SCHENECTADY – Congregation Gates of Heaven (CGOH) will host a Scholar-in Residence Weekend as part of its LuLu Field Lecture Series, Jan. 20-22. The congregation’s programs are open to the public at the temple, 852 Ashmore Ave., during the weekend to highlight interfaith work for justice and peace, according to organizers. Scholar-in-residence will be Rabbi Seth Limmer, DHL, founder of Open Judaism, an organization committed to promoting interfaith work.
Rabbi SETH LIMMER from his Open Judaism web page
Limmer and the congregation begin Friday, Jan. 20 with a 7 p.m. Soup Shabbat fund-raiser to benefit Schenectady Community Ministries. Soup Shabbat, a revitalized tradition at Gates of Heaven, invites community members to bring in a homemade soup, preferably in a crock pot, by 10 a.m. on the 20th to be served that evening. Soup Shabbat features a variety of homemade soups, served with rolls. The congregation asks that each attendee donate the equivalent of an evening out to SICM, Schenectady Community Ministries. Reservations are requested.
At 7 p.m. Rabbi Limmer will discuss “Building Beloved Community in a World of Justice.”
A Torah study/breakfast on Saturday, Jan. 21, begins at 9 a.m. A Seudah Shlishit program with light refreshments has been scheduled for 4 p.m.
The Lulu Field Lecture on Sunday, Jan. 22, follows a 10 a.m. breakfast sponsored by the CGOH Brotherhood and is set for10:30 a.m. that day.
Limmer served as chairman of the Justice, Peace & Civil Liberties of the Central Conference of American Rabbis( CCAR) as vice chairman of the URJ’s Commission on Social Action, as dean of faculty for Eisner & Crane Lake Camps, as adjunct professor at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and currently he serves as the vice president of leadership of the CCAR. Hs first full-length book is Medieval Midrash: The House for Inspired Innovation. Limmer also served as co-editor of Moral Resistance and Spiritual Authority, published by CCAR Press in 2018.
In 2021, Limmer was appointed to serve on the Illinois State Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes, and was a founding member of the Faith Leader Social Justice Advisory Committee to the Mayor of Chicago. Limmer has served as senior rabbi of Chicago Sinai Congregation and Congregation Yisrael of Armonk, NY.
Arnie Rotenberg, the temple’s director of congregational Jewish living, at 518-374-8173 or [email protected] can provide details. Soup dinner reservations may also be made at 518-374-8173.
