Shabbat Services During Rabbi Riqi’s Sabbatical
Our rabbi Riqi Kosovske began her sabbatical a few weeks ago.
A rabbi is often granted a sabbatical leave after six or seven years of service to the congregation. The leave provides the rabbi an opportunity to seek spiritual and physical reinvigoration. It is a time for a rabbi to pursue spiritual nourishment and a change in perspective, to deepen relationships with self, family, Jewish study, and God. It is also a time of spiritual growth for the congregation and a time for the congregation to re-energize lay leadership and develop our leaders.
As part of this process, we have invited community members and guest rabbis to lead shabbat services during the sabbatical. The schedule so far is posted below:
Shabbat Services Schedule during Rabbi Riqi’s Sabbatical 2016
| Date | Start Time | Service Leader(s) | Special Notes |
| Friday 1/8/16*
*2nd Friday of the month |
7:30 p.m. | Kenny Hahn | Tot Shabbat at 5:15 |
| Friday 1/15/16 | 6:00 p.m. | Levi-Donnelly Family | Jewish Camp-style Musical service |
| Friday 1/29/16 | 6:00 p.m. | Rabbi Efraim Eisen | Community Supper |
| Friday 2/5/16 | 7:30 p.m. | TBA | |
| Friday 2/19/16 | 6:00 p.m. | Ruth Barham | Meditation service |
| Friday 3/4/16 | 7:30 p.m. | Lisa Prolman | Tot Shabbat at 5:15 |
| Friday 3/18/16 | 6:00 p.m. | Rabbi Saul Perlmutter | |
| Saturday 3/26/16 | 9:30 a.m. | TBA with Jody Rosenbloom | Shabbat B’Yachad-Shabbos Sugar Shack Lunch |
| Friday 4/1/16 | 7:30 p.m. | Sherri Meade | Tot Shabbat at 5:15 |
| Friday 4/15/16 | 6:00 p.m. | Kenny Hahn | |
| Saturday 4/16/16 | 10:00 a.m. | Rabbi Efraim Eisen | Elijah Lopez-Reiss Bar Mitzvah |
| Friday 5/6/16 | 7:30 p.m. | Randy Furash-Stewart | Tot Shabbat at 5:15;
Erev Pride Shabbat |
| Friday 5/20/16 | 6:00 p.m. | Rabbi Lori Shaller | |
| Friday 6/3/16 | 7:30 p.m. | Rabbi Efraim Eisen | Tot Shabbat at 5:15 |
| Saturday 6/11/16 | Shavuot evening celebration | TBA | Shavuot, TBA |
| Friday 6/17/16 | 6:00 p.m. | TBA | |
| Friday 7/1/16 | 7:30 p.m. | TBA |
Guest Rabbi Bios
Rabbi Efraim Eisen
Rabbi Efraim Eisen was a student of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach from his formative years until Reb Shlomo left this world in 1994. He was the Rabbi for the University of Oregon, Vassar College, Mt. Holyoke, the Pioneer Valley Jewish Renewal Community and Temple Israel in Greenfield.
Together with his wife Rosalie they founded Basherte, an internationally renowned program designed to assist people to find their soul mates. While facilitating this program he wrote and produced a Cd entitled “Every Being Has a Light”. He is delighted that over 100 couples have connected through this work.
Rabbi Eisen was ordained through Aleph Alliance for Jewish Renewal under the direction of R Zalman Schachter Shalomi. He was licensed as a marriage and family therapist in 1981 and continues to practice today, integrating spiritual principles with a problem solving approach. He specializes in helping people find their soul mates and welcomes the Higher Power into his work.
Rabbi Saul Perlmutter
Rabbi Perlmutter grew up in Burlington, VT and is a graduate of Brandeis University and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He also has a Master’s degree in Social Work from Yeshiva University, an orthodox institution, and has been a member of a non-denominational Havurah in the Northampton/Amherst area for over 40 years.
In August 2014, Rabbi Perlmutter retired from serving as Executive Director of UMass Hillel where they held reform, conservative and orthodox services on Friday nights. He continues to serve part-time as the rabbi of Congregation Sons of Zion in Holyoke, a liberal conservative congregation. Along the way Rabbi Perlmutter has spent over two years in Israel, one as an undergraduate and one on sabbatical with his wife Shoshana Zonderman and their children Ariela and Noam.
Rabbi Perlmutter says: “I have enjoyed several services at Beit Ahavah and am looking forward to sharing Friday night March 18 with you!”
Rabbi Lori Shaller
Rabbi and Mashpiah (Spiritual Director) Lori D. Shaller lives on the Island of Martha’s Vineyard with her husband, Matt Pelikan, a Restoration Ecologist for The Nature Conservancy and violinist and her cat Pitzi. She was ordained as a Rabbi by ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal in 2015 and as a Mashpiah in 2014. Lori has been the guest spiritual leader with various Jewish congregations and Unitarian Universalist churches; teaches; leads interfaith, clergy spiritual direction groups; and sees private clients in spiritual direction. She is the co-founder of Educating for Spirituality, teaching religious school teachers how to en-spirit their religious school curricula. The Jewish Women’s Archive has published Lori’s curriculum on Jewish women in the Labor Movement.
Rabbi Shaller is a fellow with Rabbis without Borders and was a participant in the Jewish and Muslim Emerging Leaders Women’s Retreat sponsored by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College’s Department of Multifaith Studies and Initiatives. Lori has been an educator and curriculum writer of world history, Shakespeare and curriculum design for twenty-five years. Lori earned an A.B. cum laude from Harvard University and Masters of Teaching and Masters in American Jewish History from Boston University.