Beth+El+(Bennington,+VT)

rabbi@sover.net
 * __Beth El__****, Bennington, VT (Reconstructionist, 105 household units)**
 * “****Green** **Mountain** **Shabbat”**
 * **Rabbi Joshua Boettiger**

robynkoz@gmail.com ||> [|Congregation Beth El Website]
 * Lay Shabbat Committee Chair: Robyn Kozierok**

Address: 107 Adams Street Bennington, VT 05201 ||

Congregation Beth El is committed to being a welcoming spiritual, cultural, and educational home for the regional Jewish community in Bennington County and the greater tri-state area. Our goal is to create a community where all our members are empowered to engage in a life-long meaningful relationship with Judaism and the Jewish people.
 * // Congregational Mission Statement //**


 * // Visions and Goals of our LH programming: //**

**1.** **Relevance of Judaism:** T each the relevance of Judaism as a real path that speaks to people’s lives.
====2. **Sense of Belonging**: Deepen the sense that our participants have that they belong to a viable community with much diversity but linked together by their relationship to Jewish religious and/or cultural values. Create and encourage a variety of paths for members of all ages and backgrounds, including non-Jewish family members, to feel more strongly connected and supported; ==== ====3. **Observance of Shabbat and Holidays:** Guide our members and participants in viewing each Shabbat as a wonderful opportunity for deeper reflection and closer, more meaningful social connections, whether in synagogue, at home, or in the wider world. Help make it easier to participate in both our Jewish and secular lives.==== ====4. **Religious education.** Expand the number of members that are engaged in study of Torah, Hebrew, developing lay leadership for services, and other aspects of Judaism and Jewish ritual. Encourage deeper awareness and understanding of Shabbat and Holiday observance and other Jewish practices that foster personal growth, fulfillment, and peace.====

Year 4: 2010 - 2011
==//Our Year 4 programming continues our Green Mountain Shabbat, First Fridays and Holiday celebrations as described below. This year we added an emphasis on Israel and the process toward peace in the Middle East.//==

Documents:
If you peruse our schedules from this year and years past you'll gain a good feel for how we arrange our Green Mountain Shabbat days. Our schedule changes from morning-centered to havdalah-centered in the winter, so be sure to check out multiple schedules if you'd like to see our range of scheduling options. Often we combine a GMS with a holiday, which will sometimes result in a modification of the schedule, as you will be able to see in the examples below and from prior years.

**Our Annual Retreat Schedule:**


=Year 3: 2009 - 2010=

//**Green Mountain Shabbat**//
This is the centerpiece of our programming, and builds on past successes. It offers a variety of ways for participants of all ages to engage with Shabbat including electives for all ages, a worship service, a communal meal and an intergenerational activity (often Tikkun Olam based). This special Shabbat programming is held once per month. Last year's experiment with Havdalah-centered Green Mountain Shabbat days during the winter was wildly successful, so we will be holding our November through February GMS days on that schedule. During the fall and spring we base our program around the Shabbat morning service.

//First Fridays//
On the first Erev Shabbat of the month, we will be holding a family-friendly Kabbalat Shabbat service, followed by a pot-luck community meal, with a musical adult service or a speaker or other adult programming after the service. A key idea is that we sandwich the community meal between the family-oriented programming and the adult-oriented programming, so that we are all together as a community for the meal. (Children's videos and/or games are offered during the adult service/program so that parents can stay for the adult programming if desired.)

//Holiday Programs for the Shalosh Regalim//
This year we are adding holiday observance to our goals and our programming. In addition to our already successful Chanukah and Purim programming, we are placing a special emphasis this year on the Shalosh Regalim.
 * **Sukkot**: for Sukkot we hosted a timber-framing workshop and constructed a large timber-frame Sukkah for the community. We held one of our monthly Tikkun Olam meals for community members in need in the Sukkah. We also added Sukkot-Themed programming to our September Green Mountain Shabbat afternoon. We held an Iron Sukkah speed-sukkah-building program to help teach congregants how easy it can be to build their own Sukkah. We also had a workshop on shaking Lulav and Etrog.
 * **Passover**
 * **Shavuot**

**Education Materials:**

 * How we ran our "Iron Chef" style Sukkah-Building Competition:**

**Our Annual Retreat Schedule:**


=Year 2: 2008 - 2009=

//**Green Mountain Shabbat**//
This is the centerpiece of our programming, and builds on last year's successes. It offers a variety of ways for participants of all ages to engage with Shabbat including electives for all ages, a worship service, a communal meal and an intergenerational activity (often Tikkun Olam based). This special Shabbat programming is held once per month. This year we will be experimenting with Havdalah-centered Green Mountain Shabbat days in addition to our usual program based around the Shabbat morning service. This has been //extremely// successful for us! Take a look at our sample Havdalah-based GMS schedule and our November - January posters below for more information.

//First Fridays//
On the first Erev Shabbat of the month, we will be holding a family-friendly Kabbalat Shabbat service, followed by a pot-luck community meal, with a musical adult service or a speaker or other adult programming after the service. A key idea is that we sandwich the community meal between the family-oriented programming and the adult-oriented programming, so that we are all together as a community for the meal. (Children's videos and/or games are offered during the adult service/program so that parents can stay for the adult programming if desired.)

//Yesodot (Foundations) Adult Education Class//
Based on requests from many congregants, we are offering a Judaism 101 style class for adults interested in diving deeper into the world of Judaism. Topics will include Jewish history, theologies, prayer, Talmud, mysticism, Jewish ethics, lifecycle events, Shabbat, holidays - and - giving those who do not already know the tools to read and write Hebrew.

Documents

 * Legacy Heritage Seminar Documents**


 * [|Our small group team presentation handout]**
 * [|Our "Best Practices" presentation handout]**


 * Publicity/Marketing Documents**

[|Cong. Beth El Brochure.pdf]

[|GMS-SEPT Poster.pdf] [|GMS-OCT Poster.pdf] [|GMS-NOV Poster.pdf] [|GMS-DEC Poster.pdf] [|GMS-JAN Poster.pdf] [|GMS-FEB Poster.pdf] [|GMS-MAR Poster.pdf] [|GMS-MAY Poster.pdf]

[|RETREATPoster.pdf]


 * Sample Havdalah-Based Green Mountain Shabbat Schedule**

[|Green Mountain Shabbat Nov 2008.doc]


 * Outlines for Teen Classes during "learning" slot in Havdalah-Based Green Mountain Shabbat Schedule**

[|Jewish Magic and Superstition]

[|The History of Jewish Hip-Hop: From the Beastie Boys to Y-Love]

[|Israel in the News - Then and Now]


 * Yesodot Materials: Syllabus and sample handouts with lesson plans**

[|Yesodot Syllabus]

[|First Class: Rosh Hashanah]

[|Torah session]

[|Kabbalah]

[|Passover]

=**Year 1: 2007 - 2008**=

Beth El will work towards expanding its Shabbat-based intergenerational learning model, which roots children’s family learning in a Shabbat and holiday context in various contexts: home-based Shabbat and holiday observance and meals, Shabbat evening communal meals and learning programs, Shabbat morning family services and children’s learning, tot Shabbat, teen-led services and divrei torah, Shabbat afternoon learning involving teens and older members, and integrating adult, family, and children’s learning around havdalah on a consistent basis.

Please take a look at our Green Mountain Shabbat brochure and schedule handouts for an overview of the flow of our Green Mountain Shabbat morning/afternoon programming.

Our Elevator Pitch

Our Brochure: //Explains Green Mountain Shabbat for our community;// //Includes scheduled dates and a typical GMS schedule//
 * Publicity/Marketing Documents**

Press Releases: //These describe each month's programming, for the general public//

Mailings: //These are flyers we mailed to our members and others on our mailing list//

Schedule Handouts for GMS days: //These are used as posters on the GMS day, showing everything that is happening that day, and where//

//Each of these "Lesson Plans" briefly describes our goals and programs for a full GMS Program day//
 * Education Documents**

//The following is a copy of a local newspaper article about our December Green Mountain Shabbat Program (used with permission)//
 * Newspaper Article**