Temple Beth Hillel

Temple Beth Hillel Temple Beth Hillel is a warm, family friendly Reform Synagogue in Richmond, CA. http://tbhrichmond.org. Gift shop with unique judaica.

Temple Beth Hillel is an intimate and warm reform temple offering familiarity and a sense of place. High holidays, religious school, ongoing adult ed for all.

The following names will be read this Friday evening:Rose Cleveland - Mother-in-law of Sara ClevelandHoward S Cohen - Be...
06/19/2026

The following names will be read this Friday evening:

Rose Cleveland - Mother-in-law of Sara Cleveland
Howard S Cohen - Beloved Member of the Congregation
Rudolph Langer - Remembered by James and Deborah Koenig
Jacob Lesch - Father of Beverly Lesch
Norma Matta - Friend of Arlene Lisby and Alan & Margie Marks
Allan Morgan - Husband of Irene Morgan
David Refkin - Remembered by David Brown and Cheryl Black
Samuel Snitz - Father of Frank Snitz

From The TBH Co-Presidents David Zimring and Anna Stein -Shalom Everyone! Thank you to everyone who was able to attend t...
06/19/2026

From The TBH Co-Presidents David Zimring and Anna Stein -

Shalom Everyone!

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend the Annual Membership Meeting! Along with approving the budget and hearing committee reports, we were able to acknowledge a large number of members for special recognition this year along with our Volunteer of the Year, Lucinda Casson! We deeply appreciate the efforts of all our volunteers and express a special thank you to Lucinda for all she has done for our community this past year. This marks the start of a new beginning for TBH and we deeply appreciate everything that our committee chairs, General Board, and all our congregants have done to make this happen. Thanks to the dedication of our congregation and the newly elected Board, we are ready to move forward into this new chapter of TBH history.
Now that the Annual Meeting has concluded, summer can now begin in full swing. Torah Study on Zoom takes place Saturdays at 10:15 PM. Our next Shabbat Service is this Friday, June 19, at 6:00 PM. followed by our Community Potluck at 7:10 PM. Please bring a vegetarian/parve dish to share. Finally, please mark your calendars for the Oakland Ballers Jewish Heritage Night on August 11. Please contact Larry Fox for information and tickets.

Thank you everyone!

Korach (Numbers 16:1–18:32): Torah Reading June 20, 2026This week’s Parashat is Korach (Numbers 16:1–18:32).This portion...
06/19/2026

Korach (Numbers 16:1–18:32): Torah Reading June 20, 2026
This week’s Parashat is Korach (Numbers 16:1–18:32).

This portion details the rebellion led by Korach, Dathan, and Abiram against the leadership of Moses and Aaron.

Korach and his 250 followers challenge Moses and Aaron, claiming that the entire community is holy and questioning why Moses has appointed himself the ultimate leader.

The rebellion ends in catastrophe when the ground splits open and swallows Korach and his cohorts, while a divine fire consumes the 250 followers.

To settle disputes over who is designated by God to serve as priests, the heads of all twelve tribes place staffs in the Tent of Meeting. The next morning, Aaron's staff miraculously sprouts, blossoms, and yields ripe almonds.

This settles the dispute of leadership. If only leadership and who they should be were so straightforward. In all different aspects of life we have leaders, whether it is at work, the various groups we belong to, the local, state and national governments or the heads of organized religions - some are deserving or at least seemingly so of those mantles, while others are in love with being the leader. Trying to figure that out is hard. Some of us are thrust into leadership roles, some earn the role over years of hard work and experience, some maneuver and work their way to roles of leadership, and others crave it looking for any opportunity to obtain the power that comes with leadership, and others are voted in.

Two quotes immediately come to mind “Absolute power corrupts absolutely “ and the one attributed to Jimi Hendrix "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."

