Welcome to Beth Shalom!
Serving Southern Saratoga County for the last 50 years, we are so excited to welcome you into our building, services, and synagogue family. While our unique membership comes from all branches of Judaism, we lean towards liberal Conservative practices and embrace interfaith, LGBTQA, and all our diverse friends and families. Have a question? Our Board and members are here to help. Poke around our website to learn more about us and contact us today so we can learn more about you! We are so glad you are here and can’t wait to greet you in person! We have several different membership options and one may be perfect for you. Please contact our Membership VP for additional information.
A Message from Rabbi Shara Siegfeld
As we approach Yom Kippur, the holiest day of our Jewish year, I am looking forward to sharing these sacred hours together as a Beth Shalom community.
We enter Yom Kippur with the words G’mar chatima tova, may you be sealed for a good year. It is a beautiful blessing, carrying with it our hopes for forgiveness, renewal, health, peace, and sweetness in the year ahead.
And a gentle reminder as we prepare: the fast is a meaningful tradition, but it is not a measure of the meaning of your Yom Kippur. Please do not push yourself to fast if doing so is difficult or unwise for you. What matters most is that we come together to pray, to remember, to reflect, and simply to be present with one another. Caring for ourselves and for one another is sacred, too.
I hope you will join us. Kol Nidre begins Sunday evening at 7:00 pm, and Yom Kippur morning services begin Monday at 10:00 am and will include our Yizkor service.
May these holy hours bring each of us meaning, connection, and renewal, and may we all be sealed in the Book of Life for a year of health, happiness, and peace.
G’mar chatima tova, wishing you and all those you love a meaningful Yom Kippur.
Shabbat Shalom, With love, Rabbi Shara
Donate
If you would like to make a donation to Beth Shalom, please click on the “Donate” button at the top of this page. We have several categories available: General Congregational Fund, Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund, Cemetery Fund, High Holiday Appeal, Reyut, or Security.
After you select the category and the amount, you can write a specific note. For example, if you donate to the Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund in memory of a loved one, you can include a note which will say, “In memory of _____________.”
If you would like to purchase a lovely Tree of Life Plaque or a Yahrzeit Plague, please click on the links below, complete the appropriate form and mail to or drop off at the Synagogue office with your remittance:
Kabbalat Shabbat - Fridays at 7:00 pm
Weekly, in-person and over Zoom. Oneg will follow.
Please see the Beth Shalom weekly email announcements for all worship details including Zoom information. Please note that the service schedule is subject to change. Check Thursday’s Beth Shalom email announcements for the most current information.
Beth Shalom Hadassah Book Club
Mitzvah Opportunities
We have a chance for volunteers to participate in a mitzvah by helping a refugee family who have settled in our area. Rabbi Beverly Magidson has forwarded this request to us.
The United States Committee on Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) is looking for volunteers to assist with a small Afghan refugee family located in Ballston Spa. The family consists of two older adults and two adult children. Most of what they need is daytime transportation to doctor appointments. They are living with family; their English is pretty good. USCRI would like to run background checks for volunteers (at their expense) but will not require it in this case.
Please contact Margaret Slotnick at mslotnick@uscri-albany.org
