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 come to the end of this beautiful High Holy Day season, I want to offer my deepest thanks to everyone who helped make these days so meaningful. Thank you for showing up, for participating, for lending your voices, your support, your helping hands, and, most of all, the warmth that makes Beth Shalom the special community it is.
Over these past weeks, we have prayed together, reflected together, remembered together, and begun a new year together. And now, almost before we have had time to catch our breath, Judaism moves us into something entirely different. Sukkot begins this Friday evening, and I love the wisdom of its timing. After spending the High Holy Days looking inward, Sukkot asks us to step outside. After so many words and prayers, we sit beneath a simple roof of branches. And after thinking about what we might change in ourselves, Sukkot reminds us to notice what we already have: the people beside us, the community around us, and the preciousness of simply being together.
A sukkah is fragile. Its walls are temporary and its roof is open to the sky. Yet we are commanded to enter it with joy. Perhaps that is because Sukkot teaches us that security does not always come from strong walls. Sometimes it comes from knowing that we are not sitting beneath them alone.
That feels especially meaningful here at Beth Shalom. What makes a community strong is people choosing, again and again, to show up for one another, and I am so grateful for the many ways you have done exactly that throughout these High Holy Days.
We hope to continue that spirit of togetherness at our Pizza in the Hut celebration this Sunday, September 27 at 12:00 p.m. The weather forecast, however, is not looking especially favorable for an outdoor celebration. We will send a communication on Friday to let everyone know if we need to cancel because of the weather. Hopefully the skies will cooperate, and we will have the chance to celebrate Sukkot together!
Thank you for making these High Holy Days so meaningful and for making Beth Shalom the warm community that it is. May we carry that warmth from our sanctuary into the sukkah, and from the sukkah into the year ahead.
Chag Sukkot Sameach, and may 5787 continue to be a year of sweetness, joy, and community.
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
