Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism

Yom Kippur

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Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)

Tuesday, September 18     

8:00 p.m.          Kol Nidre – Yom Kippur Eve Service

 

Wednesday, September 19

9:30 a.m.           Yom Kippur Youth Service

11:00 a.m.          Yom Kippur Adult Morning Service

1:00 p.m.          Holy Days Discussion Hour

Yom Kippur is our Day of Atonement, a day that we strive to find favor in the eyes of God. In Islam and Christianity concepts of judgment are often linked to concepts of heaven and hell. During our Yom Kippur discussion hour we will explore concepts of judgment in each of our faiths and how heaven and hell fit into our faith traditions. Pastor Taylor Ince from Sojourn Galleria Church Imam M. Ahmad Khan, the Development Director at Zaytuna College will join us.

2:15 p.m.          Transition & Reflection Period

3:00 p.m.          Afternoon Service

4:00 p.m.          Memorial Service & Concluding Service

At our Yom Kippur Memorial Service, it is our custom to read aloud the names of those whom death has taken from our midst since last year at this season.  Our records, however, may not be completely accurate.

Please help us honor the memory of your loved ones.  If a loved one has passed away this year and you wish to have his/her name read aloud at our Memorial Service on Yom Kippur afternoon, please contact the temple with the following information:

  1. The name of your loved one
  2. The date of death
  3. A phonetic spelling of the name to help with pronunciation

 

Break-the-Fast at approximately 5:30 p.m.

Rosh Hashanah (New Year)

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Sunday, September 9  

8:00 p.m.             Rosh Hashanah Eve Service (Reception will follow this service)

Monday, September 10   

9:30 a.m.            Rosh Hashanah Youth Service

11:00 a.m.            Rosh Hashanah Adult Morning Service

 

Following services, all are invited to join us for a post-service lunch at Le Peep on Woodway.

August 1, 2018

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Dear Friends,
This clever meme reminds us that, all too often, we experience very important warning signs a little too late. This is true with our health, our jobs, our relationships and our general interactions with the world at large.
Our ongoing challenge in life is to try to be aware of warnings well in advance of our actions. In order to do this, we need to be more present and more acutely aware of what is happening within and around us.
Our bodies, our families, our friends, our co-workers and customers, our neighbors and our planet are sending out signals all the time. May we all find ways to heed the call and avoid being blind to signs of danger.
L’Shalom-Steve

July 25, 2018

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Dear Friends,

Tu B’Av, the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Av, has long been associated with love and romance. The origins of this “Jewish Valentine’s Day” are found in the Talmud where it is mentioned as a day for romantic encounters between men and women. It seems to have served as a matchmaking day for unmarried women during the time of the Second Temple (before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E.).

Tu B’Av was almost unnoticed in the Jewish calendar for many centuries, but it has been rejuvenated in recent decades, especially in the modern state of Israel. In its modern incarnation, Tu B’Av is gradually becoming a Hebrew-Jewish Day of Love, and in a world filled with so much hate, this is a very nice holiday to have!

We will mark Tu B’Av with special musical selections and readings on Friday night during our Shabbat services. Wishing you a week filled with love and kindness.

L’Shalom-Steve

July 18, 2018

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Dear Melissa,

This Sunday, Jews around the world will observe a solemn Jewish holiday called Tisha B’Av. According to our tradition, it was on the 9th of Av that both the First and Second Temples were destroyed – first by the Babylonians in 586 BCE and then by the Romans in the year 70 CE. Jewish tradition further teaches that throughout our history many of the worst atrocities against the Jews fell on Tisha B’Av.

In remembrance of these catastrophes, many Jews observe a day-long fast and read from the Book of Lamentations, a scroll in which the author bewails the destruction of the First Temple and the exile of the Jews from Jerusalem.

While very few Reform Jews observe Tisha B’Av in a formal way, our angst and fears about Jerusalem continue to be real for all of us today. Our threats come from within our faith and from forces beyond us.

Internally, the Ultra-Orthodox control of the Temple Plaza and all religious activities in the State of Israel represents a threat to Jews around the world. Externally, issues concerning Jerusalem, in general, and the Temple Mount, in particular, remain a constant impediment to peace in the region. These are real concerns for all of us, and they remind us that Jerusalem is and has always been central to our faith.

