Shabbat and Holiday Services

Shabbat Evening Service

Friday, October 28 at 6:15 pm (in-person indoors or live streamed)

Friday night services will be held indoors in the Sanctuary, where masks are optional and everyone is expected to be vaccinated and boosted (if eligible). 

A new opportunity to celebrate a special moment.

Celebrate an upcoming simcha or honor someone you love by sponsoring a Shabbat or Holiday Oneg at WRT.

Torah Study

Saturday, October 29 at 9:00 am (in-person in the Sifriyah or Zoom) 

Each Shabbat morning we gather informally to read and discuss the week’s Torah portion. The morning begins with a brief Shabbat service at which mourners who wish to say Kaddish are warmly welcomed. The group is led by volunteers, with clergy participation. No prior experience with Torah is necessary.  

Sharing Shabbat

Saturday, October 29 at 9:00 am (in the CJL)

Our engaging, musical Shabbat service for children in Grades K-6 and their families is open to the congregation and community. This weekly service is led by our clergy and followed by engaging learning and conversation organized by cohort – a special JLL curricular experience for the children, and time for the adults to concurrently study, share stories, and ask questions together with a member of the clergy team. All are welcome!

Programs and Special Events

A Deep Reading of Pirkei Avot,

“The Wisdom of the Ancestors” 

Led by Rabbi Jonathan Blake

Thursday, October 27 at 10:15 am (Zoom)

Rabbi Blake will guide us in interpreting one of the most important texts in Jewish life, Pirkei Avot, which is part of the Mishna and which continues to provide invaluable wisdom for leading a life of righteousness, purpose, and Jewish joy. All are welcome. No Hebrew or Jewish text experience is required.

Mussar - Measuring What Matters

Led by Rabbi Sasha Baken

Thursday, October 27 at 6:45 pm (Zoom)

Between the 11th and 18th centuries, individual Jewish scholars developed the study and practice of Mussar as a field of Jewish thought and spiritual growth. In the modern era, Mussar is recognized as a spiritual practice that utilizes tools such as text study, journaling, and meditating in effort to understand various character traits (middot, literally “measures”) that each of us embodies such as generosity, anger, humility, and trust.

Everything You Wish You Learned in Religious School:

Foundations of Jewish Literacy

Led by Cantor Amanda Kleinman

Sunday, October 30 at 9:15 am

Brush up on the basics with this ongoing monthly course designed to increase your Jewish literacy and help you enrich your life with Jewish values and traditions. Each session will provide an overview of a core Jewish topic, from the calendar and Jewish holidays to the life cycle, to foundational Jewish texts and Jewish history. Open to the entire congregation, this class is especially designed to allow JLL parents an opportunity to share in their children’s journey of Jewish learning during JLL hours.  

Cooking4HOPE

Monday, October 31, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm, WRT Kitchen

Volunteer to cook hot dinner for participants of HOPE Community Services in New Rochelle, NY. . Participants that attend the dinner also receive a sandwich bag for the next day. Volunteer to be a shopper, baker, cook, sandwich bag maker, and/or driver. No previous cooking skills required.  All ages are welcome! If you are unable to cook the morning of October 31, please consider volunteering to shop, bake or drive. If you have volunteer to shop, we will contact you with a shopping list. Baked goods can be dropped off at WRT Friday, October 28, 2022, from 9 am to 5 pm, or on Monday, October 31, 2022 from 9:30 and 10:15 on October 16, 2022. Cooking, sandwich making and packing will take place at WRT on October 31, 2022 from 10 am - 12 pm. Drivers will transport the food from WRT to HOPE Community Services directly after. Sign up here.  If you would like to volunteer a leadership role in Cooking4Hope email Sharon Stiefel or if you would like to make a donation to this project, you can do so by donating to WRT’s Hungry and Homeless Fund.

Jewish Life on Campus

Wednesday, November 2 at 7:00 pm

*Attention 11th and 12th graders and parents!

Join Rabbi Blake and Brian Cohen, Lavine Family Executive Director of Columbia/Barnard Hillel for a discussion for all college-bound students. Brian will speak about the role of Hillel in Jewish life for college students, and the typical opportunities and challenges that Jewish students are facing on campus. Feel free to bring your friends from the community who are seniors in high school and would benefit from this program. This program is co-sponsored by the MRJ of WRT.  

WRJ: Outsider Art of Jewish Folk Artist Nathan Hilu

Friday, November 4 - Wednesday, November 9

WRJ will be hosting so many exciting events and opportunities to purchase the incredible Outsider Art of Nathan Hilu.

