Potluck Dinner, Tu B'Shvat Seder, Remembrance for Ira P. May z"l
2024-01-26 18:30 - 21:00 (America/New_York)
Potluck Dinner, Tu B’Shvat Seder, and Remembrance for Ira P. May z”l
Join us on this special evening for:
6:30 pm – Potluck Dinner
7:15 pm – Tu B’Shvat Seder
8:00 pm – Remembrance of the Life of Ira P. May z”l
You are welcome to attend any or all parts of the evening.
We begin with a Potluck Dinner at 6:30 pm. Please bring a dairy, vegetarian, or vegan dish to share. (We’d like to start the dinner right at 6:30 so we’ll be able to move on to the Seder at 7:15 pm.)
The participatory Tu B’Shvat Seder will celebrate the “New Year for the Trees” as this holiday has come to be known. Originally an ancient holiday to mark the beginning of a new growing year, Tu B’Shvat has evolved to symbolize an appreciation for our planet and environmental awareness. During the Seder, we’ll enjoy several different types of fruit as we reflect on the elemental forces of Earth, Water, Air, and Fire.
After the Seder, we will have a Remembrance of the Life of Ira P. May z”l, who passed away last week. Ira was a Beit Tikvah Board Member, a Techie, a Scientist, a Family Man, and an all-around “Mensch.” He will be missed by the many people whose lives he touched.
RSVP to info@beittikvah.org.

Rabbi-Led Shabbat Service
2024-02-10 10:00 - 13:00
10:00 am Rabbi Doug Heifetz Leads Shabbat Service
Rabbi Doug Heifetz will lead this Shabbat morning service and discussion. This week’s Torah portion, Mishpatim, turns from the spectacular revelation of the ten commandments at Mt. Sinai to a discussion of relatively mundane laws. It turns from the clear call “Do not murder”, to a discussion of what to do in case of accidental death or manslaughter. Why the sudden turn? Isn’t this a letdown? Shouldn’t religion stick with the high and lofty stuff? What can we learn for our daily lives from this literary shift?

Please bring a dairy, vegan or vegetarian dish to share for the Community Kiddush. Please RSVP to info@beittikvah.org if you plan to attend.

Congregant-Led Erev Shabbat Service
2024-02-23 18:30 - 21:00
6:30 pm Congregant-Led Erev Shabbat Service
We begin with a Potluck Dinner at 6:30 pm. Please bring a dairy, vegan or vegetarian dish to share.
Our service starts at 7:30 pm, followed by a discussion of this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Tetzaveh, led by our Beit Tikvah member Miriam Winder Kelly. Miriam has researched attributes of the 12 tribes putting them into a spreadsheet to compare how they are presented in Jewish literature such as the Mishnah, Talmud, and modern writings. She will present this fascinating project and ask us to figure out where we fit into this array of strengths and weaknesses to claim a tribe as our own.
Come be part of this fascinating exploration!
Please RSVP to info@beittikvah.org.

Guest Rabbi Leads Shabbat Service
2024-03-09 10:00 - 13:00
10:00 am Guest Rabbi Ruth Smith Leads Shabbat Service

Rabbi Ruth Smith will lead this Shabbat morning service and discussion.
When a Door Closes, a Window Opens: The Babylonian Exile and Its Meaning for Us Today
As we prepare for Purim, we look at the Jewish community living in Babylon. Who were they? What kind of political and financial power did they have? How do their lives mirror our own, and what is their place in the history of Judaism? We will put the “Babylonian Exile” into the context of the world at the time as we explore the period between the destruction of the First Temple and the destruction of the Second Temple. It is a period which saw the transition of Judaism from a minor cult positioned between two warring empires: Egypt and Assyria, to a community situated in the heart of the Persian Empire.

Please bring a dairy, vegan or vegetarian dish to share for the Community Kiddush.
Please RSVP to info@beittikvah.org.

