We are excited to celebrate the newest addition to your family!
Traditionally, Jewish boys are circumcised and given a Hebrew name on the eighth day after their birth during a brit milah ceremony. For information about engaging a mohel, please contact Operations Manager Sue Safir (914-948-2800 x111). Be sure to contact the mohel and/or clergy before setting the date for the brit milah.
Births of daughters are celebrated either by naming the child at the Torah (usually on Shabbat morning), or by holding a simchat bat ceremony, at the synagogue or at home, to formally welcome the child into the Jewish covenant and community.
For more information about planning your brit milah or simchat bat, please contact Operations Manager Sue Safir (914-948-2800 x111).
Celebrating this joyful milestone marks an important moment for your child and, indeed, for your entire family. At Temple Israel Center, we view the B’nai Mitzvah experience as a multi-year journey that we hope is enriching and filled with learning and growth.
Formal preparation begins one year prior to the date of your simcha and includes meetings with our Cantor, assigning you one of our experienced tutors, meetings with one of our Rabbis, and a series of community building opportunities as your day draws near.
For information about B’nai Mitzvah, please contact Cantor Rabbi Levin Goldberg (914-948-2800 x125).
For information about catering and event planning, please contact Operations Manager Sue Safir (914-948-2800 x111).
Sasson v’Simcha, joy and happiness! That’s our wish for all who have found their life partner.
As you begin to plan for your wedding, our clergy is here to guide you through the many beautiful customs and rituals to consider. To schedule a meeting with our clergy or for more information, please contact our clergy directly; Rabbi Annie Tucker (914-948-2800 x115), Cantor Rabbi Levin Goldberg (914-948-2800 x125), or Associate Rabbi Adir Yolkut (914-948-2800 x133).
Divorce can be a very difficult time. Rabbi Annie Tucker can provide counseling and help you arrange for a proper get (religious bill of divorce) proceeding, which will respect the dignity of all parties. In Jewish law, a civil divorce is not sufficient to terminate a validly contracted Jewish marriage. A get must be written and delivered. Please be in touch with Rabbi Annie Tucker (914-948-2800 x115).
The decision to convert to Judaism is a significant and life-changing event. This meaningful process consists of exploration and study and culminates in a ceremony that officially welcomes and recognizes the person as a member of the Jewish community.
Courses appropriate for conversion candidates are available both in New York City and in Westchester. They require a significant commitment of time, study, and experiential learning. Rabbi Annie Tucker will be able to direct you to the one that is appropriate for you.
Temple Israel Center houses its own mikveh, at which the final stage of the conversion process can be fulfilled, after all the study and other requirements are done, and a lived commitment to Jewish practice is evident.
For more information, please contact Rabbi Annie Tucker (914-948-2800 ext. 115).
Committed to the value of bikkur holim (visiting those who are ill), our clergy is available to speak or meet with congregants and their families in times of illness. In addition, active volunteers in our Hesed Circle can make arrangements for visits, rides, meals, or offer other practical help. Our goal is to build a web of loving kindness that reaches all members of our community.
During morning minyan and every Shabbat and holiday, we recite the misheberach blessing, a prayer for those in need of healing. If you would like to add a name to the mishaberach list, which includes the full Hebrew name, please contact Operations Manager Sue Safir (914-948-2800 x111).
We are here to provide support, comfort, and guidance in the event of grave illness and end of life. Our clergy team will guide you through the process of making funeral arrangements.
In the event of a death, please contact Executive Director Yael Slonim (914-948-2800 x119). After regular business hours, please call or email Rabbi Annie Tucker (914-948-2800 x115).
For guidance around Jewish mourning rituals, including shiva (the first seven days of mourning), sheloshim (the first 30 days), unveiling (when a gravestone is dedicated), and yahrzeit (the yearly anniversary of a death), please reach out to our clergy.
When we are informed about the death of a Temple Israel Center family member, a condolence email is sent to the community as soon as possible. Information about funeral arrangements and funeral plans will also be sent if desired. To notify us of a death, please contact a member of the clergy.
Temple Israel Center maintains an association with several funeral chapels in the New York area. Please contact Executive Director Yael Slonim (914-948-2800 x119) for more information.
We encourage you to speak with one of our rabbis first before contacting the chapel. A time for the funeral should not be set until the officiating rabbi has been consulted.
Should a death occur over Shabbat or a major Jewish holiday, it may not be possible to reach the rabbis until Shabbat or the holiday ends. Tradition requires that arrangements should properly be made only after the Shabbat or holiday is over.
Our clergy team will guide and support you in arranging for shiva and shiva minyanim. Shiva chairs and prayer books are available upon request, if shiva is to be observed within the synagogue’s general vicinity.
Please contact our clergy team regarding shiva and shiva minyanim.
Active volunteers from our Hesed Circle can also provide support during shiva.
Temple Israel Center maintains sections in two local cemeteries, Sharon Gardens Cemetery in Valhalla, NY, and Glenville Cemetery in Greenwich, CT, for the purchase of burial plots by synagogue members. Members in good standing may purchase burial plots in the Temple Israel Center sections of these cemeteries. Only people of the Jewish faith may be interred in a Temple Israel Center cemetery plot. For more information, please contact Executive Director Yael Slonim (914-948-2800 x119).
