Beth Israel Membership 2025-26 –

Renew or Join Now!

We invite all current members to renew your membership, and everyone interested in becoming a member of Beth Israel Congregation to apply now for the 2025-26 year. Our little-congregation-that-could and all that we offer (programming, beautiful space, religious leadership, holocaust and anti-semitism education, this information, etc.) is made possible by the work, and financial support, of members. For more information or to renew or apply, click here. Please note: to align with the Beth Israel Ptbo bylaws, this and subsequent membership years will run until the Annual General Meeting – anticipated for June 14, 2026. Please pay your dues by September 30th to remain a member in good standing. 

Thank you for your generosity – this wouldn’t be possible without you.

Thank you for being part of Beth Israel Congregation!

Abraham Festival / Oneg Shabbat

Join Dr. Dan Houpt and friends for an Oneg Shabbat Friday, September 12th at 6 p.m. as part of the 22nd Annual Abraham Festival. Please come enjoy the beautiful community service and help us welcome guests from Christian and Muslim faiths to our shul!

Also you are invited to attend Jummah prayers at the Oasis (at St. James Church, 221 Romaine St., Peterborough) on Friday, September 12th at 1pm, and Christian Worship at the same location, Sunday September 14th at 10:30am, followed by a vegetarian potluck lunch at noon, and then sit back, laugh and dance “Jerusalema” together with comedian Azfar Ali! For more information, click here. All events are free, with donations gratefully accepted.

Develop Comfort & Confidence to Participate in Services

Would you like to connect more with Jewish practice and prepare for greater participation in High Holy Day and other future services? Join Beth Israel’s own Dr. Dan Houpt Wednesday, September 10th at 7 p.m. to learn the prayers before and after recitation from the Torah and make your participation in services more meaningful! RSVP here and add it to your calendar.

Join the Beth Israel Book Club; Save the Dates

The next two meeting dates and books for the Beth Israel Congregation Book Club have been announced! On Thursday, Sept. 11th the club will be meeting to discuss The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem by Sarit Yishai Levi, and on Thursday, Oct. 23rd the club will meet to discuss People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks. Save the dates, start reading and we’ll see you all again soon. Thanks again to Ariela for organizing, and to everyone who came out to meet last week about The Safekeep.

Join us Friday, July 25th for Oneg Shabbat

All are welcome Friday, July 25th for an Oneg Shabbat service with the Beth Israel Congregation. The service will begin at 6p.m. Please feel free to bring non-members, family, and friends! For more information regarding this event, please contact the congregation’s director of communications at bethisrael@jccpeterborough.com with the subject line “July 25th Shabbat Service Inquiry” or call us at (705) 745-8398.

Join us Friday, August 15th for Oneg Shabbat

All are welcome August 15th for an Oneg Shabbat service with the Beth Israel Congregation. The service will begin at 6 p.m. Please feel free to bring non-members, family, and friends! For more information regarding this event, please contact the congregation’s director of communications at bethisrael@jccpeterborough.com with the subject line “August 15th Shabbat Service Inquiry” or call us at (705) 745-8398. 

Welcome Gabriel: New Summer Community Worker!

Hi! My name is Gabriel Barr, and from now until August 11th I’ll be helping out the Beth Israel Congregation as a part of the Canada Summer Jobs program! I am a Peterborough local and grew up as a member of the Unitarian Fellowship. For the past 3 years I’ve been living in Montreal studying communications/media production and biology at Concordia University. I’m looking forward to meeting you at the upcoming service & picnic, and at the AGM! 

Please Join Us For An End of Season/School Service &/or Picnic

We invite you to join us to celebrate a most excellent year of Beth Israel religious and community  programming and events, and to honour all those who have worked hard this year (gotten up and to school/your studies most of the time counts) Friday June 20th with a special Oneg Shabbat Service beginning at 5pm (note earlier time) followed by a picnic and songs at 6:30 at a another special venue.  All are welcome.  For more details please contact:  Beth Israel .  Please RSVP here for the event.

 

More about Aviva Rubin’s Visit on June 5th and her book entitled: WHITE

The Beth Israel Book Club

Organizers request that everyone RSVP here so we have numbers for food and drink. The event is at the synagogue at 6:30pm. 
 
Please join us for a visit from Toronto author, Aviva Rubin, who will discuss her book, WHITE, (no, you don’t have to have read it) and it’s relevance in our world today. Aviva is an engaging and entertaining speaker and all are welcome to attend. Come and show your support for a local Jewish author. You can read about her: avivarubin.ca and look for her on social media.
 
As written up on Aviva’s website, here are more details about WHITE:

Sarah Cartell grew up in the 1980’s and 90’s in a White supremacist family, controlled by her grandfather whose beliefs and violence mark them all. When an unexpected friendship with a Black boy, and the Jewish town librarian, open her mind and expose those beliefs as vile lies, Sarah begins digging up everything she can about the haters her family celebrates . . . and her grandmother and aunt who fled long ago.

Determined to dismantle the White supremacist network in Canada, Sarah infiltrates a Neo-Nazi gang. As she races to stop the tide of hate crimes, new friends are put in danger and a horrifying family secret begins to emerge. This unravelling lands her in a psychiatric ward, where her therapist forces the resistant Sarah to dig into pain she has ignored, and acknowledge being trapped in the belief that she is unworthy of the world she is fighting for. Can she ever escape the bonds of a hateful family?

Why WHITE is relevant today:

The book peels back the layers of hate and exposes the intimate and complex destruction it unleashes on believers, as much as those who are targeted. Any direction Sarah Cartell turns, something is lost. To choose empathy is to forfeit family and a sense of belonging. Merging two genres – domestic and political fiction – WHITE explores anti-Semitism, racism and the trauma of growing up with hate. What has changed dramatically since the 80’s and 90’s is the legitimacy of white nationalist beliefs and permission to wave that flag. What has not changed is clinging almost desperately to intolerance out of a misguided notion that it guarantees safety for those who fear losing their supposed birthright. In an increasingly polarized world, understanding hate and the divisions it perpetuates as not simply evil, is key to choosing trust over building walls. For Sarah, strong convictions battle her reticence to trust either others or herself. In times that drive us protectively inward, reaching across difference still remains the best way forward. But how do we do that when we feel under threat?

Link to the event post:  https://jccpeterborough.com/bookclub-2/

Kindly RSVP here so we have numbers for food and drink.

Honouring the Students in *Your* Family?

Beth Israel would like to celebrate all those who have worked hard this year (gotten up and to school/your studies most of the time counts). Join us Friday June 20th for a special Oneg Shabbat Service beginning at 5pm (note earlier time) at Beth Israel, followed by a picnic and songs at 6:30 at the Heritage Pavilion (by the Peterborough Museum at 300 Hunter St. E.). RSVP here – and let us know who in *your* family we can celebrate.