Havurat Shalom is an independent Jewish community which uses egalitarian liturgy and welcomes folks of diverse backgrounds.
Havurat Shalom is a small, pioneering, egalitarian Jewish community founded in 1968. We are a lay-led congregation where people come to pray, celebrate, and grapple with Jewish texts and traditions and work for social justice.
We welcome and include among our members people of all genders and sexualities. Our community has singles and families of different configurations, including interfaith families. Our building has an access ramp and we work to be accessible to people with disabilities. We welcome people who are exploring Judaism.
Havurat Shalom is a small, pioneering, egalitarian Jewish community founded in 1968. We are a lay-led congregation where people come to pray, celebrate, and grapple with Jewish texts and traditions and work for social justice.
We welcome and include among our members people of all genders and sexualities. Our community has singles and families of different configurations, including interfaith families. Our building has an access ramp and we work to be accessible to people with disabilities. We welcome people who are exploring Judaism.
Havurat Shalom and its members have been involved with many kinds of social action over the years, including the sanctuary movement, helping homeless people, and the disability rights movement. Our Tzedakah Fund helps further the cause of tikkun olam (repairing the world) by making annual donations to various organizations.
Because of our commitment to social justice, including the disability rights and Deaf movements, we are always working to make Havurat Shalom accessible to people with disabilities and to the Deaf community. For specific questions about disability or Deaf access, please contact us.
In the spring of 2006, Havurat Shalom affiliated itself with the National Registry of Conscious Objection, which was created at The Peace Abbey, in Sherborn, Massachusetts, following the war in the Persian Gulf in early 1991. The Registry provides men and women of all ages with an opportunity to register their objection to personal, national, and international violence.
Siddur Birkat Shalom
One of the ways Havurat Shalom expresses our commitment to egalitarianism is by davenning (praying) with Siddur Birkat Shalom, a prayer book being developed by our own Siddur Project. Siddur Birkat Shalom contains the Shabbat morning service before the Amidah, meditations on the Amidah, and the Aleinu.
Features of this work-in-progress include:
- Hebrew and English egalitarian language for both God and humans
- New, original blessing for diversity
- Greater variety of God images
- New perspectives on Jews and non-Jews, good and evil, reward and punishment, and hierarchy
Birkat Shalom is available for $18.00 (includes s/h)