Beit Tikvah Book Club
2024-03-11 19:00 - 21:00
7:00 pm on Zoom – Beit Tikvah Book Club
Join Rabbi Doug Heifetz and other book lovers to talk about “My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew” by Abigail Pogrebin.
A finalist for the 2018 National Jewish Book Award, this book is a lively chronicle of the author’s journey into the spiritual heart of Judaism. “My Jewish Year” travels through the Jewish calendar’s signposts with candor, humor, and a trove of information, capturing the arc of Jewish observance through the eyes of a relatable, wandering — and wondering — Jew. The chapters are interspersed with brief reflections from prominent rabbis and Jewish thinkers.
If you’d like to join us for this event, please contact us at info@beittikvah.org for information and the Zoom link. The novel is available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle or Audible.

Purim Megillah Reading
2024-03-22 18:30 - 21:00
6:30 pm Purim Megillah Reading and Potluck Dinner
Happy Purim!
Join us for a potluck dinner followed by a community reading of the Megillah (in English). Please bring a dairy, vegan or vegetarian dish to share.
Feel free to come in costume (or not) and bring noisemakers to drown out the name of the villain Haman as we read the Megillah.
Please RSVP to info@beittikvah.org.

Rabbi-Led Shabbat Service
2024-04-13 10:00 - 13:00
10:00 am Rabbi Doug Heifetz Leads Shabbat Service

Rabbi Doug Heifetz will lead this Shabbat morning service and discussion.
Freedom from the Shackles of Ego: Why Isn’t Moses in the Haggadah?
This lunch study & discussion will focus on the Haggadah – the booklet Jews read together at our festive seder meals for the upcoming Passover holiday. The Haggadah retells and expands upon the story of our Israelite ancestors leaving Egypt. In the original story, from the biblical Book of Exodus, Moses is the central human character. However, most traditional versions of the Haggadah don’t mention Moses at all. Why not??!! The basic answer is very traditional and pious, but it can also inspire even the least pious and least traditionally-minded among us. Come and discuss!

Please bring a dairy, vegan or vegetarian dish to share for the Community Kiddush/lunch. Please RSVP to info@beittikvah.org if you plan to attend.

Passover Potluck Seder
2024-04-26 18:30 - 21:00
6:30 pm Passover Potluck Seder
Important Reminder: For those of you who made the required reservations by April 24th, we’ll see you at the Potluck Seder.
If you didn’t make a reservation by the April 24th deadline, you’ll have to wait until next year! NO WALK-INS ADMITTED!

Beit Tikvah Book Club
2024-04-29 19:00 - 21:00
7:00 pm on Zoom – Beit Tikvah Book Club
Join Rabbi Doug Heifetz and other book mavens to talk about the next selection of the BT Book Club: “Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai” by Matti Friedman.
The untold story of Leonard Cohen’s concert tour to the front lines of the Yom Kippur War, including never-before-seen selections from an unfinished manuscript by Cohen and rare photographs
In October 1973, the poet and singer Leonard Cohen — thirty-nine years old, famous, unhappy, and at a creative dead end — traveled to the chaos and bloodshed of the Sinai desert when Egypt attacked Israel on the Jewish high holiday of Yom Kippur. Moving around the front with a group of local musicians, Cohen sang for hundreds of young soldiers, men and women at the worst moment of their lives. Those who survived never forgot the experience. And the war transformed Cohen, reigniting his creativity and inspiring him to compose some of his most memorable songs. Who by Fire provides a riveting account of those weeks in the Sinai, drawing on Cohen’s previously unpublished writing and original reporting to create a kaleidoscopic depiction of a harrowing, formative moment for both a young country at war and a singer at a crossroads.

If you’d like to join us for this event, please contact us at info@beittikvah.org for information and the Zoom link. The book is available on Amazon in paperback, hardback, Kindle or Audible.

