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Reverse Tashlich - September 10 at 2 pm at Valley of the Moon Park.Erev Rosh Hashana - September 15 at 7 pmRosh Hashana Day 1 - September 16 at 10:30 amRosh Hashanah Children’s Service Day 1 Tashlich - September 16Bring Bread or Seeds (After morning services) Rosh Hashana Day 2 - September 17 at 10:30 amKever Avot v'Imahot - September 17 at 1:30 pmHonoring our deceased family members and friends Cantorial Music Master Class - September 21 at 7 pmShabbat Shuva - September 22, 23 at 6 pmKol Nidre - September 24 at 7 pmYom Kippur - September 25 at 10:30 amErev Sukkot - September 29 at 6 pmSimchat Torah - October 7 at 10:30 am |
Welcome to the largest Jewish Congregation in Alaska
Congregation Beth Sholom welcomes all visitors who wish to worship with us. We are a progressive congregation affiliated with Reform Judaism and are proud to be of service to those from diverse Jewish backgrounds. Please visit our About Us page for a detailed description of our values.
Our facilities are located in a peaceful, natural setting to enhance your spiritual experience. While our in-person services are limited, you can always watch livestream services on our YouTube channel: Alaska Judaism Media.
Friday Night Shabbat Services
Congregation Beth Sholom YouTube Channel: Alaska Judaism Media
Anchorage Alaska
Join Us Every Friday
6 PM - 7 PM
Join us in person or online for Shabbat Services,
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
A message from Rabbi Abram Goodstein
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Dear Members and Friends of Congregation Beth Sholom:
As a father I am not looking forward to teaching my son about the internet. At the moment he believes the internet is a place to watch fun videos or discover new things about animals. We also show him a video meme or two. But parents in modernity have a responsibility to teach their children the beauty and dangers of the internet. There isn’t a time-tested playbook to do this, because it is a uniquely modern problem. What we thought was going to be unlimited information at our fingertips turned out to also be a place where hate gets a megaphone.
So, it’s up to us parents to show our kids how to use the internet responsibly and safely. Yet, ironically as digital natives, our children will also understand the internet in ways I have yet to comprehend. The future and capacity of such a dangerously powerful force rests in their tiny hands. So how do we give our children the tools to handle something so volatile, when us adults are struggling with it?
Believe it or not our Torah struggles something similar. I’m not saying that the Torah predicted the internet. What I am saying is that the Torah presents an innovative, society changing idea, Monotheism, and soon shows how difficult it is to navigate a world that doesn’t have it. The Israelites are human beings and thus flawed. They received the 10 commandments at Sinai and have seen incredible miracles and plagues and yet they still stray under the influence of other gods. Deuteronomy 13 so desperate to prevent this behavior, lists 3 top offenders or influencers: false prophets, family members, and cities. The Deuteronomy narrator (who is Moses by the way), I imagine unsure what else to do, goes to the extreme for preventing idolatry. Capital punishment. Supposedly if you come across a false prophet, a family member, or even a whole city that tries to convince you to worship another god you are within your rights to destroy them on the spot.
Now obviously I do not agree with this policy. It’s a policy driven by desperation. Moses needs Monotheism for his people to survive. Monotheism is more than just worshiping Adonai. Just like the internet is more than watching cute videos of cats. Monotheism is the Israelites developing a shared experience that turns them into a cohesive group with a common identity. But the policy of capital punishment against idol worship backfires. Its extreme language drives the prophets in our Tanakh so crazy. Every prophet can’t help but notice all the idol worship going on around them and much of their rhetoric is influenced by Moses extreme reaction to it. If the policy against idol worship was not so extreme perhaps the prophets would not have been as needed or as angry. If the policy against idol worship was not so extreme, perhaps idol worship could have been eradicated in a matter of decades rather than the thousand years span of the Tanakh. But this is the problem when a society innovates something so incredible that it changes it in profound ways. Its reaction can be extreme especially among its innovators. Monotheism forever changed the land of Canaan and many of its inhabitants. And I think we can relate as we watch the internet forever change our own society. Some of those changes are far from positive.
For example, Facebook. Facebook has been a source of incredible community, growth, and building of relationships. And it does have the potential to make our world a more beautiful place. But there is a dark side. Facebook was so desperate to grow their user base that they built algorithms to convince their users to click, respond, and join new groups without thinking of the consequences of these algorithms. Consequences it turned out that would lead people into joining more and more extreme and hateful Facebook groups, and thus radicalizing them. The damage this did to our society continues to reverberate throughout our country and for many culminated into a full mental health crisis. Facebook refused to think of their algorithm as anything more than a way to get more reactions from content and thus more users. Ironically these radicalized groups broke Facebook’s own user policies and yet Facebook’s algorithm suggested these groups anyways. In fact, Facebook accepted advertisement revenue from these extreme groups to advertise on their own platform. When Facebook finally took responsibility for the damage and danger this caused, it was too late. Conspiracy theory groups became the fastest growing groups on Facebook and Facebook’s response could only be considered at an attempt at whack-a-mole.
