The BCRC Blog

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...

Everyone who has joined us for our remote services on Zoom knows that they are a great way to worship while continuing to connect with our friends and neighbors in a time where this has become a challenge. Now our services are receiving area-wide recognition. Last week Washington Jewish Week featured an enlightening article about our Confirmation Shavuot. Click here to read it and join us this week as we continue our remote services.

Our own Rabbi Amy was quoted in the lead to an article in Washington Jewish Week addressing this topic on May 6. According to the article, "American synagogues closed their doors in March to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Many expected that several weeks or, at most, a few months would elapse before the pandemic was under sufficient control for in-person religious services to resume. But as the weeks wear on, it is becoming increasingly...Read more...

Have you attended our remote Erev Shabbat services yet? They are a great way to create an online community in this time of 'social distancing', when many of us are missing out on community connections. They have also been a welcome respite from all of the news of the week for the ever-growing group that has joined us. If you haven't attended these services yet, we invite you to join us this week! BCRC members will be provided a link...Read more...

Our architects from Brawer Hauptman visited on Thursday Jan 30 to hold a 'meet and greet' and to present the master plan for the next generation upgrade of our BCRC facility. We have dubbed this plan 'BCRC21' since it will lead our facility, which has served us well as a permanent home for over a decade, into a new, more welcoming and more spiritual era. Don't worry if you were not able to join us Thursday night (although you missed the...Read more...

By popular demand, we have posted Rabbi Amy's High Holy Days sermons for 5780. Please click below to read them:

Erev Rosh Hashanah: Time to Pave Paradise, or Cheshbon Hanefesh: An accounting of our soul and the assumptions we live by 

Rosh Hashanah: The first son, the first sin, and the goal of self-control.

Kol Nidre: In every Generation... we pursue Justice

Yom Kippur morning: Why are Jews considered...Read more...

BCRC kicked off the 5780 worship year with a great 'Welcome Back' weekend Aug 23-25. Starting with a potluck featuring our congregants' delicious recipes, and highlighted by a talk about the new Capital Jewish Museum, opening in 2021. Click here to learn more about the...Read more...

In case you are wondering what Rabbi Amy is up to this week, keep an eye out for her upcoming accounts of a week of important interfaith outreach, starting with a 'Clergy Uniting for Racial Empathy' trip through Virginia to tour many sites and experience Virginia's complex racial past. And this is just the start - watch this space for details.

We were all shocked and saddened by the news of the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka, as well as other recent attacks on religious institutions. On April 22, an interfaith prayer vigil was held at the ADAMS Center, next door to BCRC, which was co-sponsored...Read more...

Rabbi Amy attended Healing Virgina (#HealingVa), an Interfaith and Civic Discussion with Attorney General Mark Herring on Sunday, March 3rd at Mt. Zion UMC in Leesburg. Here are her reflections on this event and the issues it raised:

     As Jewish tradition understands the Bible, humanity’s first sin is Cain’s killing of his brother, Abel. It’s not about Adam and Eve. It’s about Cain and Abel. It’s not...Read more...

Our recent Interfaith Dialogue Event featuring Rabbi Joe Charnes, scholar in residence, and Rev. Annabelle Markey and Rev. Joseph Vought from Community Lutheran Church in Sterling was a wonderful event, enjoyed by many in both our congregation and by our guests from the church,...Read more...

We had a wonderful celebration of Tu B'Shevat, the New Year of the Trees, at BCRC on Friday, January 18.  The evening began with a Tot Shabbat led by our 1st graders. Following that, we had a special Tu B'Shevat oneg/preneg featuring the traditional foods of the...Read more...

While the impression you may get from the media is that Israeli politics and religion is dominated by the Ultra-Orthodox, one thing we learned during our travels is that Israeli society is becoming increasingly pluralistic. This was quite apparent soon after our arrival when I took a stroll along the boardwalk on the beach in Tel Aviv. It seemed that just about every person we walked by came from a different ethnic or religious background and...Read more...