Tot Shabbat

Friday, November 4 at 5:30 pm

Experience the joy of Shabbat with children, parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends. Designed for families with children of preschool and early elementary school age and younger, Connections Shabbat starts with songs and stories led by our clergy, followed by a family-friendly dinner. Children must be accompanied by an adult for this service (no drop-offs). 

MRJ: "The Jews of London" A Zoom Tour with London Tour Guide, Ian Fagelson

Sunday, November 6, 10:00 - 11:30 am

A Journey through the streets and alleys of London to discover the thousand-year history of the Jews in England. From the arrival of a Jewish community from Normandy in 1066/67 to the Kindertransport children of 1938/39. Jews have played important roles in the unfolding drama of British history. This program is sponsored by MRJ.

Men of Reform Judaism Meeting

Tuesday, November 8 at 7:30 pm

Come join the MRJ for the monthly meeting, where we kibbitz and plan the many events and activities held throughout the year.

Bereavement Group

Wednesday, November 9 at 11:30 am (Zoom)

This Support Group meets to create community for those in mourning over the loss of a loved one, and to help find comfort and process feelings of loss through caring discussion and in sacred Jewish context.

Led by Jane Slevin, LMFT (Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist from Westchester Jewish Community Services), and Cantor Laura Stein, LMSW, a social worker who specializes in spiritual care. 

Civil Service Gratitude Shabbat

Friday, November 11 at 6:15 pm

Please join us for a special service honoring our Civil Servants, our local professionals and volunteers who serve in local Law Enforcement, Fire Departments, and Emergency Medical Services. 

By way of the evening’s sermon, Rabbi Blake will join congregant and Israel maven Yoel Magid for a dialogue about the outcome of the Israeli Elections, which will be held on November 1st.

MRJ Sunday Morning Breakfast Series - Speaker Bruce Beck, NBC Lead Sports Anchor

Sunday, November 13, Bagels at 10:00 am, Talk 11:00 am 

Bruce Beck, a member of WRT and MRJ, will be discussing "The World of Sports and Beyond" as part of our Breakfast Series. Bruce is in his 25th year with News 4 New York, the host of Sports Final, and is the host and sideline reporter for New York Giants pre-season football.

WRT is excited to announce a music series for the 2022-2023 calendar year.

We know that music has immense power to connect us, lift us up, and inspire us, and what better way to be in community than to experience the beauty of music with fellow congregants and leading Jewish artists, cantors, and composers!

To discover the rest of our wonderful artists in this series, please visit the website, https://bit.ly/3MSTYfV

Tikkun Olam (Repair of the World)

Cooking4HOPE Thanksgiving Voucher Drive

Last Thanksgiving we were able to provide almost 60 $50 food gift cards to our partners in New Rochelle and Mt Vernon to buy turkeys and other Thanksgiving needs. Given the increased cost of food this year, the need is even greater this year and we hope we can at least match last year’s total.

You can join this year by buying StopnShop or other vouchers online or in person and mail them to Yoel Magid at 65 Hutchinson Blvd, Scarsdale 10583 before November 14 so they can be delivered to families in time for Thanksgiving shopping. Questions? Write to Yoel at yoel.magid@gmail.com

WRT’s Cooking4HOPE team

To learn more about the ways that the WRT community impacts the broader world through acts of Tikkun Olam, read Repairing Our World - WRT Social Impact Update. In this blog, Sharon Stiefel, WRT's Director of Social Impact and Community Engagement, reflects on WRT's social action programming. and discusses further opportunities to engage in tzedakah, chesed and tzedek. Click here to read.

WRT is committed to pursuing tikkun olam (repairing the world) and tzedek (social justice) for impact locally, statewide, nationally, and globally through direct service, tzedakah, advocacy, and community organizing.  

Visit the Jewish Learning Lab (JLL)

Do you have a child/children in college? 

Please let us know their mailing addresses for this school year, so the WRT Youth Committee can send them holiday gifts/treats throughout the year. Please don’t tell - we want it to be a surprise! 

Please provide the following information for your student(s): Name, School, School Address, Winter break dates, Spring break dates, Graduation year. and will they be abroad this year? If so, which semester?

Please email this information no later than Tuesday, November 1 to jodiruzumna@gmail.com.

WJBL (Westchester Jewish Basketball League) is being organized now for Grades 5-12 for the 2022-23 season. Are you interested in helping? or have a child interested in playing? Click here for more information. 

For WRT members: If you would like to receive notifications of birth announcements and deaths within the WRT community, please email receptionist@wrtemple.org with your full name and email address. Please specify if you would like to be added to one or both of these notification lists.  

For more information about Inclusion at WRT, click here.

For more information about Our Jewish World, click here.