Come to our backyard

This weekend is bringing a little bit of every flavor. We're talking babies, bagels, Pride, God, and backyard Torah.

On Sunday morning we're hosting a baby naming for one of our newest, tiniest community members. We will then co-host the Jew York Pride Bagel Brunch before the Pride Parade. And on Sunday evening, we will welcome a very special guest teacher, Yiscah Smith from the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, for a backyard class on God-centered Judaism.

And if your brain just quietly closed the tab at the mention of God, stay with us for a minute.

One of the things that endlessly fascinates us as Jewish community builders is how many people assume that belief — or lack of belief — in God should be the deciding factor in whether they engage with Jewish life. Judaism has never been quite that simple.

Some of us have a deep and developing relationship with God. Some of us are not sure what we believe. Some of us are pretty sure we do not believe in God at all. And, honestly, we want to hear about everyone’s version of the God they do not believe in. Because Jewish tradition gives us dozens and dozens of names for God — not because the tradition is trying to make us memorize a list, but because it knows that the Mystery Beyond Ourselves can be encountered in so many ways: as presence, absence, justice, compassion, breath, place, longing, silence, shelter, fire.

Not just across any one of our lifetimes. Sometimes all in the same day.

So whether you believe in God, do not believe in God, are curious about the whole thing, or simply enjoy beer, appetizers, and a gorgeous summer evening in a Harlem backyard 🌻, come learn with us this Sunday night.

This program is offered in partnership with the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, a place where both of us have studied and which has been a powerful engine for our own Jewish learning and growth. We are proud, as Pardes alumni, to host this conversation in our home and in our community.

So this week, come learn with us under the open sky. And at the end of the summer, for our 20s and 30s community, come retreat with us too.