Welcome to Temple B'nai Brith in Somerville!
We are an independent egalitarian congregation. Our membership reflects the wide variety of choices people make in living Jewish lives, and we are respectful of those differences. We welcome all who care about enriching Jewish life in Somerville and surrounding towns.
Join us for...
Kabbalat Shabbat Services: 6pm every Friday
Shabbat Morning Services: 9:30am every Saturday except Shabbat Together weeks
Shabbat Together: a different Shabbat service, one Saturday monthly at 10am
Tot Shabbat Services: 10am one Saturday monthly
We are an independent egalitarian congregation. Our membership reflects the wide variety of choices people make in living Jewish lives, and we are respectful of those differences. We welcome all who care about enriching Jewish life in Somerville and surrounding towns.
Join us for...
Kabbalat Shabbat Services: 6pm every Friday
Shabbat Morning Services: 9:30am every Saturday except Shabbat Together weeks
Shabbat Together: a different Shabbat service, one Saturday monthly at 10am
Tot Shabbat Services: 10am one Saturday monthly
929: Learning TaNaKh Together
Meeting every other Saturday morning Free of charge Next session 8:45-9:45am June 1 Doors open for coffee and schmoozing at 8:30am Always wanted to read the entire Bible? Wondering what happens after the people of Israel leave Egypt and arrive in the Promised Land? Now is your chance! TBB is joining Project 929 – Reading the Hebrew Bible Together! We will read five chapters each week, and meet every other week to discuss. Feel free to drop in when you are able. We also have an email group and Facebook group where discussion questions keep the conversation going as we read at home. 
Tot Shabbat
10-11am Saturday, June 1 Is your child too young to sit through a full service? Tot Shabbat is a short, monthly 10-11am Saturday morning service for young children (preschool-kindergarten) and their families. Led by Rabbi Eliana Jacobowitz, we sing and dance our way through a short and simplified service, followed by a Torah procession, a Shabbat story, and a light kiddush snack. This is a fun way to begin making the synagogue feel like home to young children while introducing them to the ABC’s of Jewish tradition. Shavuot Tikkun Saturday June 8 plus a Shavuot Morning Learning Session Sunday, June 9
Register here by May 28 Don’t Miss the 16th Annual Save Our Homes Walk!
Sunday, June 9, 2019* 
5k Walk begins at 2:00 at Somerville City Hall and includes stops at affordable housing sites. Meet at City Hall at 1:30 to register.
Sign up today for the Temple B’nai Brith Shul/School Save Our Homes Walk Team. Join our team’s effort to help prevent homelessness in our community.* Walk with students from CBBCS and shul members as we proudly carry the TBB banner and raise desperately needed emergency funds to help keep Somerville families in their homes, adults at their jobs, and kids in school. Each year, the Save Our Homes Walk raises money to help more than 100 Somerville residents avoid the devastation of homelessness. 100% of the funds raised by walkers are used to assist needy families and individuals directly.* Pledge forms and more information about the Save Our Homes Walk and how to join Team TBB and set up your own online fundraising page are available at saveourhomeswalk.org or at the shul.* Please join us and start collecting pledges and donations today.* Help our team win the award for top fundraising team. Questions? Contact Susan Chimene at schimene@somervillema.gov . If you can’t walk with us on June 9th, please support Team TBB’s effort by making a tax-deductible donation to the Save Our Homes Walk fund.* You can find our team page and donate online at https://www.crowdrise.com/o/en/campaign/temple-bnai-brith4 Or, just send your check payable to Save Our Homes (please reference Team TBB)* to: Matthew Caughey - Save Our Homes, P.O. Box 440436, Somerville, MA 02144 *Please note that this year the Save Our Homes Walk falls on Shavuot. Due to the holiday, our team will not fund raise or collect money on the day of the Walk, so all funds need to be raised in advance of the holiday. |
Remember to bring your donations of kosher raisins and kosher canned fruit for Family Table!
To receive our emails or newsletter drop us a note at tbb@templebnaibrith.org 
Accessibility
Temple B'nai Brith is proud to be wheelchair accessible. Our accessible entrance is at the rear of the building and equipped with an intercom system. The accessible restroom is located at the front of the building on the ground level. Our elevator provides access to all three levels. 
Inclusion
Our Community welcomes the participation of interfaith couples and families, and people of all abilities, backgrounds, and sexual orientations. 
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June 14 is Pride Shabbat Potluck Friday
Services at 6pm, immediately followed by a vegetarian potluck dinner.
Join us for a vegetarian potluck dinner on Friday, May 10 immediately following Kabbalat Shabbat services. Please bring a vegetarian dish to share (for 6+ people). Dairy is okay, but no fish please. We will have one table reserved for hechshered foods and those prepared in the TBB kitchen, with separate tables for home prepared dishes. RSVPs appreciated but not required, click here.
Services at 6pm, immediately followed by a vegetarian potluck dinner.
Join us for a vegetarian potluck dinner on Friday, May 10 immediately following Kabbalat Shabbat services. Please bring a vegetarian dish to share (for 6+ people). Dairy is okay, but no fish please. We will have one table reserved for hechshered foods and those prepared in the TBB kitchen, with separate tables for home prepared dishes. RSVPs appreciated but not required, click here.
