Pride Events, Our New Website and More

In This Edition

1. Our Upcoming Services

a) Our Annual Pride Shabbat Service, Saturday, June 27 @ 10:15 a.m. at MNJCC

b) Annual Musical Shabbat Morning, Saturday, July 4 @ 10:30 a.m. at MNJCC

2. Other Shir Libeynu Services, Events and News

a) Our New Website: Launched

b) March With Pride

i) Dyke March - Saturday, June 27

ii) Pride Parade - Sunday, June 28th

c) High Holy Days

d) In Memoriam - Arnell Saul Goldberg

3. Community Partner Events

a)Programs at the MNJCC

i) Playwriting Competition

ii) Every Body Dance: A Mixed-Abilities Dance Event

b) Heart to Heart Reception

Upcoming Services

Shir Libeynu's 9th Annual Pride Service

For All of Us, including Allies!

Join us as we celebrate great Queer Jews and also focus on the world-wide persecution of LGBTQs.

Saturday, June 27 @10:15 a.m.

(*Note New Date and Time*)

Says Rabbi Goldberg: "Allies (non-LGBTQ, but supportive always), please show the love by attending this very special service."

Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre
750 Spadina Avenue

3rd Floor, Michael Bernstein Chapel

We thank Elizabeth Abraham for sponsoring the kiddish lunch that follows the service.

We also thank Pride Committee members Jamie Flagal and Laurie Goodman for their donation in honour of Shir Libeynu's Pride events. We are grateful to them, and volunteer Dinah Rosen, for preparing the kiddish.

After kiddish, join a group of us as we head down to the Dyke March.

Annual Musical Shabbat Morning Service

Saturday, July 4, 2015

10:30 a.m.

Summer is in full bloom, and it is time to lose ourselves in song. Join our Chazzan, Daniela Gesundheit, long-time member Lorne Blumer, and other special guests from the Shir Libeynu community for our annual musical Shabbat morning service. This joyous and uplifting service will include a Torah reading.

Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre

3rd Floor, Michael Bernstein Chapel

A light Kiddush to follow.

Shabbat: The Junior Edition

During Shabbat Services

on June 27th and July 4th

Enjoy crafts, stories and a snack with Rebecca. For children ages three to eight years.

Shir Libeynu's New Website is Up and Running!

Go To: www.shirlibeynu.ca

Enjoy our new look, with more information, more photos, more of our story.

March With Pride

Join us after our Pride service

at the Dyke March

Saturday June 27, 2015, 2- 4 p.m.

12 p.m. - Pre-march sign making at Church and Bloor

1 p.m. - Line up at Church and Bloor

1:45 p.m. - Dyke March blessing by Nicole Tanguay

2 p.m. - March

March With Pride

Join us at the Pride Parade

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Parade starts at 2 p.m.

Toronto's LGBTTIQQ2SA Communities will Come OUT And Play!

Shir Libeynites Marching at World Pride Parade, 2014

Last year's World Pride was a truly joyous event and the Shir Libeynu community found many ways to make it a momentous celebration. This year we hope to continue that proud tradition. Once again, under the leadership of Reverend John Joseph Mastandrea, of the Metropolitan United Church, we will be joining other faith-based communities as part of the interfaith contingent in the Pride March.

This year's theme is "Let the Sunshine In" - and once again the March will be highlighting the plight and continuing persecution that many LGBTQs face around the globe. There will be a focus on the work of organizations such as Rainbow Railroad. Last year, Shir Libeynu's enthusiastic contingent danced up a storm on the march through the streets of downtown Toronto. We hope we can get out even more participants this year.

We will be starting at the corner of Church St. and Bloor St. and marching all the way down Yonge St. to Yonge-Dundas Square.

Please let us know if you will be marching with us.

High Holy Days Coming Soon!!

Congregation Shir Libeynu, the little shul that could, did, over the past remarkable year in our community's history! We celebrated High Holy Day services, Shabbat mornings, Kabbalat evenings and many holidays together. Our bar/bat mitzvah program launched with a series of classes, social events and Tzedekah activities for our first cohort of keen students. Our adult education series and alternative contemplative chanting sessions proved popular with many in and outside the community. As the longest-standing LGBTQ-inclusive Jewish congregation in Toronto, we led the way in World Pride last spring, with our involvement in a series of interfaith events and our advocacy for Queer rights, as well as our annual service. We also supported several non-profit groups and charities in our social justice outreach. Most notably, we rejoiced last November 22 at the ordination of our all-but-in-formal-title Rabbi Aviva Goldberg.

So it with delight that we look forward to the 2015/5776 High Holy Days (Sept. 13-15, 22-23). Please join us again this year for deep, joyous and participatory services with Rabbi Goldberg and

Chazzan Daniela Gesundheit leading us. All will take place at the congregational building of First Unitarian Toronto (St. Clair W. and Avenue Rd.). We will start registration for memberships (which include tickets to all services) in late June. As in years past, there is no charge for children to the age of 13, who will once again benefit from a host of wonderful programs and special services.

