By Amy Unger
A Musical Kabbalat Shabbat, new Members Dinner a huge Success
Wow! Talk about an exciting evening!
On Aug. 23, just under 100 people gathered in Congregation Or Atid’s sanctuary with a Kabbalat Shabbat.
The sanctuary was literally filled with new members along with current members who welcomed them to Or Atid. Young children joyfully played, while the adults sang and prayed together.
Services were led by Deb Wolff, and Fran and Art Todras. Musicians included Miriam Kagan-Dubroff, Robert Siegel, and Laura and Ralph Petrella, while singers included Myra Isaacs, Deb Wolff and the Todras’s.
Before the last song, many new family members were recognized with a warm welcome and given a welcome bag of goodies.
A delicious Israeli-themed dinner was served, which was prepared by Stacye and Jeff Samuels, Alistair Bentley, Renee’ Bernstein, Meryl Bernstein and Jennifer and Brian Greif.
After dinner, there was a tour of the beautiful Gan Chesed Kindness Garden that grows vegetables and herbs for distribution to the JCC’s Elmer Toth Food Pantry.
Mark Your Calendars – Our History Our Stories Series- Voices of Mizrahi and
Sephardic Jews
The Richmond community is invited to Congregation Or Atid’s “Our History- Our Stories” speaker series.
Discover Jewish diversity exploring Sephardic and Middle Eastern Jewish Heritage at the remaining sessions. The programs are on the Sunday’s from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Congregation Or Atid.
Please contact the synagogue office at (804) 740-4747 for more information or to register.
The series kicked off on Sunday, Sept. 22 with speaker Cristina D. Ramirez addressing – “The Reverso-Converso.”
The next programs with speakers and topics
Sunday, Oct. 20
Tino Habib – “Ethnic Cleansing of Libyan Jews”
Sunday, Nov. 10
Rabbi Sherry Grinsteiner – “The Yemenite-Jewish Culture”
Sunday, Dec. 15
Viviane Oberhand – “Jews of Tunisia”
Congregation Or Atid’s
Experiences at Or Atid-Open to RVA Jewish Community
Congregation Or Atid is excited to announce the 2024-2025 Family-Friendly Shabbat Experience upcoming fun-themed programs.
We hope you and your family will be able to join us!
Please contact the Synagogue office at (804) 740-4747 for more information and/or to register. These monthly events will also be posted on the synagogue calendar at https://www.oratid.org/upcoming-events.htm.
Gan Chesed Garden Update
The Gan Chesed Kindness garden continues to produce fresh vegetables and herbs.
The produce is donated twice a week to the JCC Elmer Toth Food Pantry for distribution to community members in need.
To date, over 182 pounds of fresh, organically grown produce has been donated.
