Shabbat

Monthly Kabbalat Shabbat — Joyful prayer, soulful music, potluck dinners

Inaugural Shabbaton Retreat — A deep dive into Shabbat, learning, and community weaving

Community Tables: We will help connect members up with each other to share their Shabbat tables when we are not gathering in the grove!

Festivals & Holidays

Rosh Hashanah 5786 — Shofar in the afternoon & creekside tashlich

Yom Kippur 5786 — 25-hour sacred fire: Kol Nidre, Day of Atonement, & Neilah

Sukkot 5786 — Poolside Chag Feast + Community Sukkah Hop

Hanukkah 5786 — 8th night celebration of light & resilience

Tu b’Shvat 5786- Seder for the trees

Purim 5786 — Pool party & playful shpiel

Passover 5786- Creative Passover Seder and Havdallah

Shavuot 5786 — Late-night learn-in & sacred fire revelation

Tisha B’Av 5786 — Grief ritual & sacred fire, honoring loss and longing

Weaving the community together beyond the prayer is a key goal for cultivating and nourishing our village. We aspire to uplift volunteer community members’ leadership and strenthen our community. Please let staff know if you feel inspired to support or lead a moon circle or other community activity.

Moon Circles
Rosh Chodesh (new moon) has long been a sacred time for female-identified humans to gathering in prayer and sharing. Kiddush Lavana (full moon honoring) has long been a sacred time for male-identified humans to honor the sacred together in prayer and sharing. We envision creating community-member led circles for female, male, and non-binary identified moon circles.

Seasonal Hikes & Picnics
We live in a paradise of local trails and special places. We envision volunteer leaders galvanizeing Makom Shalom members for land connection, community joy, and learning about our local ecosystem. (pending volunteer lead)

Your Inspired Offering!
We envision Makom Shalom comes alive with shared community leadership. If you are inspired to offer a way to weave community - book club, board game tournament, challah baking group, surf clan, fermentation gang, ski crew, etc. - please get in touch with staff to make your community building inspiration come to life!

Whether you are new to Judaism or a teacher of Judaism yourself, we aim to create a community that centers learning and spiritual growth!

Chaverim Circle

A monthly spiritual refinement group that studies growing spiritually in community through the wisdom of the Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira (also known as the Piaseczno Rebbe). Led by Rabbi Zelig.

Prayer Lab

Gather on a monthly basis to learn history, rhythms, and know-how of Jewish prayer - for your edification and to uplift our community prayer! Led by Rabbi Zelig.

Ancestral Skills
We aspire to build our collective skills that awakens our inner craft-person, brings us closer to source, and builds real skills for resilience - food, fiber, blade, and beyond. (pending volunteer leadership in year one).Monthly Prayer Lab — Learn the rhythms of Jewish prayer and leadership (Rabbi led)

Being a part of Jewish community is for the good and challenging times. Makom Shalom aims to provide rabbinic support when needed most.

Pastoral Care
When emotional and spiritual support is most needed, Makom Shalom’s pastoral care team, including rabbi and other skilled community counselors, is here to listen and provide a compassionate, non-judgmental presence for individuals and families who are struggling, navigating loss and doubt, celebrating, and more.

Lifecycle Ritual
At the most pivotal life moments, birth, rites of passage, marriage, death and other joys and oys, Makom Shalom aims to provide a circle of care appropriate for your transition.

Community Engagement & Collaboration
Our leadership team actively represents the Makom Shalom community in timely and community-relevant communication engagement and collaboration. For example, our rabbi will collaborate and stay current with Sonoma County and Bay Area Jewish communities, interfaith religioius institutions, and timely political issues that directly impact us.

Engaging Youth and families is key to creating a healthy village. During Makom Shalom’s first year, we are working to build a community foundation within which we can launch transformational youth programs. This first year, we also aim to observe and learn what is most needed to design our youth programs intentionally.

This first year, we offer childcare and Jewish programming for children during Shabbat and Holiday gatherings.

Please contact us to share your youth program dreams and to partner with us in our youth, B’Mitzvah, and teen program design process!