WELCOMING: wandering Jews • wondering Jews • those of Jewish heritage • non-Jews • multiracial relationships • families • interfaith relationships • couples • adult children of interfaith families • Jews by choice • people of color • singles • LGBTQIA folks
Jewish Gateways, an open community, invites all to explore and connect with Jewish traditions.
Our “come as you are, no experience necessary” environment encourages wandering and wondering Jews and their families and friends to discover what is personally meaningful.
Learning and discussing at an adult gathering
Listening to a story at a family gathering
Rosh Hashanah family service
Learning and discussing at an adult gathering
Jewish Gateways
Open High Holidays 2022
All are welcome! No experience is necessary. We invite you, your
family, and your friends to join us outdoors or online.
Rosh Hashanah: Sept. 25 - 26 | Yom Kippur: Oct. 4 - 5
GROWING TOGETHER JEWISH FAMILY LEARNING
Saturdays, 10:00am-12:30pm, twice monthly
September-May
Growing Together, an alternative to traditional Hebrew or religious school, offers restorative community, connection, and learning for the whole family. Parents say:
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I feel connected to more young families at Jewish Gateways with kind and empathetic smart discussions.
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Being in these families' presence melted away day-to-day mentally-draining conversations we have in the intense SF Bay Area.
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So grateful to have this special and unique form of Judaic support group!
Upcoming Events
MUSSAR: CULTIVATING CHARACTER THROUGH ETHICAL AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH
Tuesdays, 7:00-9:00pm PT, online
Twice monthly, October 18, 2022-January 31, 2023
Do you ever feel out of sync with your own values, thinking, “I wish I hadn’t done that” or “I wish I hadn’t said that”? A powerful Jewish practice known as Mussar can help us align our actions and words with our “best selves." Rabbi Bridget Wynne will lead a Mussar group for anyone who wants to more consistently be the person you mean to be, both for your own growth and for the improvement of the world. All are welcome. Space is limited, so if you might be interested, contact Rabbi Bridget now.
JOIN US FOR CANDLELIGHT, MUSIC, AND FRIENDLY FACES
Shabbat Candle Lighting
Fridays, 6:00pm PT, online
Set up your candles, wine or juice, and challah, and join Jewish Gateways musicians and community members online for singing, candle lighting, and blessings! All are welcome, adults or children, Jewish or not. The words to the songs and blessings will be visible as we sing them.
Get a Taste of Our Rabbis' Teachings
Justice and Compassion: The Fierce Urgency of Now
Sermon for Rosh Hashanah
2022 • 5783
Rabbi Bridget Wynne
How amazing it is to be together again, three long years since we last gathered here. It is moving and replenishing. And, what a difficult time these years have been.
Floods, fires, hurricanes, wreaking the greatest destruction and suffering on the most vulnerable. Dystopian laws forbidding abortion. Voter suppression, candidates committed to subverting the will of the majority. Police are still murdering Black people, antisemitism is rising... and so much more. The science-denying, profit-driven, power-craving madness that has taken hold of our culture, the rise of ethno-nationalism in our country and others, literally endangers our lives, our planet, our future.
Given all this, I would like to lift our spirits this evening, to greet you, ask how you really are. I want to share words that will help you sleep better, maybe mend a small part of your broken hearts. Maybe make you laugh. Definitely give you permission to grieve. And I want to encourage us to do this with one another, for we are here to seek what we can find only in community.
But first, I want to fortify you, to help us develop the strength we need now and in the days ahead.
The Power of Vulnerability
Sermon for Yom Kippur 2020 • 5781
Rabbi Bridget Wynne
In my first position as a rabbi, one of my responsibilities was to organize a group of synagogue members to help those who were ill or facing other crises. We had a few meetings and set up a communication system. Then, we ran into a problem we hadn’t expected: hardly anyone was willing to accept help. A committee member would call a family in which someone was ill and offer to bring food, or help with rides, and almost every time the response was something along the lines of, “Thank you, but we’re OK.”
I dug deeper to try to understand what was going on. Here’s what I discovered. Many people were embarrassed to have others see them not at their best, or to say that they couldn’t manage things on their own. They were afraid of feeling indebted – if they accepted help, what would they have to do in return? Needing help from others seemed to be an admission of failure.
This shouldn’t have been such a surprise. We live in a culture in which we are taught to be self-sufficient, and to strive for perfection. We like to prevent or fix vulnerability.
Yet Yom Kippur pushes us to feel vulnerable. We are asked to step out of ordinary life for 24 hours, not to eat or drink, to spend long periods of time standing and chanting aloud our wrongdoings as a community and as individuals.