L’Shalom-Steve

July 4, 2018

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Dear Friends,

Today is the Fourth of July, and tonight – as fireworks fill the skies and we stare into the heavens – our eyes focus on our unity as a nation regardless of creed or heritage. This sense of American pride is beautifully captured in the following words from our Sabbath prayer book:

God, who has made us one nation out of many peoples, amid our diversities of race and tradition, unite us in a common love of freedom and in a high ambition for our national life.

Continue in us the pioneering spirit which led our ancestors across the estranging sea and upheld them in the wilderness.

Deepen in the people of this land a devotion to the common good, so that we may open new doors of hope to the neglected and the oppressed. . .

Help us establish this land in righteousness. . . (Union Prayer Book p. 121).

These words remind us that we live in a country where diversity is celebrated and ingenuity of thought and belief are part of the fabric of our national identity. Indeed, each year we have a great deal to celebrate, and through our fireworks and picnics, we certainly do our share of rejoicing. However, if we fail to remember what the fireworks are all about; if we fail to appreciate the liberties we have been afforded and fail to defend the liberties of others, the Fourth of July will be just another day.

May the words of this prayer and the joys we plan to share with family and friends help us remember that we must constantly stand up for the core values of our nation so that in every generation liberty and freedom, diversity and independence will be guaranteed to all.

L’Shalom-Steve

June 27, 2018

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Dear Friends,

When Michael Green brought twenty members of his nationally acclaimed gospel choir to HCRJ for our Gospel Shabbat this year, their voices of praise and joy lifted our spirits in new and exciting ways. After a powerful Sabbath experience, Michael said, “If you thought that was good, you should experience the choir in its entirety!” That night we made a promise to keep this new relationship alive by building bridges of cooperation and trust through worship, music, shared experiences and fellowship.

Please consider joining us this Sunday, July 1 at 12:00 as we take our first steps in fulfilling this promise. Our goal is to bring twenty members from HCRJ to worship with their community and converse with their Kerygma Team (clergy) who will take us on a tour of the facilities, address any questions we have and share in fellowship and a light meal with their members.

The Church Without Walls Queenston Campus is located at 5725 Queenston Boulevard, Houston, TX 77084. Meet us at 11:45am in the main lobby of the church so we all can walk in and sit together. There is no need to RSVP, but advance notice to Justin at 713-782-4162 or admin@hcrj.org will help us coordinate our efforts.

For a little taste of the powerful sound of this gospel choir, click here.

L’Shalom-Steve

June 20, 2018

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Dear Friends,

Sunday was Father’s Day, and I hope that everyone had a wonderful day celebrating fatherhood and the joys that come with it. I know I did. As a father, few things are more satisfying than knowing that your children are growing up, and as my children range in age from 10 to 22 years, I feel blessed to be able to join my children as they journey the path from childhood to maturity.

Father’s Day (as well as Mother’s Day) serves to remind us of the fact that this lifelong journey is one of the greatest joys a parent can behold. These special days help us appreciate the sacred nature of this relationship we have with our children.

So to all our fathers (and all of us who are children), may Sunday’s celebration of fatherhood remain with us as more than a single day for a great meal with the family and an opportunity to share thoughts on cards. Rather, let Father’s Day compel us to embrace the journey and remind us to weave enduring memories associated with parenting into the fabric of our lives.

L’Shalom-Steve

June 13, 2018

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Dear Friends,

In the 8th century BCE, the Prophet Isaiah espoused the following words which remain a primary call for peace in the world today:

Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord [where]. . . God shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.—Isaiah 2:3–4

Isaiah’s words are words of hope that tools used for the sole purpose of destruction might one day be transformed into tools to help feed the world and serve human kind in a positive way. While nothing prophetic may have come out of the summit in Singapore, echoes of Isaiah were certainly present.

As it is with all efforts towards peace, we must proceed with extreme caution, but we must proceed nonetheless. The denuclearization of our world today has far more profound implications for the future of humanity than spears and pruning hooks did in the 8th century BCE. Therefore, as we reflect on the meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong Un (even if the details of any agreement are yet to be articulated), it must be seen in light of Isaiah’s vision of a world liberated from the shackles of human destruction.

L’Shalom-Steve