiential component in which Rachel will introduce simple movements, postures, and meditative techniques to practice at home.
Please feel free to contact Rachel with any questions at 802-355-9306.
Rachel Edwards, M.S., L.Ac. has been practicing Tai Chi Chuan and Chinese Medicine for nearly 15 years. Prior to her formal education in these fields of study, Rachel explored natural movement and meditation in many forms including dance, contact improvisation, within outdoor education, and through a sitting meditation practice. Ever since her college semester abroad in Israel in 1988, Rachel has traveled, seeking a deeper connection to faith, finding these roots in the practice of Tai Chi Chuan and in her more current exploration of Jewish mysticism. At the same time, Rachel’s Conservative Jewish education in Connecticut, where she grew up, plus her Hebrew studies in Israel have allowed her to pick up where she left off years ago — continuing now to practice and appreciate Hebrew, and participate in Jewish religious services both with the Gimmel Class students and with her husband and three sons. She looks forward to sharing her love of language, learning, and connection to the body and breath as a way to cultivate more meaningful ritual in our lives.
Havurah 