Religious worship is offered in many forms at convenient times.
 The community is always welcome to join with us in worship.

Weekly Shabbat services are at 6:45p.m. Fridays
and 10:30 a.m. Saturday mornings. (10:00 a.m. July and August).

The Joy of  Shabbat 6:45 pm second Friday of the month preceeded by Adult Volunteer
Choir rehearsal (6:15p.m. open to all).

Tot Shabbat service is on the second Saturday  of the month at 9:45 a.m.

Kabbalat Shabbat service is on the first Friday of the month at 6:45 p.m. followed by congregational dinner

High Holy Days and Festival services are at 8:00 p.m. on the erev of and 10:30 a.m. the morning of.
Summer services are at 6:45 p.m. Friday evenings and 10:00 a.m. Saturday mornings (July-August).

Weekly Friday (Shabbat) evening services begin at 6:45 p.m. They are
held in our sanctuary with a sermon or discussion by our rabbi. Our liturgical music is
rendered by the cantor with the congregation. The cantor is accompanied by an organist and
twice a month, a professional choir. Additionally, guest musicians regularly participate in the
service.

All services are followed by a festive Oneg Shabbat collation in our Social Hall.

  Riverdale Temple's monthly Kabbalat Shabbat offers a welcoming, festive atmosphere for the entire community to
greet the Sabbath with song, prayer, friendship, dancing, and dinner together.  It's at an earlier time and in a less
formal atmosphere than our other Friday night Shabbat services.

Rabbi Judith Lewis and Cantor Aviva Kolet begin our Kabbalat Shabbat service at 6:45 p.m. on the first Friday
of every month.  They lead a joyous celebration of Shabbat that appeals to all generations and frequently features
special musical guests.   Everyone can participate in our exciting combination of prayer and song in Hebrew and English.

Following the service, our Kabbalat Shabbat celebration continues as everyone joins in a community dinner and fun
activity in the temple's spacious social hall.  Menus vary and feature international cuisines.   After dinner our activities
for the young and young at heart have included Israeli dancing, storytelling, folk dancing, and a talent night. 
You'll have  plenty of time for casual conversation between new friends and long-time members of our congregational
family.

There's no charge for the evening and no need for reservations.  We kindly ask that everyone bring a dessert or side
dish to share and a donation for the Kingsbridge Riverdale Marble Hill Food and Hunger project.

 

 Tot Shabbat is held on the 4th Saturday of every month at 9:45 am. from September through June.
It is a joyous, song-filled lively musical service led by both our rabbi and our cantor. This brief service is appropriate
for preschoolers and their families.

Why not join us and invite a friend or neighbor?

 

The second Friday of the month is our new Joy of Shabbat service, featuring an extended musical selection
of the Kabbalat Shabbat psalms-including both traditional and contemporary settings.  To help us
"prepare to prepare"for the Sabbath, cantorial Intern Aviva Kolet will hold the very first Adult Volunteer Choir
rehearsal at 6:15 p.m., immediately preceding the service.  The entire community is invited to participate
no formal musical skills or talents are required, just a desire to learn and sing.
Cantor Kolet plans, over the course of the year, to shape a volunteer choir capable of performing some of the
great selections of synagogue choral composition. 
The service, which will follow the Choir Rehearsal, at 6:45 p.m., promises to be a warm, energetic, and
engaging worship experience.  Our rabbinic intern, Steven Altarescu, will assist in leading our service
adding inspiring and instructive teachings to the liturgy.
Please join us for this "Joy of Shabbat" service (of course, children, as always, are encouraged to attend).

                               

Worship in the main sanctuary begins at 10:30 a.m. each week and is led by our rabbi and includes
a Torah study. Our liturgical music is rendered by our cantor and the congregation,
accompanied by our organist, often with our choir when there are Bar or a Bat Mitzvah
celebration.

(During July and August Saturday service begins at 10:00 a.m.)

 

The High Holy Day season begins with Selichot on the Saturday evening preceding Rosh
Hashanah. The evening begins with a pre-service program followed by a collation in the
temple's Social Hall. The service in the sanctuary begins at 10:00 PM.

Services begin at 8:00 p.m. for erev Rosh Hashanah and Kol Nidre. Morning services begin at
10:30 a.m. They are led by our rabbi and cantor, accompanied by our organist and
professional choir.

Rosh Hashanah and Shavuot are celebrated with two-day observance. Sukkot and Passover are
celebrated on the first two and last two days of each festival. Yizkor Memorial Services are
held on Yom Kippur and the last day of each of the three pilgrim festivals. Simchat Torah is
celebrated with both an evening and morning service.

Special services are also held throughout the year to commemorate special days/holidays on
the Jewish calendar such as Yom Ha'Shoah (Holocaust Remembrance), Yom Ha'atzma'ut (Israel's
Independence Day), and Shabbat Shirah (the Sabbath of Song).

  The Riverdale Temple Players, a changing band of good spirited temple members,
on Erev Purim, after a traditional reading of Megillat Esther, provide for a the telling
of the story of Esther to music, merriment and mayhem.

Each year a new farcical script filled with silliness for the children and subtle satire
for the adults is created by our own in-house talent.  This is combined with the
selection of a musical theme of easily recognized compositions whose lyrics are
rewritten to tell the age old story.  Temple members and our neighbors have been
treated to the story of Purim to the music of the Beatles, Broadway, Disney,
Rodgers and Hammerstein, and operatic classics.  Complete with costumes,
backdrops and comical staging, our sanctuary is transformed
into the palace of Shushan.

Annual cast calls to all temple members who can sing-or like to, act- or are willing
to try, direct, produce, play an insturment, or build props and sew costumes are held. 
Auditions, followed by a series of rehearsals, culminate in a holiday celebration enjoyed by
congrgants of all ages.

The Megilla according to Irving Berlin
Written and Directed by Helen Krim
Musical Direction by Jim Fogel
Piano accompaniment by Rudy Radna