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
TORAH FOR EVERYONE
Wednesday, April 24, 7-9:00 pm PT, online
"Living with Brokenness" Topic for this session
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We all experience brokenness, some more than others. Jewish tradition recognizes brokenness in significant moments—breaking a whole matza in two as we begin The Passover seder, breaking a glass at a wedding, and more. The Ten Commandments were given to the Israelites on a set of stone tablets, which Moses soon broke in anger. In what ways can we best live with the inevitable brokenness we face? Rabbi Bridget will lead an open discussion, drawing on the story of the broken tablets and the wisdom our tradition has found in it. All are welcome. No experience is necessary.
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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 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.
