The BCRC Blog

As the Israel-Gaza war continues, we will offer for your information commentary from various parties reflecting their personal perspectives. This week's commentary is from Rabbi Josh Weinberg, the Vice President of the URJ for Israel and Reform Zionism and is the Executive Director of ARZA, the Association of Reform Zionists of America. 

WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY “CEASEFIRE”
By Rabbi Josh...Read more...

BCRC celebrated Sukkot by building and decorating a sukkah, holding Tot Shabbat in the sukkah, as well as the Sisters in the Sukkah event benefitting the domestic violence and sexual assault services of LAWS, We also celebrated in Sonja and Rabbi Amy's sukkah with a series...Read more...

On Tuesday, May 2 the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors approved a proclamation declaring May to be Jewish American Heritage Month. BCRC was invited to send representatives to receive the proclamation. Rabbi Amy and Zachary Schneider of BCRC said a few words at the ceremony. You can see a full album of photos from this event on our photo albums page.

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Rabbi Amy's sermons for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur dealt with topics of high interest today: Reproductive rights and increased polarization. She provided a thought-provoking exploration into what Judaism teaches us about those issues. Many of you have asked for copies of the text of those sermons so we have provided them here for you:

Several items of business dispensed with at the Annual Congregational Meeting, held on June 22nd, were significant enough that I anticipate many members will have questions about them. I hope I can answer many of them here, but as always, we welcome further questions and comments, in case you don't find the answers you're looking for in this and subsequent posts.

At the top of the list of changes is the 10% dues increase (our first...Read more...

The Annual Congregational Meeting will be held virtually on Zoom again this year. The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 22, from 7:30-8:30 pm.

In addition, a meeting of the Board of Directors will be held on the same date, Wednesday, June 22, from 7:00-7:30 pm, and resuming for an additional half hour immediately following the conclusion of the annual meeting.

A link will be sent out to all congregants prior to the...Read more...

Our son Ben and his husband Julian visited the 3 remaining medieval synagogues of Spain. In Toledo, two of the eleven medieval synagogues are still standing. The Ibn Shoshen Synagogue (left), built in 1180, was built in an architectural style influenced by the...Read more...

Thank you to everyone who attended our Annual Congregational Meeting last Wednesday evening, June 23rd! At this meeting the budget for the upcoming year was approved.  Thanks to the continued generosity of our members, we will not need to raise the dues rates for this year. However, there is one important area you need to be aware of. 

As you are all undoubtably aware, our nation has faced continuing threats of attacks on...Read more...

On May 9, BCRC held a dedication of a Tree of Life Leaf in memory of Leslie Skaer, donated by the BCRC Board of Directors, immediately followed by the dedication of the Ner Tamid (Eternal Light) donated by Julia and Gabe...Read more...

Purim at BCRC was a blast! Even though we couldn't get together physically, we were able to gather spiritually through our online Megillah reading and Purim Shpiel and Sunday bingo! Thanks to Rabbi Amy, Lisa Zimmerman, and the many volunteers who made it all possible. Did you miss our fabulous shpiel directed by Zachary Schneider and featuring numerous member families, or just want to see it again? Click here to access it on YouTube....Read more...

Attention BCRC members looking to advertise a product or service of interest to the congregation: The Blast is now accepting advertising. For a 'chai' contribution of $18 for one week, or $54 for 4 weeks (one free week), we will run a text advertisement (no more than 4 sentences in length). A thumbnail size picture can be added for an additional $18 (one time cost for up to 4 weeks). For the picture, please provide a jpg, gif or png...Read more...

We've had requests for my Kol Nidre address, which is provided here. I discussed the progress our temple has made over the past 3 years, how we have addressed the Coronavirus crisis, and kicked off our 2020 fundraising drive. We will be tracking our progress in meeting our $50K goal withe the fundraising thermometer - watch for it! Click here to donate now.

Positive comments have been rolling in after the completion of our Zoom High Holy Days. While we were physically distanced, we were still able to come together as a community, with our members passing on new years greetings before and after the services. During our Yom Kippur services, attended by over 100 families, we incorporated a number of interactive features that kept people engaged throughout, including a Yom Kippur word cloud and some...Read more...

Our Zoom High Holy Days got of to a successful start with very well attended and well received Rosh Hashanah services last week. Over 100 families attended, including most on Zoom and our Torah readers and some people selected for hRead more...