Sign In Forgot Password
Home > Membership > The Voice - January 2026 - Tevet/ShVat 5786

The Voice - January 2026 - 5786

Services this Month

Shabbat Services and Shabbat Dinner
Friday | January 9 | 6:00 pm
 

Join us for joyful Shabbat services led by Rabbi Rebecca Reice. NOTE: services are starting at 6pm, not 7pm! This will allow time for the Shabbat dinner after services. Click here to let us know if you will be attending the dinner.
T'filah Together
Saturday | January 24 | 9:00 am
 
Please join us for T'filah Together, Congregation Shir Ami's Tot Shabbat program for families with kiddos up to the age of eight years old. We will be meeting in the Fellowship Hall or Room 110 at 9am (depending on the week) where Rabbi Rebecca Reice will lead a Shabbat program specifically geared for kids and their families. This will include age-appropriate songs, prayers, and a PJ Library story. We hope to see you there!
Click here to let us know if you're planning on coming!
Shabbat Morning Services
Saturday | January 24 | 10:00 am
 
Shabbat Morning Services in January 2026 will be Learner's Services with a Service for the Reading of the Torah ( with Torah Reading, assuming that we have a minyan present). This month, the Learner's Services will be focused on the Torah Service and the Concluding Service.
 
As we prepare for  Services for the whole community (10am), it would help us to know who is coming so we set up appropriately. Registration by the start of candle lighting on Shabbat is encouraged. If you miss the opportunity to register, please come anyway. We need ritual Jewish adults to help to make and maintain the minyan for Torah reading at 10am! Click here to let us know if you're planning on coming!
Save the Date! February Shabbat Services
Friday, February 6  |  Services 7:00pm
 

Join us for joyful Shabbat services led by Rabbi Reice.

Upcoming Events

Rabbi Reice's Office Hours
 
Office Hours
8 Jan 2026 (19 Tevet) 12 – 6pm
12 Jan 2026 (23 Tevet) 11am – 5pm
20 Jan 2026 (2 Sh’vat) 10:30am – 4:30pm
21 Jan 2026 (3 Sh’vat) 1 – 4pm
27 Jan 2026 (9 Sh’vat) 1:30 – 4:30pm
28 Jan 2026 (10 Sh’vat) 1 – 4pm
5 Feb 2026 (18 Sh’vat) 12 – 6pm
 
During Office hours, Rabbi Reice will be answering the phone, answering emails, and meeting with those folks who have scheduled an appointment (in person, over the phone or a video call). Please feel free to call or email Rabbi Reice during these times. (Of course, contact her, or our President, Cindy Tarsi, immediately for more urgent matters.)
 
Please email Rabbi Reice (rreice@shir-ami.com), to schedule an appointment in advance.
 
Upcoming Days Off
2 Jan 2026 (13 Tevet) - comp for 12/23
13 Jan 2026 (24 Tevet) - comp for 12/26
15 Jan 2026 (26 Tevet) - comp for 12/29
16 Jan 2026 (27 Tevet) - comp for 12/30
22 Jan 2026 (4 Sh’vat) - comp for 1/2
23 Jan 2026 (5 Sh’vat) - comp for 1/8
26 Jan 2026 (8 Sh’vat) - comp for 1/9
29 Jan 2026 (11 Sh’vat) - comp for 1/12
 
Upcoming Office Closings
1 Jan 2026 (12 Tevet) Office Closed - National Holiday
19 Jan 2026 (1 Sh'vat) Office Closed - National Holiday
Celebrating Birthdays and Anniversaries this Month!
 

