Havurat Shalom, est. 1968

Havurat Shalom is a wonderful, warm, welcoming Jewish spiritual community
with progressive values.
This is a loving, caring, enlivening place I can come to deepen and integrate my intellectual, emotional and my prayer life. The services are full of singing, some helpful readings, poems, and space for my own inner experience. They davinn (pray) with a full heart. I am so grateful for a Jewish community that addresses God and people as both feminine and masculne in the Hebrew, which is unique to Havurat Shalom. The Torah discussions are meaningful, with folks putting a lot of good thinking into them. I often leave services feeling both uplifted, peaceful, and connected to community, ready to give more in the rest of my life.

Havurat Shalom is a teeny-​tiny, non-​denominational Jewish community with no rabbi. Members lead services, which are mainly in Hebrew. The liturgy is radically egalitarian; members address God in the feminine. (This is a big deal in Hebrew, which is a very gendered language.) Egalitarianism at the Havurah extends to making services accessible to people who use wheelchairs and other mobility aids – there’s an access ramp and an accessible bathroom on the first floor. We also have a long history of inclusion of GLBT Jews. Not sure why the first commenter thought people weren’t friendly to Jews by choice, as this is not the policy of the organization and there are many Jews by choice among the Havurah’s members. The Havurah is an excellent place for people who like to discuss the weekly Torah portion, think hard about the liturgy, and be very real and sincere in prayer. It’s an intentionally small community, which might be too intense for some, but it’s worth checking out if this sounds like what you want.

I found the previous review strange, even bizarre. I’ve been going to Havurat Shalom for years and find it a friendly, welcoming place, especially on the high holidays. As to the attitude toward converts, (how would anyone know this person was a convert anyway?) there are quite a few Havurah members who are converts, and they are fully accepted members of the community.

Firstly Jews (and I’ve been warned about this by born Jews) dont trust converts or anyone thinking about comverting. I’ve been to this place 3 times. First time it was ok, second time the man who lives there stared at me, but I talked to the other people who were there for shabbat and made sure I wasnt alone so that creepy guy wouldnt say or do anything to me.
Third time was last time there. It was on Rosh Hoshonah. This is the New Year for Jews, and we reflect on the year before of sins and we repent. This begins high holy days. We also think about the great things in the year ahead and look positively.
Well, most of us anyways.
The 2 people that lived there (a woman married to the creepy guy who stared last time and a new creepy guy) didnt say even shalom to me. Yet, they ran around shaking hands with everyone. In one instance, the guy interupted a woman who was speaking to me in order to introduce himself and shake her hand. I extended my hand to shake his and he crossed his arms and glared at me. I guess my hand was tainted:/
The second time I was interupted was when I talked to someone and the woman who lived there saw someone with me and came over and whispered in the woman’s ear as she drug her away from me.
At the end, we all handed in our prayer books. Well, almost everyone. Everyone else got the books taken from their hand by the guy and he placed them in the stack he wanted. When I went up, he turned his back to me. I stood there awkwardly and finally just placed the book down by myself because obviously in his eyes, I tainted the book. As I walked away, he angrily slammed the book down where he wanted it and said I didnt put it down correctly! Immediately after, he turns around and greets and laughs to the people as if nothing happened!
Not only was it a Jewish holiday, but they used the holiday to manipulate people’s feelings and beg for money for their building. I thought this hypocritical. I dont donate to hateful organizations like this. Hopefully they repented for their sins during the high holidays! What a great way to start the new year by prejudice and discrimination!
Not every Jew/​Jewish organization is evil, but this one certainly is!