Or Echad and HomeShul

09/13/2024

We hope you can join us!

08/29/2024

It's almost Elul! Rabbi Ira and I would love for you to join us for High Holy Days again this year in Agoura!

07/21/2023

I'm so excited to join my husband at his new shul, Temple Beth David! Please join us on zoom or in person for Summertime Blues Shabbat! Shabbat Shalom!

05/09/2023

So blessed to have shared this milestone with our community on Sunday. Still kvelling!❤️

This Montage Celebrates Or Echad's B'nai Mitvah. 13 years of service to the Jewish Community.Montage Credits:Executive Producers:Rabbi Ira Rosenfeld Cantor ...

12/02/2022

Dear Family, Friends, and Community,

We are asking for your prayers and your financial support for Taylor Rubin.

Ruti bat Elisheva v'Shmuel Daveed רותי בת אלישבע ושמואל דוד

On Yom Kippur, we learned that one of our beloved teens was in the hospital. Jason and Paige Rubin had taken their 17 year old daughter, Taylor, to the hospital several days before because she was experiencing back pain. Within hours that day, Taylor started to lose the feeling in her legs, and by sunset was paralyzed from her chest down. After weeks of testing, the Rubins were told that Taylor has been diagnosed with a catastrophic onset of Multiple Sclerosis. Taylor was in the hospital for weeks receiving various treatments, and now is at a rehabilitation center where they are helping her learn to walk again. Taylor is incredibly resilient, determined, and positive. Her high spirits are truly amazing, and the team at the rehab center are so encouraged by Taylor that they have asked that she be allowed to stay as long as possible to get the maximum recovery possible while there.

Amanda Cori has kindly created the attached GoFundMe Page for Taylor. At this point, the Rubins have no idea how much their insurance will cover from these 2+ months of Taylor's hospitalization and rehab. Also, even as she is working so hard, Taylor will still most likely need a wheelchair for some of the time at home, and that means accommodating their home for Taylor to live there. There will also be continued OT and PT for Taylor for many months to come.

Rabbi Ira and I are asking that you give as generously as you can. We have been so blessed to be in their lives to share in both Taylor's Bat Mitzvah and her younger brother Joshua's Bar Mitzvah. The Rubins are just "those kind of people" who would do anything to help anyone. We hope and pray that now others will return all of their love and give it back to them.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Ira and Cantor Beth

Taylor, a senior in high school loves hanging out with her friends, her cateri… Amanda Cori needs your support for Help Taylor Fight to Get Back on Her Feet!

11/30/2022

Or Echad / HomeShul has been serving individuals, families, and the Jewish community for thirteen years!

What started 13 years ago as HomeShul with three students (including our son Jonah), has grown into an organization (though admittedly not always as organized as we would like to be.) that is there for people from birth all throughout their lives. In addition to our Shabbat and holiday services, celebrations, and events, we officiate for baby namings, B'nai Mitzvah, conversions, weddings, anniversaries, and sadly, funerals. We also provide education for children, families, and adults. In addition, we work with other temples, religious schools, interfaith organizations, mental health organizations, retirement centers, and hospice care facilities.

For 13 years we've been there for individuals, families, and the Jewish Community through joy and despair.

Now that Or Echad is celebrating our Bar Mitzvah year, we are growing up as an organization, and we hope that you will help us to reach new levels of service, creativity, unity, and the celebration of the best of what Judaism has to offer.

We ask you to share your suggestions, observations, expertise, passion, ideas, and stories.

We also humbly ask for your generous donations. Please consider that by donating to Or Echad, you get a lot of "bang for the buck." We are a small organization, with Rabbi Ira and Cantor Beth as the co-founders, clergy, educators, counselors, musicians, road managers, and schleppers. We do not have a large payroll of directors, managers, and fundraisers. Every dollar goes directly toward helping us to continue to build upon the important work we do.

Please help us spread love, purpose, joy, and meaning through connections and relationships with Judaism, life, each other, and ourselves by contributing to Or Echad today.

We accept Zelle (818-486-9685), Venmo (Rabbi Ira Rosenfeld), and Checks made payable to Or Echad.

As always, please don't hesitate to contact us anytime for information, consultation, or just to chat.

With love and gratitude,
Rabbi Ira and Cantor Beth

09/12/2022

It's almost here!!! We're excited to bring in the New Year with our Or Echad community at Cal Church again this year In-Person or via their amazing LiveStream!! We are an inclusive and welcoming community, and would love for you to join Rabbi Ira, Adam Chester, and me for our High Holy Day Services! Shana Tova U'metukah! A Happy, Healthy, and Sweet New Year to all!

08/26/2022

Please join us!!

06/30/2022

Friends,
The construction on our rental is ALMOST finished!! 🙂 We are looking the right person to rent this space. It should be ready by Aug 1st. Agoura Hills, Beautiful neighborhood, convenient to shopping, hiking trails, mountains, 15 minutes to the beach (off of Kanan). $1,950, utilities included, washer/dryer, patio area, and plenty of parking.

12/29/2020

To our Wonderful Or Echad and HomeShul Community,

As the year comes to a close (Thank G-d!!), we want to remind you how much we appreciate your participation with us, especially during this insane year.

A Few Quick Reminders:
Shabbat Around the Table
We will continue our zoom gatherings on the first and third Friday of each month at 7:00 pm, including THIS Friday, January 1st and Friday, January 15th.

Adult Education
Our Adult B'nai Mitzvah Class will begin Thursday, January 7th. (Contact Rabbi Ira for details.)

Last Chance for 2020 Tax-Deductible Donations
We hope you will consider making a contribution to Or Echad and HomeShul before the year's end! Here are three easy ways to make your donation: Venmo, Zelle, or Check Payable to Or Echad. Please contact us for details. As always, all donations are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated!

And now: Rabbi Ira’s Top Ten List for 2020
We know all too well the challenges, tragedies, and misfortunes of 2020. This compels me to try to acknowledge some positive elements of this past year. (Often, with additional not as positive, but at least somewhat humorous, effects as well.)

10. We got to spend more time at home with our families. (Or, at least spent more time in the same home in different rooms.)

9. Traffic has been better than ever. (Yet, the number of dangerous drivers did not seem to change.)

8. We had more time to do projects and chores around our homes. (Although, if you are like me, that did not last too long.)

7. As so many of us communicated and worked virtually, we often only had to dress from the waist up. (I loved being able to wear my zubaz pants from the '90s to meetings!)

6. More grocery stores, restaurants, and retailers offered free delivery and curbside pickup than ever. (And, I spent more time and money on groceries, restaurants, and retailers than ever.)

5. We got to spend more time catching up on television shows, movies, etc. (And, we spent even more time perusing all the things we could be watching, and never will.)

4. Many of us connected virtually with family and friends who live far away which might not have happened otherwise. (Some of us were reminded of why we moved so far away in the first place.)

3. The challenges of this year led at least some of us to try new and creative things to reinvent ourselves. (Sadly, many of us had to try new and creative things just to survive.)

2. After considering cancelling High Holy Day Services, they turned out better than expected. (Although, we hope to never have to do it that way again because we really missed seeing all of you.)

1. 2020 will soon be over!! (I think we all agree that there is no downside to that!!)

Happy New Year to all of you! We hope and pray that 2021 will bring us all back together again as soon as possible. Until then, please be safe and stay healthy!!

Much love and appreciation,
Rabbi Ira and Cantor Beth