The internet in many ways is still new. We are just beginning to understand the change it is capable of creating in our society. We are just beginning to understand how quickly and effectively it can change the hearts and minds of its users. And if we let the internet feed our hate, our greed, if we let the internet misinform our reality, we become subject to a modern form of idol worship. But here we can learn from the Deuteronomy. The Torah’s policy on idol worship, I believe, was too extreme. We can easily offer an extreme solution for our children of banning them from using the internet. But I don’t think this policy will work. Because if we enforce it, we may find ourselves turning to more extreme measures each time we fear it is harming our children.
Like all parents, I struggle with appropriate screen time, and I struggle with online usage. I do not want my children to be radicalized by the internet. But I also don’t want to make policies for my children that are so extreme that my children are not prepared for the internet when they are old enough to be on it by themselves. And ironically without the needed experience of online usage they are more susceptible to be radicalized or scammed.
I want my children to have a foundation of values and enough self-esteem to expertly navigate the perils of the internet to find its beauty. I believe that my children will develop these values and earn a high self-esteem through Judaism. Because Judaism has experienced life changing innovations throughout its existence, both in the Torah and well after. Generations of Jewish communities figured out how to survive society changing innovations and even thrive from them. I believe that the lessons children learn from Jewish institutions will carry them through a life of healthy choices. Choices that help them prevent the internet from harming them while embracing all the incredible beauty it has to offer.
Rabbi Abram Goodstein
New Year Message from the President of the Board, Stacey Saunders
Shana Tova!
I’m Stacey Saunders, President of Congregation Beth Sholom’s Board of Trustees.
I am happy and grateful to see so many of you in person after the past two years. I am also so happy to welcome those of you joining on our Livestream broadcast.
Since the COVID 19 pandemic, we often hear that we are living in the “new normal.” I believe that our sense of “normal” has always been evolving and changing. The pandemic accelerated changes that were already taking place.
We were already relying on technology for communication, work and school. With COVID 19 more of us learned to use videoconferencing and streaming services. For those of us who worked from home offices, what was once considered a luxury or perk became a necessity. Then even with the ability to return to workplaces, we began to reconsider what efficiency and productivity look like.
Does it only happen in an office away from home or can we get more done at our dining tables without a commute and with a refrigerator with lunch a few feet away? And with the required periods of physical separation we found ways to stay in touch in “Bubbles”, with masks, doing the 6-feet apart tango.
It was all painful, strained, but thought-provoking. For many, it caused us to reflect on what is important to us.
Congregation Beth Sholom
Congregation Beth Sholom is a diverse and inclusive Jewish community, welcoming people of all ages, backgrounds, family structures, and worship styles.
Join Us
Buy a book. Give a gift.
CBS has a goal to receive 25 copies of The Torah: A Women's Commentary. Your generous gift adds modern and unique perspectives to the study of Torah at CBS. As an inclusive-inspired Congregation, CBS strives to provide literary content accessible to all. Won't you participate in this great opportunity?
Books can be purchased through the CCAR Press link below.
Mailing address for the book order:
Congregation Beth Sholom
7525 East Northern Lights Blvd
Anchorage, AK 99504
Click Here To Go To CCAR Press
Volunteer Opportunities
Want to make a difference?
Don't have much time?
Ready to join a committee?
This Community works because it is run by its members. Your participation expands Jewish thought, programming, education, and community throughout Alaska., and beyond?
Take a look at some of our current opportunities and if there is something you see needs doing, feel free to reach out to Rabbi Abram or Stacey Saunders, our Congregation President.
- Library Committee
- Food Bank
- Social Action Committee
- Website
- Multimedia Committee (photography, videos, live-streaming, social media, website)
- Gemilut Chasadim (Loving Kindness outreach committee)
- many more opportunities; let us know your ideas and skills! There's room for everyone at every age.
Click here for more opportunities
Make a Donation
Congregation Beth Sholom operates on the goodwill of our members and the community. We welcome your generous donations.
Here are a few ways you can help.
- Support our Shabbat Live-stream in memory or in honor of a special person or occasion, or simply to share the joy of Shabbat with the community.
- Rabbi's Discretionary Fund
- Jewish Education Center (JEC)
- Scholarship Fund
- Planned Giving
Click Here to make a donation
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