A welcoming community of Jewish life, worship and learning
A welcoming community of Jewish life, worship and learning
Important Message
Dear Temple B’nai Abraham family,
These past few months, living in this different and challenging world, we have worked diligently to determine how we best can share the High Holy Day season together in the midst of this pandemic, striving to balance our deep desire to come together after so long with the need to keep everyone safe and healthy. We would love nothing more than to return together to our sanctuary for the grandeur, beauty, and connection of the Days of Awe after months of being physically distant (though spiritually close!).
Our Temple leadership, lay and professional, including our COVID-19 Task Force, has come to the difficult decision that it is not yet time to return to our physical home for services. Health and safety remain our utmost concern, and we hold high the Jewish values of pikuach Nefesh, saving a life, sakanat n’fashot, not endangering lives, and kol yisrael arevim ze l’ze, each of us is responsible for each other.
Our plans for TBA’s High Holy Day season are dynamic and ambitious. Though we will not be together physically, we will be together as one, partaking in the worship, reflection, and spiritual growth of the High Holy Days.
The services we know and love will be produced professionally, accessible in your homes, and presented in a way that provides a meaningful and satisfying experience which can be adapted for you and your family’s needs. They will follow the same timeline to which we’re all accustomed, with the same musical and ritual traditions of our main sanctuary services. There will be plenty of services and programs for people of all ages, led by our clergy team. We will have additional online offerings designed to address this year’s unique circumstances that will provide means for sharing with our fellow community members in soul searching, reflection, and connection.
For the first time, all members of our clergy team will be delivering a holy day message. We will be asking for messages and participation from you as well, in the weeks to come. And, every family will have the opportunity during the High Holy Day period to perform tashlikh on the Temple grounds.
We know that our members come to TBA to be with family and friends, and we know that many of us have been sheltering in place with our families. Where it is safe to do so and according to best COVID-19 practices, we encourage you to gather as families to participate in services together. Sing, pray, reflect, and connect as you always do. You’ll be able to share greetings in the comments section of the service streams. You’ll have access to a machzor and yizkor book in digital form, and physical copies will be available as well for loan.
It is essential, particularly this year, that everyone has a spiritual place to be for these Days of Awe. Therefore, our services will be open to all and we will not be requiring tickets for access to the 2020 Temple B’nai Abraham High Holy Day season. Please share access with your family and friends, in town and far away, so that we can all be together, even if from a distance, in these meaningful days of reflection, renewal, and rejuvenation.
We’ll be sharing more details and making a few requests over the coming weeks. Please keep a close eye on your inbox. Meanwhile, let us prepare ourselves for a unique, memorable, and meaningful High Holy Days together with our extended Temple B’nai Abraham family.
L’shalom,
Rabbi David Z. Vaisberg
Cantor Jessica Epstein
Max Edwards, Rabbinical Assistant
Jeffrey A. Klein, President
Gail Milchman, Executive Director
For pastoral emergencies please call 973-348-5211. For other communications, the staff can be reached by email.
We are a congregation that is more than 165 years old that works together to define our own independent path. We strive daily to be faithful to the teachings of the Torah, dedicated to the acquisition of Jewish knowledge, and committed to the well-being of the Jewish people in America, Israel and around the world.
We would love to meet you.
Mission Statement > History >
Clergy> Staff Directory>
Temple Profile>
Weekly Services
High Holy Days 5781 Services
HHD Machzor(prayerbook) PDFs
Erev Rosh Hashanah Select Prayers and Composers PDF
Erev Rosh HaShanah
Friday, September 18
7:30 PM Shabbat/Erev Rosh HaShanah Service
Rosh Hashanah First and Second Day Select Prayers and Composers PDF
First Day Rosh HaShanah
Saturday, September 19
8:00 AM Young Children’s Service (toddler through third grade)
9:00 AM Family Service (fourth through sixth grade) Family Machzor PDF Rosh Hashanah Bingo PDF
10:00 AM Shabbat/First Day Rosh HaShanah Service
Second Day Rosh HaShanah
Sunday, September 20
9:00 AM Family Shofar/Torah Service Family Machzor PDF
10:00 AM Second Day Rosh HaShanah Service
Tashlich registration required
2:30 PM Open Zoom Room (Link to follow)
4:00 PM Family Shofar Experience in TBA parking lot registration required
Join your TBA family in person from your cars in the TBA parking lot to hear the calls of the shofar on Sunday September 20, 4 pm. RSVP required,.
