Wed - Oct 01, 2008
Rosh Hashanah
9:00 AM - Children's Service, ages 3-8
10:00 AM - Adult Services, led by Rabbi Julie Greenberg and Cantor Ron Fischman and Leyv Ha-Ir Choir

Thu - Oct 02, 2008
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Council Meeting
Ethical Society

Sat - Oct 04, 2008
10:00 AM
Shabbat Morning Service
Lay-led
Our service, Torah discussion and pot-luck lunch will take place at the Ethical Society.

Wed - Oct 08, 2008
6:00 PM
Kol Nidre
Services at the Ethical Society with Rabbi Julie, Cantor Ron Fischman and the Leyv Ha-Ir Choir

Thu - Oct 09, 2008
9 :00 AM - Children's service, ages 3-8
10:00 AM - Yom Kippur Service, all day led by Rabbi Julie, Cantor Ron Fischman and the Leyv Ha-Ir choir. Stay for Break Fast (about 7:30 PM).

All services are held at the Ethical Society Building, 1906 S. Rittenhouse Square. Reservations MUST be made by calling 215-529-1995 or visiting our website.

Mon - Oct 13, 2008
7:30 PM
Sukkot Service
Our service with Rabbi Julie will be held at Iris N's, 1919 Chestnut St., #2507 on her balcony sukkah.

Tue - Oct 21, 2008
7:30 PM
Erev Simchat Torah Service
We'll celebrate the beginning of a new Torah cycle with the Gershman Y Congregation at the Y, Broad and Pine Streets.

Fri - Oct 24, 2008
7:00 AM
Shabbat home service and pot-luck dinner to be held at Evy's home, #2818, 1901 JFK Blvd. Contact Evy at 215-561-7474 or evysimon@hotmail.com to let her know what you're bringing for the veggie/dairy potluck.

Mon - Oct 27, 2008
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
"Lunch & Learn" with Rabbi Julie
"Bible Stories for Grown-ups" discussed by Rabbi Julie Greenberg
At the Bellevue, Broad & Walnut Streets

As part of the Kehillah of Center City we are invited to attend all of the events that are sponsored by the Kehillah and our larger community. To learn more about these events, check out the link to Center City Kehillah.

Dear Chevre (Circle of friends),

A very special welcome to all of you who have become members of Leyv Ha-Ir~Heart of the City for the journey into the New Year. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Membership is the life force of congregational life. Through your presence, your energy and your dues, you have become partners in sustaining Jewish community life. Your membership is a meaningful way to say "I am willing to belong. I care about the future of Judaism."

I welcome you to take your time in exploring this community: it's a feast of amazing people to get to know, opportunities to serve the greater good through our Chesed (caring) committee and Tikkun Olam (repair of the world) committee, and places to study, pray, make friends and make plans. I hope that wherever you choose to engage in this congregation it is spiritually nourishing for you.

Please feel free to ask me or any of our old-timers any questions you have about this congregation, about Reconstructionism or about Judaism. We also want to hear your ideas and yearnings. We're all glad to share what we can and have a chance to get to know you better.

Looking forward to a great year,
Rabbi Julie

It's the season for our annual membership campaign again. Join the journey!

Do you want Judaism to be interwoven into your life? Synagogues keep Judaism alive. Leyv Ha-Ir~Heart of the City helps Judaism evolve into its future.

Do you want to learn more about Jewish values and wisdom? Synagogues are places that transmit stories, ethics and spiritual practices from generation to generation. Leyv Ha-Ir~Heart of the City's active community and vibrant Rabbi make life-long education a priority.

Do you want a community to embrace you and your family through the ups and downs of life, drawing on the deep well of Jewish tradition? Synagogues help people live by the sacred cycle of the year and of a life. Leyv Ha-Ir~Heart of the City is a multi-generational circle of individuals wanting to care about you.

We invite you to make all this happen by joining Leyv Ha-Ir~Heart of the City.

Iris Newman, chair of the Ritual Committee of Leyv Ha-Ir, was born in Philadelphia's St. Agnes Hospital, and raised in the Wynnefield section, then Merion. She was brought up in Conservative Judaism. "I went to Camp Ramah, which is important in my Jewish identity," she recalls. "I went to Brandeis (University) and I went to Hillel there. In graduate school and thereafter I was pretty much not involved, except when I went with my mother to her Conservative synagogue on the High Holy Days. That was back at a time when Jewish congregations were set up for married couples, of which I was not. And after I got married, my husband didn't want to go to services. "I felt out of place in a Jewish congregation," adds Newman, "until I found Reconstructionism, where your being married or not is totally irrelevant." Another thing that drew her to Reconstructionism, says Newman, was, "The first thing I saw in my first Reconstructionist service was Roby (Jacobs) carrying the Torah. I didn't know a woman could carry the Torah, but when I saw it done, that was the place for me." Newman has served as Ritual Chair for a number of years; Of her work, she says, "The Rabbi consults us on the content of services. We run the (lay-led Saturday morning) minyan and other lay-led services, and we help out with the rabbi-led services. We also provide coordination with the High Holy Day committee and other groups."

Of her professional background, she says, "I have a Masters degree in City Planning, and I worked in that field for a number of years, and eventually the field shrank to the point where I was out of a job, so I went to work for the federal government, (working) on grants administration."

--Article written by John Mason.

Just a taste of what you are being offered? The first of four discussions on "Bible Stories for Adults".

Looking ahead to October 27, noon, a discussion with Rabbi Julie:

King David and Batsheva

In an era of near-constant news about the sexual misconduct of high officials, we will explore the premier story of King David and Batsheva. King David acted outside the respected bounds of marriage. What does the Bible have to teach us through this fascinating story? What did King David have in common with Bill Clinton, Elliot Spitzer, John Edwards and many others? Join us for an engaging text study and lively discussion.

Held at an office in the Bellevue, Broad and Walnt, details will follow. No charge and open to the public. Brings friends!