February 19, 2026 / 2 Adar 5786 | | |
Included in This Newsletter
Upcoming Shabbat Services
Purim Celebration - 2/28
Passover Freedom Seder - 4/7
D'var Torah from Rabbi David
New Spring Classes
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Purim Celebration at The Greens'
Saturday, February 28, 2026
6:00 PM
We cordially invite you to celebrate Purim with us at our home at 6:00 PM on February 28th! Havdalah will be followed by dining and general frivolity.
Dress for the occasion … anyway you wish. Bring a dish for the table … whatever you like yourself. Don’t come early …
but stay a long time.
RSVP to joangreen@outlook.com by Tuesday, February 24th.
We hope you’ll be here … just for the fun of it!
Joan and David
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Passover Freedom Seder
Please RSVP by March 6th
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Passover Freedom Seder
April 7, 2026
(the last night of Passover)
6:00 PM
Because Passover coincides with the Christian holy week, First Presbyterian is unavailable for a second night Seder. Therefore, we are considering having a Freedom Seder at FPC on Tuesday, April 7th, the last night of Passover.
We need to know these two things:
- Do we have a sufficient number of attendees? Please register by Friday, March 6th, to let us know you if will attend this Seder on the last night of Passover. Once we confirm that we have enough participants, food sign-ups will be sent to registrants.
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Do we have a co-chair for this event? If you are willing to co-chair the Passover Seder, please reach out to Fran Pribish ASAP.
| D'var Torah by Rabbi David | | |
Weekly D'var Torah
Parashat Terumah (5786)
Nobody needs me to confirm that vast swaths of our world burn like a raging dumpster fire.
Judaism is about reality-based reality. We do not pretend away trouble or turn a blind eye. We certainly do not fiddle while Rome burns.
Yet even so – precisely so – the Jewish calendar encodes a radical and wise spiritual practice starting now, linked to this week's Torah portion, that at first blush can seem oddly un-real and ill-fitting when the world is a dumpster fire.
The practice is one of Judaism's sometimes overlooked superpowers: elevating joy amidst all.
Read more...
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Liberating Passover: Seders and Spirituality of Freedom
Join Rabbi David and Rabbi Rachel Barenblat (Congregation Beth Israel of the Berkshires) for a mini-series preparing for Passover in heart and spirit. We’ll take a deep dive into parts of the Passover haggadah, exploring some core prayers and motifs both historically and spiritually. We’ll also learn about some core practices: what we do and also why we do it – and what its intended impact on us might be.
This mini-series will offer deeper insights into a ritual most-practiced among Jews worldwide and will prepare you for a Pesach of meaning and spirit.
Three sessions 7:00pm ET on March 3, 17, and 31. Zoom only (link will be sent to folks who enroll). Free for members of either congregation; $108 for non-members.
Register via this google form.
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The Jewish Prophets: Social Justice & the Sacred
Join Rabbi David for a six-session series about the prophetic voice of social justice and rectification in Jewish life. After exploring prophetic pathos, we'll take up particular prophets of the Jewish Bible and the societal conditions in which they taught, fought, preached, suffered and healed. Always our question will be what those voices might say today.
The class will be on alternating Tuesdays 7:00pm April 21 - June 30. Free for members; $140 for non-members.
Please register below.
| | | Click here for more information. | | Please click here to find the weekly Zoom link and for recordings of previous sessions. | | |
Moral Mondays At The Stamford-Norwalk Judicial District Court
Area multi-faith leaders have joined the national movement of "Moral Mondays," rallying at courthouses every Monday at noon and pushing back through prayer, teachings and song against the brutality and inhumanity inflicted on our immigrant friends. Moral Mondays were launched by Rev. Dr. William Barber in 2013 as a protest against extreme poverty. Today, Moral Mondays have become a protest against the horrific treatment we all have witnessed throughout the country and at our own local courthouse. Please join multi-faith leaders and community members from as close by as Stamford, Norwalk, Greenwich and New Canaan and as far away as New Haven and New York every Monday at noon at Stamford-Norwalk Judicial District Court, 123 Hoyt Street, Stamford CT 06905. As our own Rabbi David has instructed us, Jews cannot be bystanders.
| Community News and Events | | |
November Issue of
Greenwich Jewish News
Please click here to read the digital version. Please see Shir Ami items on pages 4, 6, 7, 18 and 20.
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December/January Issue of
New Jewish Voice
Please click here to read the latest digital version.
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Blessings for a Happy Birthday to our members with February birthdays:
Larry Polansky - 2/1
Michael Gorski - 2/4
Robert Schwartz - 2/12
Anne Gorski - 2/15
Phil Rosen - 2/17
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In our weekly Blessing and Simchas, we invite members to offer congratulations on a special event in someone’s life, blessings for healing, or to remember a loved one.
If you choose to make a donation, you may do so by visiting our website's donation page or by mailing a check to Congregation Shir Ami, 1273 East Putnam Avenue, P.O. Box 312, Riverside, CT 06870-9998.
| | 2025-2026 Membership Information | |
We warmly welcome you to renew your membership or to become a member of our Shir Ami community.
Please visit our Membership Page where you can find:
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Membership Letter - from our Shir Ami Officers
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Membership Form - easy-to-fill out online or print
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Membership Policy - details on dues, benefits and more
Contact us at shirami.info@gmail.com if you have any questions or would like to speak with an officer or our clergy.
All are welcome to join our community!
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For a full listing of all local events of Jewish interest visit the websites for:
| | If you're only receiving the newsletter monthly and would like to receive it weekly, please click the link above to edit your email preference. | | |
CongregationShirAmi.org
203-900-7976
shirami.info@gmail.com
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