Dear Friends,

I am very pleased to invite you to join us for a specific worship experience at Temple Adat Shalom, a weekday afternoon/evening service. Although many of us may remember to quickly thank God for our good fortunes, or utter a plea under our breaths as we wish for some wrong to become right, someone sick to be healthy, or our child to succeed where he or she is struggling, we do not often take the time to pray fully each day. Prayer is time set aside to be mindful of our relationships with God, of the precious nature of our own lives, and the lives of those we love. It is an opportunity for reflection, for spiritual rejuvenation, and community connection. Although personal, private prayers are always meaningful, it is especially powerful to pray together in a supportive spiritual environment.

Our service is held Monday through Thursday at 6pm in the chapel. The service will last about one half hour, and will include either the daily afternoon or evening liturgy as well as some time for private mediation. The prayers will be led by Cantor Frank, myself, or a specially trained member of our congregation. If we each come once a month, we will always have a minyan (the quorum of ten needed for public prayer).

I hope that our weekday service will serve many purposes: an opportunity to say Kaddish on a daily basis for someone we love, a time simply to mediate in silence, to pray for healing, or just to practice our Hebrew. Peter Davison, a modern poet, reminds us:

There's only one surprise-
To be alive-and that
may be forgotten daily
If daily not remembered.

Let us remember our gift of life, and give thanks.

Rabbi Tamar Malino