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Service Siddurs
-Friday evening: Kabbalat Shabbat, Siddur Hadash PDF
–Saturday morning: Shabbat Shaharit, Siddur Hadash PDF
–Saturday afternoon Shabbat Mincha: Siddur Hadash PDF
-Evening: Havdalah PDF
-Minyan of Comfort Ma’ariv service PDF
Join Rabbi Vaisberg, Cantor Epstein and Max Edwards, Rabbinical Assistant for Shabbat Services on Facebook Live on the TBA Facebook page
Service Siddurs PDFs
Service Siddurs
-Friday evening: Kabbalat Shabbat, Siddur Hadash PDF
–Saturday morning: Shabbat Shaharit, Siddur Hadash PDF
–Saturday afternoon Shabbat Mincha: Siddur Hadash PDF
–Gates of Forgiveness- Selichot 5781 PDF
-Evening: Havdalah PDF
-Minyan of Comfort Ma’ariv service PDF
A message from Rabbi Vaisberg as we begin the month of Elul, a month of reflection and introspection
Upcoming Events
Jewish Job Network (JJN)
In an effort to assist individuals who are in need of job search support during this economic downturn, the Livingston and West Orange communities have revived the Jewish Job Network (JJN). JJN is an informal volunteer organization serving the Jewish community in our local area. The support includes guidance in resume writing, interviewing, career counseling, networking (including LinkedIn), starting a new business, learning how to consult and job retraining.
http://jewishjobnetwork.com.
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Jewish Family Services – https://www.jfsmetrowest.org/
–A Journey Through Grief, for older adults who have lost a spouse or significant other, weekly Zoom session beginning Thursday, September 24. Register with Amanda Kielbania.
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Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest of New Jersey > Resources
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Jewish Vocational Service of MetroWest (JVS)
–Job-Seekers Workshop
HOW TO USE THE HIDDEN JOB MARKET TO FIND THE JOB OF YOUR DREAMS, Thursday, September 17, 10:00 to 11:30 AM.
Guest speaker: Loren Greiff, Founder & President, Portfoliorocket. This program is free and open to the community. Register
–Contact Tracer positions; NJ COVID-19 Information Hub: Contact Tracer Interest Registration page:https://covid19.nj.gov/forms/tracer
-Career Counseling Workshops
Article: Helping 25 million job seekers get back to work
–Important Information for those Having Difficulty Paying Their Rent
COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program (CVERAP)
For more information, dial 609-292-4080 or 551-249-2687. You can also visit our website at: https://www.nj.gov/dca/vouchers.html, which includes information on the Maximum Income Limits and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for this Program
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Wonderful offerings from the Institute of Jewish Spirituality
https://www.jewishspirituality.org/get-started/resources-for-challenging-times/fbclid=IwAR3t90s6Co_jsaBtbWBWJEDzU0dLvNTaaRhic8bi8N2vFTr0b1tu0NJGCWA
-Jewish meditation, free sessions: Weekdays from 12:30-1:00 pm
-Jewish yoga: Mondays (11:00-11:45 am) and Thursdays (4:00-4:45 pm)
An Elul Intensive: A Free Four-Week Online Program from IJS and its Partner Organizations>
The upcoming High Holidays will be unlike any most of us have known. We have woken up to our deep interconnection to all people and our own fragility. We have seen more clearly the deep injustice of systems and power structures in our country. We have heard voices pleading for life. Perhaps we are awake in a way we have not been before. How can we maintain and even deepen this awareness as we enter a new year? The Shofar Project is a free program open to people of all backgrounds who want to make this a year of continued awakening, responsiveness, renewal, and transformation. It takes place during the Hebrew month of Elul, the month preceding the Jewish High Holy Days, a traditional period for intensive spiritual reflection, introspection, and moral accounting (August 20-September 18, 2020). For details: https://www.jewishspirituality.org/go-deeper/the-shofar-project/
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Hebrew Free Loan of NJ http://hebrewfreeloanofnj.org/
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NJ State COVID-19 Information Hub website https://covid19.nj.gov/
General FAQs-https://covid19.nj.gov/faqs/general-public
- Live Updates -https://covid19.nj.gov/index.html#live-updates
TBA Mindfulness Session via Zoom
Tue, Sep 22, 2020 | 7:45 pm
Israel and the Abraham Accords: Does Middle East Peace Mean the End of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict? with Michael Koplow ,The Israel Policy Forum
Wed, Oct 7, 2020 | 8:00 pm
TBA offers a wide array of classes, meetings, and programs via Zoom.
Click here for the Zoom schedule and links, including High Holy Day Zoom Room. (password protected)
If you have difficulty logging on to Zoom, please email tbainfo@tbanj.org.
Temple B’nai Abraham is grateful to be one of the recipients of Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ’s Synagogue Based Early Childhood Center COVID19 Emergency Grant. These funds are made possible by generous donors to the UJA Annual Campaign and signify Federation’s investment in early childhood education and synagogues.
As our partner, Federation believes that Jewish early childhood education provides the basis for Jewish identity building in children and serves as a foundation for your family’s involvement in Jewish life. In recognizing the central role Temple B’nai Abraham’s early childhood center plays in the lives of our families, and especially working parents, Federation made our re-opening a critical priority
Blessing for the Mitzvah of Putting on a Mask