Happy Anniversary:
01/12     Zach & Kylie Wright
 
Happy Birthday:
01/06     Alyssa Gladstone
01/10     Ed Bailen
01/10     Jason Fay
01/13     Sarmi Stewart
01/16     Sarah Belyi
01/17     Leslie Schlanger
01/17     Kylie Wright
01/23     John Liberty
01/24     Aaron Coleman
01/26     Grant Rose
01/27     Eloise Potter
01/30     Ari Zlotnik
Meeting of the Board of Trustees
Sunday, January 25  |  10:00 AM
 
 
All members are invited to attend the Board of Trustees meetings.  If you would like to attend this meeting, or wish to speak at the meeting, please contact our President, Cindy Tarsi, president@shir-ami.com.
Interest Meeting for Comparative Judaism Class
Sunday, January 11  |  11:30 AM - 1:30 PM
 
 
Announcing a series of six Comparative Judaism sessions. These classes will include:
 
   - 1/24/26 at 10am Shabbat Learner's Services at Shir Ami
   - 1/24/26 12:30pm Brown bag lunch (BYOL) and Introduction to Comparative Judaism 
  -  1/31/26 9:45am Conservative Services Site Visit and provided lunch with processing time 
  -  2/7/26 9am Orthodox Services Site Visit and provided refreshments with processing time
  -  TBD Reform Services (not Shir Ami) Site Visit, including light refreshments with processing time
  -  TBD Judaism in Israel vs. Central Texas/North America
  -  TBD Course Reflection and Wrap up Session
 
The class will be free for Shir Ami members. Non-members can participate for a fee between $18-360, based on what they are able to afford.
Click here to register for an interest meeting to discuss plans for the class, this is not part of the paid sessions.
 
ROSH Hebrew Pilot for Adults
Tuesdays January 20 - May 12  |  2:00 - 3:00 PM
 
 
Whether you are a parent learning side by side with your child, attending an Adult B'nai Mitzvah class, or an adult learner working at home on your own, the lessons in this book will teach you the Hebrew you need to feel confident and competent, as you read from the prayerbook and recite Shabbat and holiday blessings.
 
Rabbi Rebecca Reice will lead a class for adults who are interested in learning to read Hebrew. The text for this course will be ROSH: A Hebrew Primer written by Rabbi Rebecca R. Reice, R.J.E and Teme M. Levbarg, PhD, M.S.W.
Whether you are a parent learning side by side with your child, attending an Adult B'nai Mitzvah class, or an adult learner working at home on your own, the lessons in this book will teach you the Hebrew you need to feel confident and competent, as you read from the prayerbook and recite Shabbat and holiday blessings. If you can not decode (read out loud) the Hebrew, the key vocabulary you learn in this class will open the language of our prayers to you in a new way.
 
The 12 sessions of this class will be held on Tuesdays from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm at Shir Ami in Room 110. The first class will be January 20 and the last class May 12. The class is free for members of Shir Ami, ask Rabbi Reice for the discount code! Non-Members can participate and are asked to pay $18-$360 on a sliding scale of what is reasonable for the student, not including the price of the book. Click here to register, Members ask for discount code before registering.
Challah Baking Class
January 25  |  10:00am
Click Here to Register! Do you love to eat the challah that Ed Bailen brings to services? Would you like to learn to make challah from that very baker?! 8 lucky, gluten tolerant members of Shir Ami (on a first signed up, first reserved basis) are invited to sign up to attend a class in challah baking with our very own Challah Celebrity, Ed Bailen! Class starts at 10am and will run until the dough is braided or the challah is baked - your choice! Leave with braided dough in need of one more proof or leave with challah fresh from the oven! The address will be provided upon registration.
Women's Mah Jongg
If you are interested in learning or playing, contact Leslie.
 
 
The women in our group meet once or twice a month to play Mah Jongg, kibbitz, nosh and enjoy a relaxing afternoon. Our members volunteer to host these afternoon games at their homes. Members who would like to make a donation at the end of each game may do so. At the end of the year the group makes a donation to Shir Ami and chooses another worthy Jewish charity.
Happy Bookers
Date: Saturday, January 17
Time: 10:30 a.m.
Book: Here All Along by Sarah Hurwitz
 
 
 

About the Book

The renowned political speechwriter and New York Times bestselling author of As a Jew rediscovers Judaism, finding timeless wisdom and spiritual connection in its age-old practices and traditions.

