Musical Shabbat Purim TOMORROW 4:30 pm @ 1416 Montague - feel free to come in costume :)

[Sara Schoen]

Musical Shabbat tomorrow - Saturday, March 8th 4:30-6:30 pm at 1416 Montague St NW (Sara & Ari's home), ending with havdalah (for the last time til the fall!)   

We'll sing some Purim songs, and anyone who's in the mood should feel free to come in costume :)   

We'll have some food; feel free to bring fruit or other food to share (or for yourself/your crew), but absolutely no need to.  

RSVP by email for any updates.  Please invite anyone you'd like, and it's never too late to RSVP.   All welcome - ages 0-120, Jewishness, theism, and kids all completely optional. 

Upcoming Musical Shabbat gatherings: 

March 22 @ 1416 Montague OR outdoors if the weather's nice

April 5 & 26, May 10 & 31, June 14 & 28 in Rock Creek Park (or 1416 Montague if it rains)

The Musical Shabbat Google Calendar has the RCP picnic sites we've reserved for April - June:  VIEW it here  SUBSCRIBE to it here

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

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.

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".   

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 (pre-covid) 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 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]

Saturday, March 22nd at Rock Creek Park Picnic Grove 9 (Beach Dr NW, Washington, DC 20015).  Rock Creek Park doesn’t allow reservations until April, so we’re hoping that Picnic Grove 9 will be quiet enough for us to use it.  If you arrive early, please feel free to stake out a spot for Musical Shabbat!

**If you’re driving, the only way to get to picnic groves 6-10 is from the south end of Beach Drive (Beach Drive north of the picnic sites is CLOSED to cars - it’s open to bikes & pedestrians only - but Google Maps and Waze may think that it’s open to cars too even though it’s NOT). Below is a screenshot of ways to get to Beach Drive by car that DO work.

Please bring water for yourself/your crew, blankets or camping chairs to sit on if you'd like, and litter grabbers or gloves for picking up litter if you have them and want to.  There are public restrooms between picnic grove 9 and picnic grove 10.  Feel free to bring fruit or other food to share or for yourself/your crew.

RSVP by email for any updates.  Please invite anyone you'd like, and it's never too late to RSVP.   All welcome - ages 0-120, Jewishness, theism, and kids all completely optional.  

Upcoming Musical Shabbat gatherings:   April 5 & 26, May 10 & 31, June 14 & 28 in Rock Creek Park (or 1416 Montague if it rains)

The Musical Shabbat Google Calendar has the RCP picnic sites we've reserved for April - June:  VIEW it here  SUBSCRIBE to it here

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

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.

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".   

Shabbat shalom,

Sara

As pictured here, Beach Drive NW can be accessed from Joyce Rd NW (via Military Road NW) or Morrow Drive NW (via 16th St - Morrow Dr is directly across 16th St from Kennedy St NW):

FAQs:

[Sara Schoen]

Saturday, April 5th at Rock Creek Park Picnic Grove 6 (696 Beach Dr NW, Washington, DC 20011) at 4:30 pm.  The Pesakh skit will be very impromptu.  Please feel free to come in costume or bring props (or not - low pressure!  we will bring too) such as:

• Work tools like toy hammers
• Baby doll (baby moses)
• Basket for baby moses
• Dress in tattered clothing to play a slave, or royal/Egyptian clothing to play an Egyptian
• Dress as adult Moses / bring a staff for Moses
• Dress in all blue to play the river and/or the sea
• Dress in all red/orange to play the burning bush
• Dress as frog, wild beast, or cow/goat/sheep to act out the plagues
• Plague props: frogs, showercaps for lice, wild beast costumes, red food coloring in a clear cup, round red stickers for "boils", etc.
• Anything else you can think of for the Pesakh story

Please bring water for yourself/your crew, blankets or camping chairs to sit on if you'd like, and litter grabbers or gloves for picking up litter if you have them and want to.  We'll have vegan hot dogs, grassfed hot dogs, kosher marshmallows for grilling, and s'mores fixins. Feel free to bring any of the above (including vegan marshmallows if that’s your preference), fruit, or other food to share or for yourself/your crew.

There are public restrooms near Picnic Grove 6.  

RSVP by email for any updates.  Please invite anyone you'd like, and it's never too late to RSVP.   All welcome - ages 0-120, Jewishness, theism, and kids all completely optional.  

**If you’re driving, the only way to get to picnic groves 6-10 is from the south end of Beach Drive (Beach Drive north of the picnic sites is CLOSED to cars - it’s open to bikes & pedestrians only - but Google Maps and Waze may think that it’s open to cars too even though it’s NOT). Below is a screenshot of ways to get to Beach Drive by car that DO work.

Upcoming Musical Shabbat gatherings:  April 26, May 10 & 31, June 14 & 28 in Rock Creek Park (or 1416 Montague if it rains)

[Sara Schoen]

From the Picnic Grove 6 parking lot, take the paved path to north of the Joaquin Miller Cabin https://maps.app.goo.gl/oB8PnhEujU5zGwKu5?g_st=ic