Our Temple is vibrant and has many active committees and organizations.

The RITUAL COMMITTEE, in conjunction with our clergy, is dedicated to exploring and creating meaningful worship experiences for the congregation. Our aim is to enhance and enrich High Holy Days, Shabbat and Festival services as well as encourage discussion on spiritual matters. Through music, prayer, and the creation of a welcoming atmosphere we seek to involve worshipers in personal and congregational religious experiences.

ADULT EDUCATION: Lifelong Learning is the hallmark of Temple Emanu-El's Adult Education Program, which enables  our congregants to pursue ongoing Jewish studies. We offer a number of courses each year in Hebrew, Reform Judaism, contemporary issues and Jewish culture. Lectures, trips, Torah study, monthly Havdalah services, an annual retreat and a Scholar-in-Residence program provide additional opportunities for learning and sharing Jewish experiences.

Programs include: Hebrew, Reform Judaism, Contemporary Issues and Jewish Culture. Lectures, trips and a Scholar-in-Residence program provide additional opportunities for learning.

ADULT BAR/BAT MITZVAH CLASSES meet once a week for approximately one hour over a two-to-three-year period. The curriculum includes Jewish history, customs, holidays and related contemporary issues, as well as the study of Hebrew.

CARING COMMUNITY offers to visit members at home or in the hospital, pick up medicine or food for members, and provides rides to doctor appointments or to services at synagogue.

TORAH STUDY is offered with two wonderful opportunities: Lunch and Learn, where you bring your lunch and the Rabbi, together with a dedicated group of students, provides the study by reading the Torah, verse by verse and exploring traditional and some non-traditional commentaries.   Also, on the first and third Saturdays of each month, following the Shabbat morning minyan, a lay-led group meets to explore our sacred texts.

NASHIM meets several times yearly to discuss and study issues of interest to women. The sessions may include studies of biblical characters, book reviews, films, or topics of current interest.

If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
If I am only for myself, what am I?
If not now, when?
If not you...then who?

During the last few years our Synagogue Social Action Committee has been working hard to enable congregation members to meet social service needs in our community. Activities like "Mitzvah Day” and Food Collections have spurred us on to perform these important mitzvot. In addition, a focus of the Committee is to increase members' awareness and understanding of issues in our society that create the social service needs we try to meet so that we can begin to address some of these underlying concerns effectively.

Here are some of the ongoing projects of the Social Action Committee and of the synagogue which need your support. Please consider these projects carefully and volunteer! If you are interested in participating in any of these projects, please call the synagogue office and leave a message for the Social Action Committee.

Food Collection Box

We have an ongoing collection of non-perishable packaged food in our food collection box in the foyer of Temple Emanu-El. This food is distributed to poor families in Middlesex County. Every time you come to a meeting at the synagogue, please bring a contribution with you. “When you come to meet, bring something to eat”!

Join us! Join us! Join us!

We encourage you to lend your voice and inspiration to the ongoing work of this committee. Meetings are normally held on the first Sunday of the month at 7:00 p.m. at the Synagogue. Please join us. If you cannot attend the meeting, please feel free to send your thoughts on any issues that you would like to see addressed.

It is our hope that as many congregants as possible will engage as a community, through learning and acting, in the process of Tikkun Olam - healing the world through social justice. As we work together to define our obligations to the larger world, these acts of social justice will in turn help define who we are - a synagogue that is first and foremost a caring community.

Links

Here are some links that may help lead to further information, inspiration, and action!

www.rac.org- the Religious Action Center of the Reform movement - an excellent resource for information on how our government is progressing on social justice issues that are important to liberal Jewish community.

www.jrf.org/to/to-main.html- the social justice section of the Reconstructionist Federation website

www.socialaction.com- social action links and information from a Jewish perspective.

www.dosomething.org- a great social action resource for kids and teens!

www.islandharvest.org- we strongly encourage all members who celebrate simchas at our synagogue to ask their caterer to work with Island Harvest, who provide an easy way to distribute leftover food to needy food pantries and soup kitchens throughout Long Island.

www.mazon.org- Contributions to MAZON are granted to a broad spectrum of nonprofit organizations confronting hunger in the US and around the world. MAZON (the Hebrew word for "food") asks American Jews to support our efforts by contributing 3% of the cost of life-cycle celebrations such as weddings, bnai mitzvah, birthdays and anniversaries - every joyous occasion. www.nif.org- The New Israel Fund supports Israeli organizations working for religious pluralism and tolerance, civil and human rights, Jewish-Arab equality and co-existence, improving the status of women, bridging social and economic gaps, and environmental justice.