Congregant-Led Shabbat Service
2024-05-18 10:00 - 13:00
10:00 am Congregant-Led Shabbat Service
Join us for a Congregant-led Shabbat morning service for Parsha Emor with Kiddush and a discussion in observance of Armed Forces Day today.
Reminder: May 18 is the 25th day of the Omer, halfway between Passover and Shavuot!
10:00 am Service (mainly in English)
11:00 am Community Kiddush – Please bring a dairy, vegan, or vegetarian dish to share.
11:45 am Discussion: Remembering those who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces
Please RSVP to info@beittikvah.org.
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NOTE: IF YOU HAVE UNOPENED SURPLUS PASSOVER NON-PERISHABLES that you don’t plan to use, bring them to Beit Tikvah for donation to a local food pantry.

Prepare Spiritually for Shavuot with Yiscah Smith - Thursday Evening at Beit Tikvah
2024-06-06 19:30 - 21:30
Prepare Spiritually for Shavuot with Yiscah Smith:
Teachings & Meditations from the Piaseczner Rebbe
Join co-sponsors East Bank Havurah, Congregation Beit Tikvah, and Chevrei Tzedek Congregation in welcoming Yiscah Smith as our scholar-in-residence to help us prepare for Shavuot.
Yiscah Smith is a thought leader, spiritual activist, and agent of change who addresses the spiritual practice of encountering the Divine spark within, the foundation of authentic living. Yiscah teaches Jewish contemplative practice and spiritual texts at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies and at Applied Jewish Spirituality in Israel as well as through the Institute for Jewish Spirituality in the U.S.. Yiscah has earned a reputation as a sought-after inspiring international public speaker and a teacher of the Piaseczner Rebbe’s works.

The following free events are included in this program:

Thursday evening, June 6th, 7:30 pm, at Congregation Beit Tikvah
(In person and on Zoom)
‘Encountering the Divine Through Emotional Intelligence’
(Roland Park Community Center, 5802 Roland Ave, Baltimore, MD 21210)

Saturday afternoon, June 8th, 12:00 noon (approximately), at Chevrei Tzedek Congregation
(In person only)
‘The Emotive Aspects of Talmud Torah’
(Edward A. Myerberg Center, 3101 Fallstaff Rd, Baltimore, MD 21209)

Saturday evening, June 8th, 8:00 pm, at Congregation Beit Tikvah
(In person and on Zoom)
‘The Eternal’s Gift of Torah’
(Roland Park Community Center, 5802 Roland Ave, Baltimore, MD 21210)

Click here for more information about the program.

Registration is required in order to attend one or more of these free events, either in person or via Zoom.
REGISTRATION IS CLOSED. NO WALK-INS.

Prepare Spiritually for Shavuot with Yiscah Smith - Saturday Afternoon at Chevrei Tzedek Congregation
2024-06-08 12:00 - 15:00

Prepare Spiritually for Shavuot with Yiscah Smith - Saturday Evening at Beit Tikvah
2024-06-08 20:00 - 22:00

Beit Tikvah Community Meeting
2024-06-23 16:30 - 18:00
4:30 pm Beit Tikvah Community Meeting
Join us at the Roland Park Community Center on Sunday, June 23 at 4:30 pm for a conversation about future plans at Beit Tikvah.
Please RSVP to info@beittikvah.org by 12:00 Noon on Sunday, June 23rd to let us know if you wish to attend the meeting in person or on Zoom.

Rabbi-Led Shabbat Service
2024-06-29 10:00 - 13:00
10:00 am Rabbi-Led Shabbat Service
To Bigotry, No Sanction: Jewish Celebration of American Independence
Join Rabbi Doug Heifetz for this Shabbat morning service and a study session in the spirit of the 4th of July. We will read some of the writings of the earliest Jewish Americans in the era of independence. Their writings show a conviction and belief in our country and our government that Jews in other lands did not echo about their own countries of residence. Why did the early American Jews show such pride and conviction? What was special to them? Is it still special to us? What will help us to preserve and renew their convictions in our own lives?

