Musical Shabbat tomorrow will likely be indoors at 1416 Montague, we'll confirm by email by 3 pm tomorrow + almost last chance to order Lulav & Etrog

[Sara Schoen]

It looks like we'll likely have to be indoors tomorrow (Saturday, September 27) at 1416 Montague St NW, but if the forecast clears up, we'll be able to do tashlikh in Rock Creek Park (Picnic Grove 9).  4:30-6 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 soon for arrival 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.  

 

Thank you to everyone who has already contributed financially and for keeping 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.

Shabbat shalom and shana tova,

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]

Today, Saturday, September 27 at 1416 Montague St NW 4:30-6 pm.  RSVP by replying to this email (it's never too late to RSVP, including after the event), and please invite anyone you'd like.  All welcome – ages 0-120, Jewishness completely optional, literally atheist to orthodox.  Feel free to bring fruit or other food to share, but absolutely no need to bring anything.

Other fall dates: October 11 (in Aaron & Lula's Sukkah) & 25, November 1 & 15, December 6 & 20 (Hanukah)   Musical Shabbat Google Calendar   Musical Shabbat Email List

[Sara Schoen]

Tomorrow, October 11 4:30-6 pm at 112 Rittenhouse St NW, in the backyard / sukkah weather permitting 🤞 or indoors if it's too wet (at 112 Rittenhouse either way)

RSVP by replying to this email (it's never too late to RSVP, including after the event), and please invite anyone you'd like.  All welcome – ages 0-120, Jewishness completely optional, literally atheist to orthodox.  Feel free to bring fruit or other food to share, but absolutely no need to bring anything.

Other fall dates: October 25, November 1 & 15, December 6 & 20 (Hanukah)   Musical Shabbat Google Calendar   Musical Shabbat Email List

 

Thank you to everyone who has already contributed financially and for keeping Musical Shabbat in mind for your end-of-year giving.

Moadim L'Simcha & Shabbat Shalom,

Sara

Ways to support Musical Shabbat:

• Bring instruments (kid or "real"); Play and/or sing along; Lead a song or brakha.
• 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.

FAQs:

[Sara Schoen]

Very glad to be able to have Musical Shabbat in the park tomorrow (and hopefully next Saturday, November 1st as well) before the time change November 2nd.  

Saturday, October 25th at 4:30 pm at Rock Creek Park Picnic Grove 9.   RSVP by replying to this email (it's never too late to RSVP, including after the event), and please invite anyone you'd like.  

All welcome – ages 0-120, Jewishness completely optional, literally atheist to orthodox.  

Thanks to the dry forecast, we'll plan to make a fire after the music tomorrow.  We'll have vegan and grass-fed hot dogs and organic marshmallows and s'mores fixins.  Please feel free to bring anything you'd like to grill and any food or drink for during the music or the fire, for yourself/your crew or to share.  

Please also bring water for yourself/your crew, cozy layers 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.

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.

Upcoming fall dates: November 1 & 15, December 6 & 20 (Hanukah)   Musical Shabbat Google Calendar   Musical Shabbat Email List

Shabbat Shalom,

Sara

Thank you to everyone who has already contributed financially and for keeping Musical Shabbat in mind for your end-of-year giving.

[Sara Schoen]

Grateful to be able to have Musical Shabbat in the park tomorrow one last time before the clocks change and it gets dark too early for us to meet in the park.  We plan to make a fire after the music again tomorrow, and we'll bring havdalah gear as it was pretty dark last week when we wrapped up so we plan to do havdalah at the end.  (We'll also do havdalah at every Musical Shabbat for the next few months!)   

Anyone who'd like to is invited to come in costume tomorrow :)   

This will also be the last Musical Shabbat of 2025 for illustrious musicians Wren Elhai (fiddle) and Lisa Einstein (guitar and vocals) before they embark on a new adventure.

Saturday, November 1st at 4:30 pm at Rock Creek Park Picnic Grove 9.   RSVP by replying to this email (it's never too late to RSVP, including after the event), and please invite anyone you'd like.  

All welcome – ages 0-120, Jewishness completely optional, literally atheist to orthodox.  

For the fire, we'll have vegan and grass-fed hot dogs and organic marshmallows and s'mores fixins.  Please feel free to bring anything you'd like to grill and any food or drink for during the music or the fire, for yourself/your crew or to share.  

Please also bring water for yourself/your crew, cozy layers, blankets or camping chairs to sit on if you'd like (there are some benches in the park, 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.

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.

Upcoming fall dates: November 15, December 6 & 20 (Hanukah) (all indoors at 1416 Montague St NW)  

[Sara Schoen]

Saturday, November 15th at 4:30 pm at 1416 Montague St NW.   RSVP by replying to this email (it's never too late to RSVP, including after the event), and please invite anyone you'd like.  All welcome – ages 0-120, Jewishness completely optional, literally atheist to orthodox.  Feel free to bring fruit or other food for yourself/your crew or to share, but absolutely no need to bring anything.

Remaining fall dates: December 6 & 20 (Hanukah) (indoors at 1416 Montague St NW)  

2026 dates: Jan 17 & 24, Feb 7 (Tu Bishvat) & 28 (Purim!), March 7 & 21, April 4 (Pesakh) & 25, May 9, 16 (Shavuot), & 30, June 6 & 13 

Musical Shabbat Google Calendar   Musical Shabbat Email List

Musical Shabbater Shirley Politzer is peer-leading no-cost Peaceful Parenting learning sessions at her home in Silver Spring to help parents bring mindfulness, compassion, and Jewish wisdom into their parenting lives. For more info, please email Shirley at curly...@gmail.com.  “Parenting can be a beautiful, life-affirming journey — and it can also be really hard. If you are a parent, you're likely familiar with the struggle to find the balance between being fully present for the kids and finding the time for self care. If you’ve ever found yourself reacting in frustration, putting your own needs aside, or just wishing you could parent with a little more ease, you’re not alone.  Each session includes mindfulness practices, Jewish wisdom, and practical tools to help you navigate parenting challenges while deepening your connection with your kids — and with yourself. If you’ve been looking for a way to show up as the parent you want to be, The Peaceful Parent Project is a powerful first step.”  

https://www.orotcenter.org/the-peaceful-parent-project