Community Dinners


Coming together for a warm and welcoming community meal is a very important part of the Congregation Emeth culture. Please join your Emeth family for an Erev Shabbat dinner with Shabbat rituals, held before services. Types of community dinners include:

School Sponsored Community Shabbat Dinners

Once a month, the Education committee, with the school families, coordinates a dinner following Friday Religious School and before Short ‘n Sweet Shabbat services. All school families participate but these dinners are always open to all members of Emeth. These dinners provide a way of strengthening community while also guiding parents and children in Shabbat rituals.

Community Potlucks

These are part of the special Shabbat programming for several holidays such as Sukkot, Tu BiSh’vat or Chanukah. All members are invited, asked to RSVP, and given potluck food guidelines..These community potlucks are also a wonderful opportunity for members to bring guests or for non-members to visit and celebrate with us. If you are not a member and would like to join us for holiday festivities, please contact membership@emeth.net

Community Seder

This is held each year on the second night of Passover. This is a catered dinner organized by Emeth volunteers. There is a fee for this special Seder and both members and friends of Emeth are invited. Look for signup details on our website.

Catered Community Dinners

We have started (in 2019) to offer the occasional catered (pre-paid) dinner as an opportunity for our members and friends to simply relax and socialize at Emeth. Examples have included a lunch following Rosh Hashanah morning services and an adult dinner in the sukkah at Sukkot. We are fortunate to be able to utilize the services of Mannie, the caterer who rents our commercial kitchen, in order to offer these dinners and an extremely reasonable price.

A Community Dinner Following Our Annual Town Hall Meeting

This is usually held on a Sunday at the beginning of June (and hosted by the Emeth Board). At this time we elect our new board and present the state of the congregation to the Emeth membership.  All members are warmly invited to this brief meeting and subsequent dinner.

Community dinners are always specified as either dairy or meat.

Although we are a Reform congregation, Emeth is the only Jewish congregation in the South County area. Consequently, the membership encompasses people from a broad spectrum of backgrounds. Our food policy is designed to keep within Reform guidelines while not offending our members or guests.  Food Policy (PDF).

We believe community dinners are important in strengthening our members’ relationships with one another and their appreciation of Emeth as an extended family. They also provide opportunities for children and their parents to learn about the traditions of Shabbat.

10/3/19