Please bring a dairy, vegan, or vegetarian dish to share for the Community Kiddush/lunch.
Please RSVP to info@beittikvah.org.

Beit Tikvah Book Club
2024-07-08 19:00 - 21:00
7:00 pm on Zoom – Beit Tikvah Book Club
Join us at our next Book Club meeting led by Rabbi Doug Heifetz. The book is To the End of the Earth: A History of the Crypto-Jews of New Mexico, by Stanley Hordes. Here’s a description:
In 1981, while working as New Mexico State Historian, Stanley M. Hordes began to hear stories of Hispanos who lit candles on Friday night and abstained from eating pork. Puzzling over the matter, Hordes realized that these practices might very well have been passed down through the centuries from early crypto-Jewish settlers in New Spain. After extensive research and hundreds of interviews, Hordes concluded that there was, in New Mexico and the Southwest, a Sephardic legacy derived from the converso community of Spanish Jews.
In To the End of the Earth, Hordes explores the remarkable story of crypto-Jews and the tenuous preservation of Jewish rituals and traditions in Mexico and New Mexico over the past five hundred years. He follows the crypto-Jews from their Jewish origins in medieval Spain and Portugal to their efforts to escape persecution by migrating to the New World and settling in the far reaches of the northern Mexican frontier.
If you’d like to join us for this event, please contact us at info@beittikvah.org for more information and the Zoom link.

Potluck Dinner & Congregant-Led Service
2024-07-12 18:30 - 21:00
6:30 pm Potluck Dinner & Congregant-Led Service
Bring a friend to tonight’s service or maybe make new friends here. We’ll have a potluck dinner at 6:30 pm, followed by a short congregant-led service, then a discussion of this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Chukat.
Please bring a dairy, vegan, or vegetarian dish to share.
July 11 is National Blueberry Muffin Day.
July 12 is National French Fry Day and National Pecan Pie Day.
Let’s include Blueberry Muffins, French Fries and Pecan Pie in our potluck meal!
Please RSVP to info@beittikvah.org.

Rabbi-Led Shabbat Service
2024-07-20 10:00 - 13:00
10:00 am Rabbi Doug Heifetz Leads Shabbat Service
If Our Animals Could Talk
This week’s Torah portion, Parshat Balak, includes the only example in the Torah of an animal who speaks in human language. For a brief moment, a donkey speaks to the prophet Balaam. What does a speaking animal add to the story? What about for us? If our animals could speak, what would they have to say? What would it add to our stories?
Please bring a dairy, vegan, or vegetarian dish to share for the Community Kiddush/lunch.
Please RSVP to info@beittikvah.org.

Rabbi-Led Shabbat Service
2024-08-17 10:00 - 13:00
10:00 am Rabbi Doug Heifetz Leads Shabbat Service
The Cycle of Love, Grief, and Renewal
At this time of year, the Jewish holiday cycle leads us through a very mournful holiday, Tisha B’Av, followed immediately by the Tu B’Av holiday, a festival of romantic love. What are the historic roots of the holidays? More importantly, what do they mean for us? How can we take hope and renew joy through the cycle they represent?

Please bring a dairy, vegan, or vegetarian dish to share for the Community Kiddush/lunch.
Please RSVP to info@beittikvah.org.

Potluck Dinner & Congregant-Led Service
2024-09-06 18:30 - 21:00
6:30 pm Potluck Dinner & Congregant-Led Service
Join us for a Potluck Dinner and then a short service for Parsha Shoftim followed by a discussion of a core tenet of Judaism: Justice, Justice Shall You Pursue.
Torah exhorts us to judge with “righteous judgment.” We mere mortals do not have super-powers, like in the DC or Marvel Universe, but what problems do you tackle to make the world a better place?
Please bring a dairy, vegan, or vegetarian dish to share at the Potluck Dinner.
Please RSVP to info@beittikvah.org.

