Shabbat Services

We gather together every Friday night for a Kabbalat Shabbat service beginning at 7pm, on the third floor of the Capital Club Athletic Center. Directions can be found here. Following services, we enjoy a community dinner together in the same room. 

Kehillat is proud to be a lay-led community — unlike most traditional Synagogues, our Sinogogue is without a Rabbi. Instead, each week a member of the community steps to the front to lead, using prayer books from the American reconstructionist movement (in addition to anything they’d like to add: poetry, music, or meditative thoughts).

Similarly, the weekly D’var Torah is given by a community member with an emphasis on group discussion, learning, and interaction. Our prayers are gender sensitive and we include women in our minyan. We pray in unison. We are happy to accommodate guests in any way possible without disturbing the spirit of our community.

Shabbat Dinner

While our services are free and open to all (without a reservation), we do ask that you give us a bit of a heads up before coming for dinner. Shoot us an email at info@sinogogue.org so we can save you a seat for dinner.

Ticket prices for our weekly Shabbat dinners are as follows: 

Our weekly dinner is prepared by the Capital Club, and includes a buffet with soup, salads, main courses, side dishes, desserts, soft drinks, and coffee. There is also usually wine and alcohol provided by the community. We work closely with the kitchen staff to make sure that everything is fresh, and the recipes are just like your Bubbie used to make for her Shabbos Dinner.

Additional Ways To Support Kehillat

The above meal ticket changes more accurately reflect the cost of each week's Shabbat Dinner, though there are still costs offset my member dues. For participants looking to support Kehillat above and beyond the call of duty, the Kehillat Board suggests the following methods: 

• Sponsor a Student: Buy tickets for students and young professionals in Beijing studying abroad; ticket prices reflect the 120rmb per person cost of each meal.

• Wine Sponsor: The Capital Club currently charges Kehillat 150rmb per bottle as a corkage fee, in addition to the cost Kehillat pays for each bottle. We welcome donations of either wine or corkage fees to support our Friday Night Shabbat Dinners.

A Note For Tour Groups

We welcome groups of travelers from all over the world to join us on Friday evenings for Shabbos services and dinner. However, we do appreciate prior notice and payment, as we sometimes have to make special arrangements with our venue and kitchen staff. Click here to make a reservation. 

Holidays

The Kehillat Community comes together for vibrant celebrations of all Jewish Holidays. We invite a guest Rabbi to lead us in Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur Services, when Jews from all over Asia rendezvous for the Jewish New Year. Community members hold parties in their home Sukkot. We host multiple candle lighting events during Chanukah, and enjoy Ted Plafker’s annual Purim Schpiel. In addition to cozy seder in the community, Kehillat traditionally hosts a Seder at the Capital Club. Keep an eye on our calendar for upcoming holiday events!

For complete information on High Holidays 5780 see the High Holidays 2019 page.

Participate

The wonderful thing about Kehillat Beijing is that it’s lay-led. We have no Rabbi, and no Cantor — just the wonderful folks who make us Kehillat. Each week, one of our community members steps up to lead us through their take on the Shabbat service. Some add poetry, some add music, and all add personality.

In order to get Services with lots of personality, however, we need to get lots of people to lead. In the past we’ve had couples, those who just completed their bar or bat Mitzvah, students, or families lead services. We know the idea of leading services might be daunting at first, but fear not! Here is a useful guide to service leading at Kehillat Beijing. Feel free to bring it with you to services and use it as a reference as you go through. We also hold regular workshops on the finer points of leading services and giving d’var Torah, so that everyone in the community is supported.

To volunteer to lead services, or speak on the weekly Torah portion, email info@sinogogue.org