Starting in January 2020, Malkhut and the Reform Temple of Forest Hills will be co-sponsoring an Intro to Judaism class on Thursday evenings in Jackson Heights (hosted by Malkhut). In this 14-session class, you will explore Jewish thought, prayer and practice, learn about Jewish history and holidays, wrestle with inherited texts and contemporary issues, and discuss Jewish views of God, ethics, life and death. Led by Rabbi Sue Oren, a Brooklyn-based adult educator who teaches Jewish, interfaith and secular topics, locally and internationally. Registration fee: $375 ($325 for early birds) plus a $25 materials fee. (Malkhut Partners get an extra $25 discount) For more information, email Rabbi Oren.
Children's Learning Program
Our Shabbat Morning Children's Learning Program meets from 9:30 AM-1PM on the first Saturday of the month during our monthly Shabbat mornings in Jackson Heights. While adults are engaged in study, prayer, and mindfulness with Rabbi G., children gather separately with Jewish educator Nadya Goldman and Music Director Kris Wettstein.This program is for children ages 3-8. Children will be divided into two age groups (3s/4s and 5-8) and will rotate between sessions. Nadya's session utilizes Reggio Emilia-style child-centered learning with stories and art. This year the class will explore Jewish holidays and the spiritual theme of "Hakarat Ha-Tov," or noticing the good. Kris' session exposes children to Jewish prayer through a musical Shabbat morning service at their developmental level.
Tuition is $150 per family. Click here for more details and the registration form.
Intro to Judaism Class
Starting in January 2020, Malkhut and the Reform Temple of Forest Hills will be co-sponsoring an Intro to Judaism class on Thursday evenings in Jackson Heights (hosted by Malkhut). In this 14-session class, you will explore Jewish thought, prayer and practice, learn about Jewish history and holidays, wrestle with inherited texts and contemporary issues, and discuss Jewish views of God, ethics, life and death. Led by Rabbi Sue Oren, a Brooklyn-based adult educator who teaches Jewish, interfaith and secular topics, locally and internationally. Registration fee: $375 ($325 for early birds) plus a $25 materials fee. (Malkhut Partners get an extra $25 discount) Email Rabbi Oren for more information.
Malkhut’s 2019 High Holy Days Services: Share Your Light
For High Holy Days this Fall, Malkhut is moving to a new venue and collaborating with more local organizations. Services will take place at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City. Kehillat Tikvah, Queens Jewish Project, and Wandering Jews of Astoria will collaborate on services and other holiday programming. As in past years, Malkhut’s Rabbi Rachel Goldenberg will lead services, which will be open to everyone—no membership required.
The move to La Guardia Community College means that services will be easily accessible from all over Queens by car or public transportation. Rosh Hashanah services will be held the evening of September 29th and the morning of September 30th. Yom Kippur services will take place the evening of October 8th and all day on October 9th, concluding with Break the Fast in the evening. Childcare and a children’s educational program will be available during morning services.
Click here for a full schedule and more information. This High Holy Day season is supported by a grant from UJA-Federation of New York.
Come be a part of a new effort to build a progressive Jewish spiritual community in Western Queens (LIC, Astoria, Jackson Heights, Sunnyside, Woodside). Our vision is to transform Jewish people, fellow travelers and the world by creating connections to each other, to the One and to our greater community. We practice ecstatic, musical, and contemplative prayer, mindfulness meditation through a Jewish lens, study of Jewish sources, and social justice work. We are striving to build an open, inclusive community of spiritual seekers, especially for those who may not have found a home in more conventional religious settings. We want to be community composed of Jewish individuals of all ages, fellow travelers, families with kids, interfaith couples, Jews of color, LGBTQ folks, and curious seekers. We are creating a space that honors the inspiration and meaning that so many Jews have found in many eastern spiritual traditions, and our doors are open to those from other faith traditions who find meaning in Judaism.
A Statement on Malkhut's Decision to Stop Using the Music of Shlomo Carlebach
Earlier this year, Malkhut, a new progressive Jewish spiritual community in Western Queens, made a decision to stop playing and singing the melodies of Shlomo Carlebach in our community's Shabbat and holiday services, and other spiritual gatherings.
In Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), Malkhut is associated with the feminine aspect of the Divine and can be understood to represent our experience of Being unfolding in every moment. Prayer, singing, chant and meditation are core elements of our community's practice, intended to open our hearts and cultivate awareness of love and compassion as it unfolds from moment to moment in our experience. A number of our core melodies, including the Lecha Dodi (“Come, My Beloved,” a central liturgical piece with which we welcome Shabbat on Friday evenings) we had used since our growing community’s inception in 2016, were composed by Carlebach. Much more of our music was written by composers that either knew him personally, or took great inspiration from him. It could be said that our ecstatic, joyful approach to song and prayer bears his imprint. He is a figure who has loomed large, not just in our history and music, but in our individual experiences of connecting with the Divine.
Shlomo Carlebach was a charismatic rabbi whose music is nearly ubiquitous in American Jewish life, across denominations of Judaism. His music and teachings deeply inspired and awakened generations of Jewish spiritual seekers. He is also reported to have sexually harassed and sexually abused many women and girls over a period of decades, and, unfortunately, there is no indication that he took any significant steps toward making amends for this during his lifetime. While Carlebach's predatory behavior has been an open secret in the Jewish world for decades, the popularization of the “me, too” movement (which originated in 2006 with Tarana Burke, a black activist and community organizer) in the past year has led some Jewish communities to begin to honestly grapple with what it means to continue to play and sing his melodies, in light of the harm he has caused, and the harm encountering his music has continued to cause to his and other survivors of sexual harassment and sexual abuse. The question of what to do with this figure who has wielded king-like power and influence, in ways both good and troubling, is a thorny one. We share our experiences in hope that it may benefit others, and in the hope of sparking further dialogue and progress along this path of reckoning and reconciliation. If there is one thing our process has convinced us of, it is of the urgency of this conversation, and its wide-reaching implications for spiritual community.
Shlomo Carlebach was a charismatic rabbi whose music is nearly ubiquitous in American Jewish life, across denominations of Judaism. His music and teachings deeply inspired and awakened generations of Jewish spiritual seekers. He is also reported to have sexually harassed and sexually abused many women and girls over a period of decades, and, unfortunately, there is no indication that he took any significant steps toward making amends for this during his lifetime. While Carlebach's predatory behavior has been an open secret in the Jewish world for decades, the popularization of the “me, too” movement (which originated in 2006 with Tarana Burke, a black activist and community organizer) in the past year has led some Jewish communities to begin to honestly grapple with what it means to continue to play and sing his melodies, in light of the harm he has caused, and the harm encountering his music has continued to cause to his and other survivors of sexual harassment and sexual abuse. The question of what to do with this figure who has wielded king-like power and influence, in ways both good and troubling, is a thorny one. We share our experiences in hope that it may benefit others, and in the hope of sparking further dialogue and progress along this path of reckoning and reconciliation. If there is one thing our process has convinced us of, it is of the urgency of this conversation, and its wide-reaching implications for spiritual community.
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