As someone who has been in leadership roles in many aspects of my life, I know that I have not striven for or desired power, but I know there are times when we must step up and help. We need to use the lessons we have learned to guide us through interesting and challenging times. May our leaders understand the age-old concept of “uneasy lies the head that bears the crown.” I never take for granted the leadership roles I have had and currently am in. It is too easy to forget why you are in the role in the first place. In my mind it is to help my team, friends, community, synagogue or “people.” While we may not always agree with who our leaders may be or the decisions that are made, we also have to respect those who have taken on the role of being responsible for others. Let us hope that more of our leaders are like Moses and Aaron - humble and in the service of something greater, and not like Korach, who was more concerned with who should be in power and less about whether they should be.

So as David and Anna mentioned at our Annual General Membership meeting this week, we need leaders. I’ll add the words from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who famously stated: "We need leaders not in love with money, but in love with justice; not in love with publicity, but in love with humanity." It’s okay, not to have all the answers, but it is important to help for the greater good.

I’ll end on a musical lyric from one of my favorite bands from the 1980s “It’s the power of love that makes the world go ‘round” - Huey Lewis & the News. May we have more love.

Shabbat Shalom.

Guest Commentator - Larry Fox

Here's What's Happening This Week At TBH -Friday, June 19 -* 6:00 PM - Shabbat Evening ServicesFriday, June 19 -* 7:15 P...
06/19/2026

Here's What's Happening This Week At TBH -

Friday, June 19 -
* 6:00 PM - Shabbat Evening Services

Friday, June 19 -
* 7:15 PM - TBH Community Potluck

Saturday, June 20 -
* 10:15 AM – Lay led Torah Study

Monday, June 22 -
* 7:00 PM - Food For Thought Meeting

Wednesday, June 24 -
* 9:45 AM - Sandwiches for GRIP

Rosh Chodesh Tammuz begins tonight! As we enter this new month, we’re invited to pause, reflect, and see ourselves with...
06/16/2026

Rosh Chodesh Tammuz begins tonight! As we enter this new month, we’re invited to pause, reflect, and see ourselves with renewed vision. May Tammuz bring strength, patience, and connection to our community.

Shabbat Shalom. As you light the Shabbat candles, please take a moment to pray for speedy and complete healing, r’fuah s...
06/12/2026

Shabbat Shalom. As you light the Shabbat candles, please take a moment to pray for speedy and complete healing, r’fuah sh’leimah, for the following members of our community:

Audrey Berger, David Brown, Geoffrey Caplan, Sam Chen, Sharon Chernick, Dora Cohen, Michael Cohen, Holvis Delgadillo, Irving Feurst, Judith Flum, Heather Fox, Jennifer Kemp, Sam Leff, Walli Leff, Lis Mahnken, Richard Mahnken, Sharon Mittleman, Clara Moreno, Bobbi Nadler, Michael Nye, Lincoln Ott, Sierra Ott, Ha Rav Yachyah Avraham ben Miriam (Rabbi Steven Robbins), Jeff Rosenfeld, Wendy Roth, Michele Seligman, Ellen Seskin, Ahuva Simon-Saar, Gabriel Tattenham, Pat Trumbull, Shai Yerlick, Kendra Windrix.

If there is anyone you would like included in our prayers for healing, please send their names to: [email protected]. If you're on the list and feeling better and would like to be removed, please let Brandy know.

From The TBH Co-Presidents David Zimring and Anna Stein -Shalom Everyone! This upcoming week marks the remembrance of a ...
06/12/2026

From The TBH Co-Presidents David Zimring and Anna Stein -

Shalom Everyone!

This upcoming week marks the remembrance of a saga long famous in 20th century Jewish history: the sailing of the SS St. Louis. Nearly ninety years ago, Jewish refugees from Germany managed to escape the escalating violence in N**i Germany and flee across the Atlantic to perceived safety in the Western Hemisphere. Yet what should have been a moment of triumph turned into a moment of disaster. After first arriving in Cuba and being refused entry, the passengers and crew set sail for the United States, where they hoped to land in Miami, but the American authorities refused to allow them to dock. Along with antisemitism sweeping the globe at the time, this period also increased anti-immigration sentiment as well, with the U.S. having adopted a strict immigration quote fifteen years earlier. Unwilling to make an exception for the refugees, President Roosevelt followed public sentiment in the U.S., where polls showed a vast majority of the public unwilling to accept more refugees. After a similar failure to gain an exception in Canada, the St. Louis was forced to return to Germany, where most of the passengers eventually met their deaths. This story holds lessons just only for members of the Jewish community but for all aspiring immigrants as well. When severe nativism and even more severe immigration restrictions take hold, tragedy can follow. The saga of the St. Louis can serve as a warning today’s refugees can be either tomorrow’s fellow citizens or tomorrow’s disappearance.