“Sarah Hurwitz was Michelle Obama’s head speechwriter, and with this book she becomes Judaism’s speechwriter.”—Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take, Originals, and co-author of Option B

After a decade as a political speechwriter—serving as head speechwriter for First Lady Michelle Obama, a senior speechwriter for President Barack Obama, and chief speechwriter for Hillary Clinton on her 2008 presidential campaign—Sarah Hurwitz decided to apply her skills as a communicator to writing a book . . . about Judaism. And no one is more surprised than she is.
 
Hurwitz was the quintessential lapsed Jew—until, at age thirty-six, after a tough breakup, she happened upon an advertisement for an introductory class on Judaism. She attended on a whim, but was blown away by what she found: beautiful rituals, helpful guidance on living an ethical life, conceptions of God beyond the judgy bearded man in the sky—none of which she had learned in Hebrew school or during the two synagogue services she grudgingly attended each year. 
.
About Happy Bookers
The Happy Bookers book club is open to Shir Ami members. Interested prospective members should contact the Shir Ami Membership Committee.
 
2026 SCHEDULE

1/17/2026: Here All Along by Sarah Hurwitz
 

Shir Ami News

Mi Shebeirach

Our Prayers for the Physical, Spiritual and Emotional Healing for those named and any others in need.
 
Please email Rabbi Reice at rreice@shir-ami.com to enter a name on the list or remove a name from the list.
 
Avi Adaky, Alison Austin, Mona Bailey, Bill Bitner, Phyllis Byrd, Pamela Caulder-Fine, Carlos Cisneros, Leora Forstein, Dennis Fredrick, Gloria Fredrick, Janet Friedman, Linda Friedman, Ingrid Gabriel, Lynn Gelber, Yehudit Leah bat Gitel, Carol Goldmark, Joyce Heil, Bill Kurtz (Zev ben Frieda Elka v’Chaim), Elgin Koons, Gail Lary, Peter Lary, Rabbi Mark Levin, Linda Lewis, John Liberty, Geri Meyers, Linda Mickelson, Kay Moore, Dominae Petrosini, Randall Robbins, Tobey Ramirez, Delia Rodriguez, Emory Plum Schlanger, James Smallwood, Yehudah Zev ben Shaindle Leah, Elisheba bat Dean v Sharon, Abha Singh , Cindy Tarsi (Chasye Chana bat Laya Raizel v’Avraham Yitzchak HaLevi), Jim Tarsi, Christy Tharp, Esther Thomas, Marsha Weiss, Larry Whitlock, Laura Wildeman, Carol Wood, Carole Wood, Dale Wood, Dominic Wood, Bonnie Zimmer

Welcome to Your Library!

Looking for ideas?  Look in a book!  Looking for a new latke recipe?  Look in a cookbook.  Your Shir Ami library may have just what you need in room 110.  Checkout is easy—you’ll find a clipboard on the bookshelves.  Just fill out your name and date, and you’re on the road to learning.  For more complete information, log on to ShulCloud  (https://www.shir-ami.com/member_library_shir_ami).   After all, it’s your library. 
The Caring Circle - Care to Get Involved?
 
 

Lending a helping hand to members in times of stress is a vital part of any congregation. Kind and caring Shir Ami members volunteer in this group to help provide support to other Shir Ami congregants in times of life's challenges such as illness, death, divorce, and birth. Specific activities include helping to secure a minyan for a memorial or shiva service, sending notes to members on the loss of a loved one, arranging transportation for a member to attend services or other Shir Ami events, and providing meals, sending cards, visiting, or calling congregants during times of illness or post-hospitalization.
 
If you are experiencing any of these challenges and wish to be contacted by the Caring Circle, please contact Rabbi Reice. If you wish to be a more active Caring Circle volunteer, please contact Sara Goodman at CaringCircle@Shir-Ami.com. All are welcome!

