By Sarah Roper

5786 has been a busy year so far at Congregation Beth Ahabah!

Between Rosh Hashanah and Simchat Torah, we welcomed hundreds of members, their families, and guests to services and events. Shanah Tovah to all! (See photos above and below)

Religious School has been in full swing since the beginning of September. Students are learning about Jewish values; holidays; weekly Torah portions; Israel’s history, geography, and culture; the Tanakh; Shabbat prayers; Hebrew; and global Jewish cultures and traditions.

Visits to the Beth Ahabah Museum and Archives (BAMA) supplement many of the lessons, and students are learning about various artifacts in their collection. The museum is open to the public on Mondays - Thursdays. For more information about BAMA, please visit www.bethahabah.org/bama/ or call (804) 353-2668 to schedule a tour or visit.

Our Mt. Moriah bagged lunch program continues this year. Once per month, volunteers gather to make 120 lunches that are taken to Greater Mt. Moriah Baptist Church for distribution to those experiencing homelessness. Thank you to everyone who helps with this wonderful mitzvah!

 

On the afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 19, a group of volunteers laced up sneakers and hiking boots, donned rubber gloves, and headed across the James River to Belle Isle to pick up trash. Thank you so much to Beth Ahabah’s Mitzvah Corps for providing the pizza lunch and organizing this important community service.

Coming Up....

Mark your calendars for what has become an annual tradition: a cabaret concert featuring soloists from the Beth Ahabah Choir! Choir Cabaret Concert: Love Songs will be on Sunday, Nov. 16 at 6:30 p.m. (nosh and schmooze starting at 6 p.m.). This year, soloists will perform their favorite Broadway love songs. Come early for the nosh, and hear some of your favorite love songs from across the eras!

Tot Shabbat, our monthly Shabbat celebration designed for kids five and under (and the grownups who drive them around), continues at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22.  

More music is coming up, so mark your calendars also for a Yiddish Music Concert featuring Cantor Susan Berkson on Sunday, Dec. 7 at 4 pm (sponsored in part by the Beth Ahabah Cantor Goldman Music Fund). Cantor Susan Berkson, accompanied by Beth Ahabah’s Music Director, Natan Berenshteyn, will perform a variety of pieces, including Yiddish art songs, songs from the Yiddish theater, and Yiddish folk songs. Cantor Berkson was ordained in 1989 at Hebrew Union College School of Sacred Music in New York. Her CD, Life as a Song, a collection of Jewish liturgical and life cycle music, can be found on iTunes.

 

 

 

 

For more information about Beth Ahabah, visit www.bethahabah.org. Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CongregationBethAhabah.