From Reb Sally Shore Wittenberg
Dear Kerhonkson Synagogue Community and Friends,
Shalom, and welcome!
My name is Reb Sally Shore-Wittenberg and I have had the honor to serve as the spiritual leader of the Kerhonkson Synagogue since 2012, and to consider as home this jewel of a shul and community.
I trained for the rabbinate for five years at the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York, and will be, B”H, receiving private semikha (ordination) in the late summer.
Our congregation is post-denominational, that is, we are not affiliated with any Jewish denomination or movement. This manifests in both our choice of prayer book, Mishkan Tefila issued out of the Reform movement, and the Renewal style format of our services. We hold space in each service for the meditative/contemplative, the traditional form and words, and musical expressions of devotion.
And of course we offer and delight in active engagement with each other and Torah at every service. We read from Torah, the week’s reading serving as a springboard for learning and discussion to bring our words of Torah close to our hearts, minds and daily lives.
I strive to hold the space for our sacred community to honor differences with care and kindness. All differences: in opinion, in lives well lived, in cultural reference points, and religious beliefs. We offer a class in Jewish ethical development, Mussar, in order that our actions come to align with our holy intention to accept and celebrate all others.
During the pandemic it became clear that people were suffering spiritually, their regular touchstones inaccessible. A regular practitioner and certified teacher of Jewish mindfulness meditation, I began actively offering daily Torah-informed Jewish mindfulness meditation sits that are ongoing.
We offer a monthly Shabbat service in person and on Zoom as well as a monthly Kabbalat Shabbat service by Zoom in winter and outdoors in spring, summer, and fall.
I hope you will come and experience for yourself the warmth and engagement of our Kerhonkson Synagogue community.
Reb Sally
Sally Shore-Wittenberg
Spiritual Leader Kerhonkson Synagogue