The Two-Family House
by Lynda Cohen Loigman
7pm Wednesday, June 19
at Panera Porter Square
Who is your family? That question is the simmering center of this novel, begging the reader to question so much of what he or she believes. Is it just your immediate family — your siblings and your parents? Is it more than that — your cousins, your sisters-in-law, your aunt on your mother’s side? And if your family lies to you, betrays you — are they still your family? And if not, what are they? Who do they become to you?
The Two-Family House by Lynda Cohen Loigman is an outsider’s look into a world filled with tension and mistrust — and most of all, secrets. As we wait for the characters to figure out secrets the reader already knows, different questions become important. Who is the villain of this story? Is it the sweet but overbearing Helen, who always seems to know the right thing to do? Is it Rose, the quiet mother of three daughters who desperately wants a baby boy? Or is it Mort, the grudge-filled angry husband whom Rose can never please?
The interesting thing is that there is no good answer to that question. Loigman makes a compelling case that there is a bit of bad in all of us — and that one can be both the hero and the villain, if one lives long enough. Problems that were thought long buried shove their way into the center of the characters’ lives, no longer content to remain hidden. Unaddressed resentments and fears turn hard and thick as the years pass, turning loving wives into bitter enemies, showing just how far people can go to attain what they believe they need to be happy.
A cursory glance at the story will yield two families, living side by side in the same house in Brooklyn — one with three daughters, one with four sons. The families live together in somewhat harmoniously until one blizzard-filled night, when everything changes. The blizzard that shuts down the city that pivotal night is the only real witness to the schism. But as the book progresses, the reader learns that he was also a witness. He too, was a bystander.
The Two-Family House will make you question and make you angry — but mainly, it will make you rethink your own family history, until you are left wondering — how much do you know about your own past? And how sure are you that, without warning, your world might not be blown apart?
by Lynda Cohen Loigman
7pm Wednesday, June 19
at Panera Porter Square
Who is your family? That question is the simmering center of this novel, begging the reader to question so much of what he or she believes. Is it just your immediate family — your siblings and your parents? Is it more than that — your cousins, your sisters-in-law, your aunt on your mother’s side? And if your family lies to you, betrays you — are they still your family? And if not, what are they? Who do they become to you?
The Two-Family House by Lynda Cohen Loigman is an outsider’s look into a world filled with tension and mistrust — and most of all, secrets. As we wait for the characters to figure out secrets the reader already knows, different questions become important. Who is the villain of this story? Is it the sweet but overbearing Helen, who always seems to know the right thing to do? Is it Rose, the quiet mother of three daughters who desperately wants a baby boy? Or is it Mort, the grudge-filled angry husband whom Rose can never please?
The interesting thing is that there is no good answer to that question. Loigman makes a compelling case that there is a bit of bad in all of us — and that one can be both the hero and the villain, if one lives long enough. Problems that were thought long buried shove their way into the center of the characters’ lives, no longer content to remain hidden. Unaddressed resentments and fears turn hard and thick as the years pass, turning loving wives into bitter enemies, showing just how far people can go to attain what they believe they need to be happy.
A cursory glance at the story will yield two families, living side by side in the same house in Brooklyn — one with three daughters, one with four sons. The families live together in somewhat harmoniously until one blizzard-filled night, when everything changes. The blizzard that shuts down the city that pivotal night is the only real witness to the schism. But as the book progresses, the reader learns that he was also a witness. He too, was a bystander.
The Two-Family House will make you question and make you angry — but mainly, it will make you rethink your own family history, until you are left wondering — how much do you know about your own past? And how sure are you that, without warning, your world might not be blown apart?
Torah at Panera
8 – 9am Tuesday mornings
at the Porter Square Panera
Join us for these informal gatherings to discuss the weekly Torah portion. No Hebrew or previous knowledge is necessary, and you don't need to bring your own book. Come early if you wish to buy yourself coffee or breakfast so that we can start on time. Contact rabbieliana@gmail.com for more info.
8 – 9am Tuesday mornings
at the Porter Square Panera
Join us for these informal gatherings to discuss the weekly Torah portion. No Hebrew or previous knowledge is necessary, and you don't need to bring your own book. Come early if you wish to buy yourself coffee or breakfast so that we can start on time. Contact rabbieliana@gmail.com for more info.
Do you like receiving the TBB newsletter in the mail? Should the TBB Shofar go electronic?
We are considering discontinuing the paper newsletter soon, in favor of an email version. We may also continue to send the Shofar by mail to those who wish to receive it that way. Please share your thoughts with us on how we should distribute the Shofar, as well as your personal delivery preference, at templebnaibrith.org/newsletter.
We are considering discontinuing the paper newsletter soon, in favor of an email version. We may also continue to send the Shofar by mail to those who wish to receive it that way. Please share your thoughts with us on how we should distribute the Shofar, as well as your personal delivery preference, at templebnaibrith.org/newsletter.
To receive our emails or newsletter drop us a note at tbb@templebnaibrith.org
To learn more about membership: membership@templebnaibrith.org
For the 20s and 30s group: tbb20s30s@gmail.com
For the 20s and 30s group: tbb20s30s@gmail.com