Beit Tikvah Book Club
2024-09-16 20:00 - 22:00
8:00 pm on Zoom – Beit Tikvah Book Club
Join Rabbi Doug Heifetz and others at the next Book Club meeting. The book we will discuss is Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policeman’s Union. Here’s the description:

For sixty years Jewish refugees and their descendants have prospered in the Federal District of Sitka, a “temporary” safe haven created in the wake of the Holocaust and the shocking 1948 collapse of the fledgling state of Israel. The Jews of the Sitka District have created their own little world in the Alaskan panhandle, a vibrant and complex frontier city that moves to the music of Yiddish. But now the District is set to revert to Alaskan control, and their dream is coming to an end.
Homicide detective Meyer Landsman of the District Police has enough problems without worrying about the upcoming Reversion. His life is a shambles, his marriage a wreck, his career a disaster. And in the cheap hotel where Landsman has washed up, someone has just committed a murder—right under his nose. When he begins to investigate the killing of his neighbor, a former chess prodigy, word comes down from on high that the case is to be dropped immediately, and Landsman finds himself contending with all the powerful forces of faith, obsession, evil, and salvation that are his heritage.
At once a gripping whodunit, a love story, and an exploration of the mysteries of exile and redemption, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union is a novel only Michael Chabon could have written.

RSVP to info@beittikvah.org to get the Zoom link.

Erev Rosh Hashanah
2024-10-02 19:00 - 21:00
7:00 pm Erev Rosh Hashanah Service
Please join us for an Apples & Honey Dessert Reception following the service.

Please send your Reservation Form to beittikvahoffice@gmail.com by Monday, September 30, 2024.
For forms and more information, see our High Holy Days 2024 webpage.

Rosh Hashanah 1st Day
2024-10-03 10:00 - 14:30
Rosh Hashanah 1st Day
10:00 am Rosh Hashanah Morning Service
12:30 pm Kiddush at Beit Tikvah
1:00 pm At Lake Roland:

Potluck Lunch – Vegan/vegetarian/dairy dishes only. (Please list ingredients)
Tashlich & Art Project – Tashlich involves the casting of bread or stones into a natural body of water in a participatory, communal ceremony on the Rosh Hashanah holiday. Through this act, each participant distances herself or himself from past sins and harmful patterns, for the sake of a fresh start to the new year. This year for Tashlich we will create individual eco-friendly art that we can both cast into the water as part of the communal gathering, and also bring home. Our creative process will help us step boldly into the new year, with more inspiration and fewer obstacles from the past.

Please send your Reservation Form to beittikvahoffice@gmail.com by Monday, September 30, 2024.
For forms and more information, see our High Holy Days 2024 webpage.

Rosh Hashanah 2nd Day
2024-10-04 12:00 - 14:00
Rosh Hashanah 2nd Day
12:00 pm noon – Discussion at The Charmery, 6807 York Road, Baltimore, MD 21212:

Reflections on the ‘Al Het’ Prayer – Wrongs and rights on a personal level and societal level.

Please RSVP separately for this event to beittikvahoffice@gmail.com by Monday, September 30, 2024.
For more information, see our High Holy Days 2024 webpage.

Yom Kippur - Kol Nidre
2024-10-11 18:00 - 20:30
Yom Kippur – Kol Nidre
6:00 pm Observance of Yom Kippur Begins

Individual lighting of memorial candles in the reception area.
Meditative music and private reflection in the sanctuary.

6:30 pm Kol Nidre Service

Please be in the sanctuary by 6:25 pm. Doors then will be closed and will reopen at the conclusion of the Kol Nidre prayer.

Please send your Reservation Form to beittikvahoffice@gmail.com by Monday, September 30, 2024.
For forms and more information, see our High Holy Days 2024 webpage.

