Online Shabbat Memorial Service – Submit Names

February 3, 2010 · Filed Under Baum's Blog 

Since September of 2008, OurJewishCommunity.org has been videostreaming webcasts of our services.  Hundreds, and often thousands, of people watch each of our services.  We videostream our High Holiday services directly from the sanctuary at Congregation Beth Adam.  Our Shabbat services are specifically designed to be online; they are short (20-30 minutes) and include a Shabbat candle lighting, kiddush (blessing over wine), and challah (bread).  They also include a discussion – each week on a different topic – between me and Rabbi Barr – with all of you participating through Facebook, Twitter, and Livestream.  Occasionally, we stream other special services or programs, like a Q&A session with the rabbis or an outdoor Sukkot service for all ages.  You can watch archives of all of our services in our on-demand library.

Last Yom Kippur, we had a very special online experience.  We asked people to submit photos of deceased loved ones whom they were remembering during the Jewish holidays.  We streamed a beautiful Yom Kippur Memorial service, incorporating a lovely slide show of those individuals’ photos and names.  It was extremely touching, and hundreds of people watched it together – at their computers – many of them writing in their memories of other loved ones.

So far, at only a few of our Shabbat services have we included a memorial reading.  For example, we read one the week of the Fort Hood shootings.  At that point, many of you asked for a memorial service on a more regular basis.  So we’ve decided that at the first Shabbat service each month, we will include a memorial reading and read the names of individuals.

So if you have a name of someone you are remembering and would like us to include them in our service, please send an email to rabbi@ourjewishcommunity.org to let me know.  We’ll add the name to our list.  If you have a name for February (someone who died either recently or at this time in years past) feel free to send it to me. Or, if you have a name for an upcoming month, send that to me as well and I will save it for the month you designate.

May the memories of good people bless our days.

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