We are days away from our annual membership meeting, where we plot out Temple Beth Hillel’s direction for the coming year. All are encouraged to join us on Sunday, June 14, at 1:00 PM, with snacks and treats provided. This is also the time to elect a new Temple Board of Directors. We deeply appreciate all those who have volunteered this year to serve on our board to make the TBH experience even greater in the future. We look forward to seeing everyone there.

Our next Shabbat service is on Friday, June 19th, starting at 6:00 PM. followed by our Community Potluck at 7:10. Please bring a vegetarian/parve dish to share. This month we will not have the early family get-together but look forward to restarting in July. Torah Study is on Zoom every Saturday at 10:15 AM.

Thank you everyone!

Sh’lach (Numbers 13:1-15:41): Torah Reading June 13, 2026 -In parashat Sh’lach, Moses sends a group of leaders ahead to ...
06/12/2026

Sh’lach (Numbers 13:1-15:41): Torah Reading June 13, 2026 -

In parashat Sh’lach, Moses sends a group of leaders ahead to check out the conditions of the promised land. “Go up there into the Negeb and on into the hill country, and see what kind of country it is. Are the people who dwell in it strong or weak, few or many? Is the country in which they dwell good or bad? Are the towns they live in open or fortified? Is the soil rich or poor? Is it wooded or not?

The scenes that follow lead in multiple interesting directions - causing us to reflect on how what we perceive is profoundly influenced by how we feel and which framework we use to view a situationhe text also illustrates an understanding from within our own narrative, that from the beginning there were multiple peoples living on the land that became our people’s home, and it was won through conquest, (as happened all over the world through history, and continues to happen). “We came to the land you sent us to; it does indeed flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who inhabit the country are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large; moreover, we saw the Anakites there. Amalekites dwell in the Negeb region; Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites inhabit the hill country; and Canaanites dwell by the Sea and along the Jordan” (Numbers 13:27-29).

Surely these people also conquered each other and others as well, and all of this history matters. We often choose political perspectives that depend on emphasizing particular parts of history and ignoring others. But if we want to live in a world where humanity can thrive together in balance with the rest of the natural world, we - humanity - will have to overcome the cycle of conquest. This is a tall order, requiring profound change, with many steps along the way.

One of these steps is making room for the histories and experiences of different groups to be heard and honored, including those with conflicting stories. We will need both to listen and to share our stories, with the expectation that others will want to hear us and be heard. Frustrating as it sometimes is, this often works best when we listen first, and then speak, as almost no one has been fully listened to about our family history or the experiences of our ancestors that we carry within us. All of this may sound like a prelude to advocating intergroup dialogue, which, of course, I do. But it is also clear that we need this kind of sharing and listening inside Jewish communities as well, and that our communities will thrive only if we both listen and share our experiences, histories, thoughts and perspectives.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Julie Saxe-Taller

✡TBH members—please take a moment to check your email! Your official invitation and agenda for the Annual Membership Mee...
06/11/2026

✡TBH members—please take a moment to check your email! Your official invitation and agenda for the Annual Membership Meeting are waiting for you.

✨This gathering is our chance to look ahead, make decisions together, and elect a new Board of Directors. We’re grateful to everyone who has stepped up to serve this year, helping strengthen the TBH experience for all.

🥯Snacks, connection, and community await. Hope to see you there.

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801 Park Central Street
Richmond, CA
94803

Telephone

+15102232560

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