***New this year is an early Rosh Hashanah morning family service, especially for those with young children, and led by Rabbi Goldberg.

As an unaffiliated congregation without support from major foundations or federations, your membership fees and donations pay for all that we offer at High Holy Days and during the year: staffing, rentals, administration, kiddishes and other free meals, children's programs and all other costs. Being a member of Shir Libeynu places you within a haymishe, progressive community and gives you access to spiritual services, cultural and educational programs and a circle of caring, creative people dedicated to a meaningful Jewish life. Please click the links below for information on dates and a fee list.

High Holy Days 2015-5776 Schedule

2015-5776 Membership Fees and Ticket Prices

In Memoriam

With sadness, we announce the death of Arnell Saul Goldberg, beloved father of our past president and current board member, Eden Nameri, and loving grandfather to Jacob and Zohar, and life-long friend/former husband of Simone Brightstein. Arnell passed away on June 16, 2015, in Ottawa. The funeral was held on June 18, 2015. Donations in Arnell's memory can be made to Tenyad.ca or the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada.

To read more about Arnell, click here.

Our community extends sincere condolences to Arnell Goldberg's family. May his memory be a blessing.

Programs at The Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre (MNJCC),

our Community Partner

Canadian Jewish Playwriting Competition 2015

Call for Submissions by July 2nd

The Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre in Toronto and the Segal Centre for Performing Arts in Montreal are pleased to announce their partnership on the 2015 Canadian Jewish Playwriting Competition, a program of the MNjcc. For more information, click here.

Every Body Dance: A Mixed Abilities Dance Event

Sundays June 28, July 19, Aug 9, Sept 20

4:00 - 5:30 pm

5Rhythms� Movement with DJ Layah Jane!
Everyone Welcome - All Ages All Bodies.
Move, Dance, Groove!

More Information

Congregation Shir Libeynu Partner Event

Heart to Heart Community Reception

Monday, August 10th, 2015,

6:30 - 8:30pm

Event Hall at Congregation Darchei Noam

846 Sheppard Avenue West, Toronto

Registration is required.

Heart to Heart brings a group of Jewish and Palestinian Israeli youth from Israel to a three-week co-existence program hosted by Camp Shomria, a lake-side sleepaway camp in Northern Ontario. The program includes a reception where the participants speak about their experiences.

Help Heart to Heart: Help at Reception, Sponsor Heart to Heart Activities and/or Host Participants

Congregation Shir Libeynu was one of the first shuls in Canada to support the Heart to Heart initiative, and is proud to be a community partner with others for 2015.

The congregation holds Shabbat services monthly, in the Michael Bernstein Chapel, on the 3rd floor of the Miles Nadal JCC, followed by a light Kiddush. A free Shabbat program is offered for children during services. We also offer adult education workshops and programs, the opportunity to participate in our choir and chanting events, as well as holiday celebrations and Oneg Shabbat dinners throughout the year.

Shir Libeynu is a liberal, egalitarian

congregation, unaffiliated with any particular stream of Judaism. Our participatory services combine tradition and innovation. Shir Libeynu is Hebrew for "song of our hearts," and our services include prayers and music both ancient and modern. Our diverse community is a welcoming one.

Shir Libeynu Fund

Proceeds from the fund will go towards ensuring that Shir Libeynu continues to thrive while ensuring access to everyone, regardless of their financial situation.

Click here to donate to the Shir Libeynu Fund (please note that we do not have credit card capability - just PayPal).

Alternatively, you can make out a cheque to Congregation Shir Libeynu (please write "Shir Libeynu Fund" in the "Memo" or "Re" section on the cheque) and mail it to:

Congregation

Shir Libeynu,

P.O Box 73509

Toronto, Ontario

M6C 4A7

Please send an email message to [email protected]

stating the reason for your donation so we can acknowledge it in the e-letter and on our website.

Donations in any amount are welcome and income tax receipts will be issued.

Rabbi

Aviva Goldberg's

Ordination

On November 22nd, we honoured Aviva for her dedication and service to Congregation Shir Libeynu and celebrated her ordination (smicha) as a rabbi for our community.

Along with a traditional Havdalah service, we held this unique celebration of Jewish leadership, Jewish continuity and progress. With Aviva's guidance and bravery, Shir Libeynu has led the way in Toronto for acceptance and full involvement of women, interfaith couples and the LGBT community. We were the trailblazers and we will continue to be the leading edge in Jewish pluralism and social responsibility in Toronto and Canada.

In honour of this day and to build for the future, we started the Rabbi's Program Development Fund. We continue to welcome funds from Congregation Shir Libeynu family and friends to make a special donation in Aviva's honour to the Rabbi's Program Development Fund. Donations will provide funds for programming and projects that are near and dear to Rabbi Aviva's heart and reflect the shul's interest and needs.

For more information, on Rabbi Goldberg's ordination on November 22nd, 2014/57752 or to make a donation to Rabbi's Program Development Fund, please click here.