Shir Ami and Drive a Senior Northwest – Partners in Supporting our Older Adults

Volunteer Drivers Needed
Please consider becoming a volunteer driver for the Drive a Senior Northwest program. By offering to drive someone just one or two short trips a month, you will be an unbelievable help to our many older adults still living at home in the northwest Austin/Cedar Park/Leander area. Driving an older adult is incredibly rewarding and very much appreciated. Please go online to driveaseniornorthwest.org to read about the program, then print a volunteer form, fill it out, and mail it in. Or ask Sara Goodman (sgoodman123@gmail.com) for more information about the program.
Services to Adults 60+
If you or a loved one is 60+ and needs help to stay in your/their home, Drive A Senior Northwest is here for you. Services include rides to doctor’s appointments, the grocery store, community activities, etc. as well as minor home repair, telephone reassurance, and a twice monthly senior day out. Contact Drive a Senior Northwest at driveaseniornorthwest.org or (512) 250-5021.

Community News

2nd Annual Living the Jewish American Experience Lecture Series
Thursday, January 8, 2026  |  7:00 PM  |  Dell JCC
 
 
Join us for the second annual Living the American Jewish Experience lecture featuring Dr. Dean P. Bell, President and CEO of the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership, who will speak on “Jews Have Never Lived in a Vacuum: Interreligious Engagement and the American Jewish Experience”.
 
An expert on the history of Jews’ interactions with other religions and groups, Dr. Bell will use that lens to present new ways to think about interreligious engagements for today and the future.
 
Since arriving in New Amsterdam (now Manhattan, NY) in 1654, Jews have been actively engaged in, and significantly affected, by the broader social, economic, political, cultural, and religious trends and developments around them.  They have experienced significant accomplishments as well as significant challenges. Jews’ thinking about their religion and their relationships with other Jews and non-Jews have evolved as they have navigated their place in a democratic and generally welcoming American society.
Today, the age-old concerns of Jews and their communities are often front-page news. Dr. Bell will offer us an insightful perspective of a 372-year journey as America begins to celebrate 250 years since declaring its independence and establishing itself as a place where, for the for first time in the modern era, Jews might enjoy all the rights and privileges of all other citizens.
 
WOMEN'S WEDNESDAY
Wednesday, January 14, 2026  |  5:30 pm  |  Central East Austin
 
 
Join Women for Israel for an inspiring evening showcasing the real, lasting impact of Jewish National Fund-USA’s work. See how strategic investments in housing, healthcare, jobs, tourism, and resilience programs are revitalizing Israel’s North and South creating opportunity, strengthening communities, and shaping a thriving future for generations to come.
 
Featuring: Jordyn Tilchen, journalist and educator, will unpack media bias and antisemitism while inspiring you to rise with confidence, take up space, and shape Israel’s future. Learn how to transform challenges into opportunities for bold, informed, and purposeful leadership.  
 
EVENT DETAILS
Wednesday, January 14, 2026
Central East Austin
Address Provided Prior to Event 
5:30 pm • Registration & Networking
6:30 pm • Program
 
RSVP REQUIRED
DIETARY LAWS OBSERVED
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE
TICKET PRICING
General Admission • $72
JNFuture (ages 22-40) • $54
 
A suggested gift of $360 or more to the current campaign
 
For security purposes pre-registration is required for all guests. Attendees are required to show photo ID, and may be subject to a security check, including bag search. We reserve the right to refuse entry at our discretion.
 
Art Show and Play
November - February  |  Palace Theater, Georgetown 
 
 
Shir Ami member, Leora Forstein, has a piece being exhibited in the Georgetown Palace Theater! (You can see her painting at the top left of the above image!) Click here for more information about the play.

Volunteer for Shalom Austin JFS Food Pantry

The Client Choice Shalom Austin JFS Food Pantry is always looking to engage volunteers in food drives, packing food bags, and making deliveries. Anyone interested in getting involved in any capacity, can email Joan Eisenberg Maniere at joan.maniere@shalomaustin.org.
Also, if you know of any community members who are facing food insecurity, please have them contact Joan, and she can get them enrolled into the program.

Interest Free Loans

Hebrew Free Loan of Austin provides short-term financial support for members of the Austin Jewish community through interest-free loans that springboard you to your next step in life. Could you or someone you know use a hand-up with an interest free loan? Loans can be made available within a week or even same day in emergencies! Contact info@hfla.org or visit https://hebrewfreeloanofaustin.org.
Mon, February 16 2026 29 Sh'vat 5786