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02/10/2016 08:30 AMJews celebrate Shabbat every Friday night, but Friday evening, Feb. 26, there will be something special: Shabbat Across the Shoreline. Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek (CBSRZ) in Chester will welcome both synagogue members as well as those Jews unaffiliated with a synagogue to join together to celebrate Shabbat. Families, couples and singles are all welcome. The program, which includes dinner and music, is free to all attendees.
Rabbi Rachel Goldenberg and Cantor Belinda Brennan will lead an interactive Shabbat service that will have special meaning for the members of CBSRZ. This is the last time that Goldenberg, who is leaving at the end of June to pursue new challenges, will lead this special Shoreline Shabbat. CBSRZ choir director Meg Gister, who also teaches music at Chester Elementary School, will provide music both for listening and for traditional folk dances like the Hora, in which everybody is invited to join.
Edward Pinn of CBSRZ is organizing the program.
“Shabbat Across the Shoreline affords affiliated and non-affiliated Jews the opportunity to reconnect with each other and share the tradition of observing the Sabbath through prayer, ritual, and a festive meal,” Pinn said. “Hopefully, those who attend will be inspired to add a measure of what they experience to their own life and that of their families each week.”
This is the sixth time CBSRZ has hosted a wide-ranging community Shabbat program. It is part of Shabbat Across America, sponsored by the National Jewish Outreach Program, which involves some 700 Reform congregations across both the United States and Canada. Despite the work involved in putting on the local event, Pinn said the rewards outweighed the complication of organizing it.
“Keeping meaningful traditions alive demands that we do these things for each other and for the future of our faith,” he said.
Shabbat Across the Shoreline
Friday, Feb. 26 at 6 p.m. at Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek, 55 East Kings Highway, Chester. The program in free; to register, visit CBSRZ.org, email office@CBSRZ.org, or call 860-526-8920.