Musical Shabbat tomorrow (Sep 6) 4:30 pm in Rock Creek Park or at 1416 Montague depending on how the weather shapes up

[Sara Schoen]

4:30 pm tomorrow (September 6th) at either Rock Creek Park Picnic Grove 9 or 1416 Montague St NW - we'll email before 3 pm tomorrow to confirm the location.

All welcome – ages 0-120, Jewishness completely optional, literally atheist to orthodox.  RSVP by replying to this email (it's never too late to RSVP, including after the event), and please invite anyone you'd like.  Please see all fall dates below.

Musical Shabbat musicians Lisa Einstein, Wren Elhai, and Dan Bardenstein will also be playing a kid-friendly set at the free Takoma Park Folk Festival this Sunday, September 7 from 11:00-11:45 am at the Tom Prasada-Rao memorial stage. The festival features 7 stages of music, crafts displays by local artists, and food trucks, and it kicks off with a children's parade at 10:30 am. 

If you’d like to order a lulav and etrog for Sukkot, this company will ship it to your home: https://esrogheadquarters.com/?ref=qofntnon 

You can order now or in the next few weeks and it’ll arrive closer to the holiday. I recommend checking it when it arrives to make sure it’s in good shape and if not, the company will send a replacement.  

Upcoming Musical Shabbat gatherings: September 27 (Tashlikh), October 11 (Sukkot) & 25, November 1 & 15, December 6 & 20 (Hanukah). 

September-November 1 will be at Rock Creek Park Picnic Grove 9, or 1416 Montague if it rains. 

Nov 15 and December will be at 1416 Montague or another non-park location. \

Musical Shabbat Google Calendar: VIEW it here  SUBSCRIBE to it here

Musical Shabbat email list: https://groups.google.com/g/dc-musical-shabbat

Ways to support Musical Shabbat:

• Bring instruments (kid or "real"); Play and/or sing along; Lead a song or Kiddush. Songsheet with words, chords, and links to audio.
• Bring fruit or other food to share.  

• Help clean up.

• Share ideas, feedback, requests, suggestions, or any other offers of help.
• Contribute financially: As of July 2023, DC Musical Shabbat is funded by The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. Please continue to support Musical Shabbat both financially and in other ways to help it continue!

      -Easiest way to contribute financially: PayPal shirsh...@gmail.com.

      -Easiest tax-deductible way to contribute financially: Scroll to the bottom of this evite to contribute via Pledge.

      -Tax-deductible via amkolel.org/donate: In step 4 (Additional Information) under "How would you like your gift applied?", select "One of Am Kolel's donor-designated funds" and then "DC Musical Shabbat".   

Musical Shabbat leader Aaron Shneyer also leads Saturday morning services at Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda. Feel free to ask Aaron about it, or reply to this email for more info :)

If you don't yet receive PJ Library books, which celebrate Jewish values and culture for families with children from birth through 12 years old, sign up for free here.

Shabbat shalom,

Sara

FAQs:

Q: How did this start?
A: My (musical) husband Ari helped volunteer lead services over many years with various congregations around DC. As far back as 2016, we hosted some informal kid Jewish holiday and shabbat gatherings at our house with friends both in Petworth and then after we moved to 16th St Heights in 2021. Ari had always told me he that wanted to lead with other musicians, so in May 2021 I reached out to Aaron Shneyer, a Takoma DC dad and professional musician and service leader we’d met a couple times at a mutual friend’s birthday parties. Turned out that he and his wife Lula had talked about organizing uptown shabbat gatherings, and Lula also used to organize informal shabbat gatherings in Adams Morgan when they lived there. Thankfully they were up for joining forces even though we barely knew each other :). The first Musical Shabbat happened just over 9 months later on March 5th, 2022.  Am Kolel kicked us off with a very generous grant, and from March 2022 until July 2023, Musical Shabbat met once a month. In June 2023, DC Musical Shabbat was awarded Federation funding, enabling us to increase to twice a month starting in September 2023. We are very grateful for the support.

Q: Is DC Musical Shabbat organized by Am Kolel?

A: Am Kolel is DC Musical Shabbat's fiscal sponsor (a role Am Kolel has fulfilled for many startup Jewish groups) but does not organize DC Musical Shabbat.  When Am Kolel offered fiscal sponsorship for what was then just an experiment, we jumped at the opportunity to be able to collect tax-deductible contributions (including from Ari & me) without setting up a separate nonprofit entity. 

Q: What is Shir Shalom?

A: Just a made-up placeholder name that we used at the beginning of this musical shabbat experiment.

