B'yachad
B’yachad, which means “together,” is the social heart of Temple Emeth. We plan, execute, and support activities and events that are of interest to all Temple members. Historically, B’yachad has been a combined Brotherhood and Sisterhood designed to “help achieve the religious, charitable, social, and educational goals of Temple Emeth.”
B’YACHAD Activities Include:
Social Events: We run various social events to build our congregational community, including: Family Outings; Minor League Baseball Games; Comedy Night; Artist-in-Residence; Middle Eastern Cooking; Opera events; Paint Night; Klezmer Concerts; Israeli Dancing and more! Of course, each event includes a meal/nosh and time for kibitzing and socializing.
Sunday Morning Breakfast Meetings: We have B’yachad Breakfasts, where our Temple community gets together for an informative presentation and lively discussion, while enjoying a bagel breakfast. Recent speakers/topics have included: Artist Andrea Strongwater, who presented Lost Synagogues of Europe; Rabbi Sirbu, who discussed Lessons from the Pandemic; Tom Meyers, who presented The History of Jews in the New Jersey Film Industry; Temple member Sam Gronner, who discussed his book, Loss & Legacy: The Half-Century Quest to Reclaim a Birthright Stolen by the Nazis; Historian Marty Schneit, who presented The Borscht Belt and The Lower East Side; and High School Student Laurence Fine, who presented on Youth Activism in Gun Violence Protection.
Please Note: We are looking forward to continuing our breakfast events in-person in the synagogue with bagels in the near future!
Here are our latest Sunday Breakfasts:
July 9, 2023 at 10:30 a.m. B'yachad will offer American Jewish History in Eight Synagogues. Starting with the historic 1763 Touro Synagogue in Rhode Island (the oldest American synagogue building still standing), we can actually track our hisotry in America through our synagogues. In honor of our nation's birthday, Eitan Kastner will take us through slides and stories of eight significant congregations and their buildings that reflect our own growing and ever-changing history.
A graduate of Yeshiva University, Kastner earned his masters degree at the University o f Chicago, focusing primarily on American religious history. He shares that knowledge on a regular basis, teaching history and art history at Frisch and working as a licensed New York City tour guide, leading excursions with Jewish and historical themes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
October 15, 2023 at 10:30 a.m.
Jews on the Chocolate Trail to be presented by Rabbi Debbie Prinz
November 19, 2023 at 10:30 a.m.
Four Great Jewish Musicals to be presented by David Benkof.
Fundraising and Donations
Contributions to B'yachad have been used to help the Religious School, provide gifts to the Confirmation Class and B’nai Mitzvot, Youth Scholarships, RAC Trip, Sukkah building and decorations, and to other Temple and community events.
We welcome your ideas, comments and thoughts, especially suggestions for future Breakfast Speakers and events. Thank you for your continued support.
Email us at byachad@emeth.org.
Temple Emeth members, left to right, Lynn Chaiken, chair of the Social Action Committee, and Michael and Gayle Goldberg, co-chairs of B'yachad, are joined by representatives from Food & Water Watch, an environmental activities organization, who spoke on current environmental issues.
Temple Emeth member Sandi Klein talks about some of the more interesting Jewish women she has interviewed on her podcast, "Conversations with Creative Women."
