Welcome to the... ...only interdenominational, synagogue-based organization of its kind in all of North America. With over 120 dues paying member congregations, the Synagogue Council -- a collaboration of Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist and independent congregations in Massachusetts -- is a successful 28-year experiment in community-building. Please take a look around and contact us directly for further information. We also provide an opportunity for you to to the Synagogue Council to support its ongoing valuable activities.
UPCOMING AT SCM Click on the appropriate photo (below) to learn more about these exciting programs. Sharansky to be Birnbaum Lecture Speaker We are very proud that Natan Sharansky has agreed to come to Massachusetts and hope you will join hundreds of other proud Jews in welcoming him to our community. The Boston-based SAFAM, with their unique Jewish-American sound, will perform several numbers that evening including Leaving Mother Russia, written 25 years ago about Sharansky's struggle for freedom from Soviet oppression. Join us on Sunday, March 11 at 7:30 pm (doors open at 7:00) at Congregation Mishkan Tefila in Chestnut Hill. This program is free and open to the public. "Website Strategy, Form and Function in a Social Age" Mark Yaschik, Director of Development at Jvillage Network, will join the Synagogue Council of Massachusetts for a breakfast learning session that focuses on the intersection of interactive websites and social media as tools to engage and grow synagogue membership communities. They will share examples of vibrant website design, value added content, effective transactional features, interactive event calendars and RSVP forms, and the integration of social media tools, including blogs and Facebook. This program is part of a 3-part breakfast series offered by the Synagogue Council of Massachusetts on Management and PR.
Synagogue-of-the-Month Our Featured Congregation for Cheshvan/Kislev is Temple Emanuel, a Reform congregation in Worcester. We are pleased to recognize the synagogue in celebration of its 90th anniversary this year. Visit their web site for more information.
	MAKE YOUR SYNAGOGUE GREEN! The Synagogue Council is proud to support the Boston chapter of COEJL, The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, in a statewide initiative to "pledge" to "green" synagogues in Massachusetts. Click here for details. Canfei Nesharim, the leader of a Torah-based environmental movement, makes a connection between traditional Jewish sources and modern environmental issues and promotes ongoing dialogue about our Torah responsibility to protect the environment. Click here to view a weekly drash on the environment, entitled Eitz Chayim Hee: A Torah Commentary for Environmental Learning and Action.   Parsha Commentaries Conservative Orthodox Union Reconstructionist Reform Torah.Org American Jewish University		IN THE NEWS! Full Busload Travels along "Boston's Immigrant Synagogue Trail" This year's historic bus tour, held on Sunday, September 25th, brought a full bus load of eager travelers together for a magnificent day of touring Boston's immigrant synagogues, including visits to present and former Jewish congregations in Roxbury, Boston and suburbia, spanning a century of Jewish immigration. This year's tour made exciting visits to the following historic sites: The Adams Street Shul in Newton, celebrating its 100th anniversary Boston's Vilna Shul The Haitian Baptist Church in Roxbury (formerly Adath Jeshurun) Beit Sasson, a contemporary Sephardic congregation in Newton "Boston's Immigrant Synagogue Trail" was ably led by Ellen Smith, Director of the Hornstein Program in Jewish Professional Leadership at Brandeis University, scholar, curator and author. Ellen is co-editor and author of "The Jews of Boston", the curator of three award-winning exhibitions on Jewish Boston, and the ever-popular tour leader of SCM's bus tours for the past six years. In the above photo, Shimon Levy, president of Beit Sasson-Sephardi Congregation of Newton, proudly displays one of the shul's beautiful sephardic Torahs.
Synagogue Council of Massachusetts, 1320 Centre Street, Newton, MA 02459 617.244.6506 (o) - 617.964.7055 (f) - info@synagoguecouncil.org