[Sara Schoen]

4:30 pm today (September 6th) at Rock Creek Park Picnic Grove 9.  Please bring water for yourself/your crew, raingear if you'd like to (!!), blankets or camping chairs to sit on if you'd like (there are some benches in the park too, and we always bring some mats and blankets to share), and litter grabbers and/or gloves for picking up litter if you have them and want to.  Absolutely no need to but feel free to bring fruit or other food to share or for yourself/your crew.

There are public restrooms between picnic groves 9 and 10 and a parking lot at each picnic grove.  Please note that Beach Drive NORTH of the picnic groves is closed to cars, so the only way to drive to the picnic groves is from Beach Drive SOUTH of the picnic groves. Some GPS and map apps like Google Maps are unaware that Beach Drive is closed north of the picnic groves, so may lead you to a closed road.  The way to drive the picnic groves is from the intersection of Joyce Dr NW and Beach Rd NW. From there, drive north on Beach Drive to get to the various picnic groves for Musical Shabbat.  Setting your navigation system to the intersection of Joyce Dr NW and Beach Rd NW may work IF your navigation system offers you a route to that intersection that avoids Beach Rd NW north of the picnic groves.

All welcome – ages 0-120, Jewishness completely optional, literally atheist to orthodox.  RSVP by replying to this email (it's never too late to RSVP, including after the event), and please invite anyone you'd like.  Please see all fall dates below.

Musical Shabbat musicians Lisa Einstein, Wren Elhai, and Dan Bardenstein will be playing a kid-friendly set at the free Takoma Park Folk Festival tomorrow, Sunday, September 7, from 11:00-11:45 am at the Tom Prasada-Rao memorial stage. The festival features 7 stages of music, crafts displays by local artists, and food trucks, and it kicks off with a children's parade at 10:30 am. 

If you’d like to order a Lulav and Etrog for Sukkot, this company will ship it to your home: https://esrogheadquarters.com/?ref=qofntnon 

You can order now or in the next few weeks and it’ll arrive closer to the holiday. I recommend checking it when it arrives to make sure it’s in good shape and if not, the company will send a replacement.  

Upcoming Musical Shabbat Gatherings: September 27 (Tashlikh), October 11 (Sukkot) & 25, November 1 & 15, December 6 & 20 (Hanukah). 

September-November 1 will be at Rock Creek Park Picnic Grove 9, or 1416 Montague if it rains. 

Nov 15 and December will be at 1416 Montague or another non-park location.

Musical Shabbat Google Calendar   Musical Shabbat Email List

Ways to Support Musical Shabbat:

[Sara Schoen]

[Sara Schoen]

It’s too rainy for the park!!  Our mistake.  

[Sara Schoen]

We will do Tashlikh in Rock Creek Park (Picnic Grove 9) this Saturday, September 27 if the weather allows (if not we'll meet indoors).  4:30 pm either way.  All welcome – ages 0-120, Jewishness completely optional, literally atheist to orthodox.  RSVP by replying to this email (it's never too late to RSVP, including after the event), and please invite anyone you'd like.  Other fall dates: October 11 (Sukkot) & 25, November 1 & 15, December 6 & 20 (Hanukah).  Musical Shabbat Google Calendar   Musical Shabbat Email List

If you’d like to order a lulav and etrog, this company will ship it to your home: https://esrogheadquarters.com/?ref=qofntnon 

Order this week or early next for it to arrive in time for Sukkot.  I recommend checking it when it arrives to make sure it’s in good shape and if not, the company will send a replacement.  

Please keep Musical Shabbat in mind for your end-of-year giving! 

Ways to support Musical Shabbat:

• Bring instruments (kid or "real"); Play and/or sing along; Lead a song or Kiddush. Songsheet with words, chords, and links to audio.
• Bring fruit or other food to share.  

• Help clean up.

• Share ideas, feedback, requests, suggestions, or any other offers of help.
• Contribute financially: As of July 2023, DC Musical Shabbat is funded by The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. Please continue to support Musical Shabbat both financially and in other ways to help it continue!

      -Easiest way to contribute financially: PayPal shirsh...@gmail.com.

      -Easiest tax-deductible way to contribute financially: Scroll to the bottom of this evite to contribute via Pledge.

      -Tax-deductible via amkolel.org/donate: In step 4 (Additional Information) under "How would you like your gift applied?", select "One of Am Kolel's donor-designated funds" and then "DC Musical Shabbat".   

Musical Shabbat leader Aaron Shneyer also leads Saturday morning services at Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda. Feel free to ask Aaron about it, or reply to this email for more info :)

If you don't yet receive PJ Library books, which celebrate Jewish values and culture for families with children from birth through 12 years old, sign up for free here.

Shana tova!

Sara

FAQs: