WELCOMING: wandering Jews • wondering Jews • LGBTQIA+ folks • Jew-ish • interfaith relationships • people of
color • singles • couples • families • multiracial relationships • single parents • adult children of interfaith families •
Jews by choice • non-Jews • seekers • low-income households • multicultural relationships • cultural Jews • older adults •
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.
Rolling out the Torah for Simchat Torah
Rabbi Steph and Rabbi Bridget at High Holiday services 2023
Adult discussion during our Community Shabbat Gathering
Rolling out the Torah for Simchat Torah
GROWING TOGETHER JEWISH FAMILY LEARNING
Saturdays, 10:00 am-12:30 pm, twice a month
September 2023 - May 2024
Growing Together Family Learning offers a welcoming and inclusive environment for families to explore Jewish values and traditions together. An alternative to traditional Hebrew or religious school, it offers supportive community, connection, and learning for the whole family.
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JEWISH GATEWAYS' B-MITZVAH PROGRAM
Two year program
Three meetings per month
September 2023 - May 2024
Jewish Gateway’s unique two-year program, rooted in family learning, is about more than just the ritual. Our B-Mitzvah program supports students as they become teens, engaging them with Judaism that is relevant and meaningful.
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Upcoming Events
FAMILY SUNDAY FUN DAY
Sunday, May 5, 10:30 am - 12 pm
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Join Rabbi Steph, Jen Altman from Jewish Baby Network and Alison Sorscher from PJ Library for a fun morning of crafts, books, music, puppets and snacks. This event is designed for families with children aged 0-36 months, but bring the whole family! Play spaces are available for older siblings too.
We welcome everyone, including unaffiliated, single and multi-parent, multi-faith, multi-ethnic, multi-abled, and LGBTQ+ families.
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Wednesday, May 8, 7:00 - 9:00 pm PT, online
Topic: Difficult Freedom
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Freedom offers us the opportunity to make choices, yet that can be challenging. Our tradition offered our ancestors ways to move through and even grow from times of disconnection. How can we draw on this wisdom in our lives as we face the challenges and difficulties of freedom? Rabbi Bridget will lead an open discussion exploring this question. All are welcome.
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COMMUNITY SHABBAT GATHERING
Friday, May 17, 6:00 to 8:00 pm
Epworth United Methodist Church
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Experience the joy of good company, delicious food, Shabbat blessings, and interactive learning with our rabbis. Adults will join Rabbi Bridget to explore mysticism, an intriguing part of Jewish tradition that is often overlooked, yet offers insights about profound life issues. Children of all ages will join Rabbi Steph for a short story about Jewish mysticism and a jewel tree craft inspired by the “Tree of Life,” a beautiful metaphor in Jewish mysticism. All are welcome, and no experience is necessary.
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Wednesday, May 22, 7:00 - 9:00 pm PT, online
Topic: What is God's Name?
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The names for God we often read can feel like a barrier to exploring the sacred. For many, the word “God” suggests an old man in the sky. Titles like Lord or King, or the Hebrew term Adonai, meaning “my lord,” may be even more alienating. How many of us would imagine a mysterious Presence as a lord or a king? Rabbi Bridget will lead an open discussion exploring this question. All are welcome.
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VIRTUAL SHABBAT GATHERING
Fridays, 6:00 - 7:00 pm PT, online
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Join other Jewish Gateways community members for an online Shabbat gathering for Shabbat blessings, songs, and community. Bring your own challah and juice or wine. There will also be an opportunity to offer prayers for healing and to say the Mourner's Kaddish for anyone you are remembering. All are welcome. No experience is necessary.
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*On the evenings we gather in person (May 17) we do not host virtual Shabbat gatherings.*
Get a Taste of Our Rabbis' Teachings
The Virtuous Cycle of Teshuvah
Sermon for Erev Yom Kippur
2023 • 5784
Rabbi Bridget Wynne
Most of us would like to be better people and live more in keeping with our deepest values. How do we do this, in the midst of life’s pains, difficulties, annoyances, and all we cannot control?
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We may resist looking at the actions, or inactions, we regret. Who wants to feel guilty? And we do hear a lot about “Jewish guilt".
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But does Jewish tradition really teach us to feel guilty? I don’t think so. The guilt many Jews joke about comes not from Judaism, but from a particular immigrant culture that many of us are descended from.
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Rediscovery and Return:
A Rosh Hashanah Reflection on Teshuva and the Joys of New Beginnings
2023 • 5784
Rabbi Stephanie Kennedy
On Rosh Hashanah, and throughout the month leading up to the High Holidays, we are called to engage in a profound act of returning.
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To do teshuva is to embark on a pilgrimage back to the core of our being — to that space within us that remains hopeful, and pure. It's in this journey that we rediscover potentials that may have lain dormant amidst the hustle of our daily lives — dreams unchased, passions unexpressed, or connections overlooked.
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Get to Know the Rabbis of Jewish Gateways: Recording from the November Salon
Thank you to all of our wonderful participants who
embody our values of inclusion and personal connection!
If you are interested in co-creating our community, learn more here.