For Immediate Release: June 7, 2007
Bet Havarim's next Shabbat Worship Service will be conducted on Friday evening, June 15th, in the social hall of St.David's Episcopal Church in Dewitt. Services begin at 7:30 PM and are followed by an Oneg Shabbat Reception. Bet Havarim's Shabbat Worship Services are conducted by Cantorial Soloist, Hanita Margulies Blair, assisted by members of Bet Havarim's Shabbat Committee.
"We are inviting members of the community to join us on June 15th as we welcome guest speaker Sherry Chayat of the Syracuse Zen Center," said Bet Havarim's Shabbat Committee Chairperson, Mel Shindler. A member of Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas, Chayat will be speaking on the subject of the "Compatibility of Zen and Judaism."
Roko Sherry Chayat is the Abbot (Religious Leader) of the Syracuse Zen Center which was founded in 1972 by a small group of Syracuse University Graduate Students. The group included Howard Blair, husband of Bet Havarim's Cantorial Soloist, Hanita Blair. In 1976 Sherry Chayat arrived in Syracuse with her first husband, Louis Nordstrom, who had accepted a faculty position at Syracuse University. "We are looking forward to welcoming Sherry, who is an internationally recognized practitioner of Zen," said Shindler. "I believe that everyone attending Bet Havarim's June 15th Shabbat Service will be in for a treat and will leave a 'little wiser' after listening to Sherry Chayat. The Syracuse Zen Center is dedicated to the subtle, yet simple practice of meditation and we will learn that Zen is not a 'belief system' to which one converts; rather it is an age-old practice of mindfulness through which we cultivate 'inner peace,' something that, I believe, is absolutely compatible with our Judaic Faith and beliefs. I encourage all those in our Jewish community to join us on Friday evening, June 15th, bring family and friends, and, most of all, an open mind," Shindler concluded. The Zen Center of Syracuse is located at 266 West Seneca Turnpike in Syracuse.
Bet Havarim is organized to promote and cultivate a love and understanding of our Jewish heritage, teachings, and values, and to ensure the continuation of the Jewish people. Our common strength is through communal worship, celebration, study, a commitment to Israel and its people, and the practice of mitzvoth by applying the principles of Judaism to the values and conduct of the individual, family and the society in which we live for the betterment of humanity.
For information about Bet Havarim, service schedules, D'vrei Torah, etc., visit Bet Havarim's web site at http://www.BetHavarimSyr.org, send email to info -at- BetHavarimSyr.org (please make the obvious change in the address), or phone Marty Morganstein at 637-5390 or Mel Shindler at 478-6856.
St. David's Church is located on Jamar Drive. From the intersection off Maple Drive and E. Genesee St. in Dewitt (across from Wegman's) drive south on Maple Drive and take the third right turn on to Jamar Drive. The Church is located at the end of Jamar Drive with off-street parking available. St. David's is handicapped accessible.