Yom Kippur
2024-10-12 10:00 - 20:00
Yom Kippur
10:00 am – Morning Service
12:00 pm – Yizkor (Memorial) Service
2:00 pm – Discussion period
4:45 pm – Afternoon Service and Ne’ilah (Closing) Service (Includes personal prayer time at the Ark)
6:45 pm – Final sounding of the shofar
Break-the-Fast Meal following conclusion of services (Reservations required)

Please send your Reservation Form to beittikvahoffice@gmail.com by Monday, September 30, 2024.
For forms and more information, see our High Holy Days 2024 webpage.

Sukkot Celebration - "Pizza in the Hut"
2024-10-18 18:30 - 20:30
6:30 pm Sukkot Celebration – “Pizza in the Hut”
Join us for dinner in our Sukkah at the Roland Park Community Center, followed by a congregant-led short service in celebrating Sukkot, the biblically mandated Harvest Festival. Our ancestors, far more in tune with the seasons, learned to leverage Nature’s gifts. Shaking the lulav and etrog will be part of the celebration.
Pizza will be served in our “hut”! Please bring a dairy, vegan or vegetarian side dish or dessert to share.
Please RSVP to info@beittikvah.org (so we know how much pizza to order).

Beit Tikvah Annual Meeting
2024-10-27 17:00 - 19:00
5:00 pm Beit Tikvah Annual Meeting
Please join us for our annual meeting and pizza.
Get an update on our current status, next steps, and the future.
Please RSVP to info@beittikvah.org.

Rabbi-Led Shabbat Service
2024-11-09 10:00 - 13:00
10:00 am Rabbi-Led Shabbat Service
Rabbi Doug Heifetz leads this Shabbat morning service, Kiddush, and discussion.
Was Sarah a Priestess?
In our weekly Torah portion, Lech Lecha, we focus on the stories of Abraham and Sarah. While the Torah tells us a great deal about Sarah’s role in Abraham’s clan, it tells us little about her background. We will explore the scholarly theory that she was, in fact, a pagan priestess. What were her influences? What sort of power did she wield? How can she inspire us to draw strength and inspiration from unlikely sources?

Please bring a dairy, vegan, or vegetarian dish to share for the Community Kiddush/lunch.
Please RSVP to info@beittikvah.org.

Beit Tikvah Virtual Book Club
2024-11-18 19:00 - 21:00
7:00 pm on Zoom – Beit Tikvah Virtual Book Club
Join Rabbi Doug Heifetz and other book mavens at the next Virtual Book Club meeting. The book we will discuss is Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor by Yossi Klein Halevi. Here’s the description:

Attempting to break the agonizing impasse between Israelis and Palestinians, Yossi Klein Halevi, the Israeli commentator and award-winning author of Like Dreamers, directly addresses his Palestinian neighbors in this taut and provocative book, empathizing with Palestinian suffering and longing for reconciliation as he explores how the conflict looks through Israeli eyes.
Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor is one Israeli’s powerful attempt to reach beyond the wall that separates Israelis and Palestinians and into the hearts of “the enemy.” In a series of letters, Yossi Klein Halevi explains what motivated him to leave his native New York in his twenties and move to Israel to participate in the drama of the renewal of a Jewish homeland, which he is committed to see succeed as a morally responsible, democratic state in the Middle East.
This is the first attempt by an Israeli author to directly address his Palestinian neighbors and describe how the conflict appears through Israeli eyes. Halevi untangles the ideological and emotional knot that has defined the conflict for nearly a century. In lyrical, evocative language, he unravels the complex strands of faith, pride, anger and anguish he feels as a Jew living in Israel, using history and personal experience as his guide.
Halevi’s letters speak not only to his Palestinian neighbor, but to all concerned global citizens, helping us understand the painful choices confronting Israelis and Palestinians that will ultimately help determine the fate of the region.

RSVP to info@beittikvah.org to get the Zoom link for the discussion!
