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Shabbat Shira-A Shabbat Filled with Poetry and Song

Past Sessions
Saturday, February 4, 2023 13 Sh'vat 5783 - 9:30 AM - 1:15 PM
Friday, February 3, 2023 12 Sh'vat 5783 - 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM

Featuring Poets Rabbi Pamela Wax & Professor Harriet Shenkman &
the Clergy of Shaarei Tikvah & Scarsdale Synagogue-Temples Tremont & Emanu-El

Be with us as we celebrate Shabbat together in partnership!

Friday Evening, February 3 at Scarsdale Synagogue In Person or Via Zoom

7:30 p.m. Kabbalat Shabbat (Welcoming Shabbat)
A creative service of unique poetry and spirited music followed by an introduction to our poets, reflecting on their poems and the role of poetry in their lives.

If you wish to purchase a copy of our poets' books in advance, you can find Walking the Labyrinth by Rabbi Pamela Wax on this website and The Present Abandoned by Professor Harriet Shenkman on Amazon.

Saturday Morning, February 4 at Shaarei Tikvah In Person or via Livestream*

9:30 a.m. Shabbat Morning Service
Shaarei Tikvah is located at 46 Fox Meadow Road, Scarsdale.

We will infuse the early part of our Shabbat morning service with contemporary riffs of the traditional Psalms. Rabbi Pamela Wax will focus her poetic lens onto the Song at the Sea during the d’var Torah.

11:45 - 12:15 p.m. - Kiddush Luncheon 

12:15 - 1:15 p.m. - Lunch and Learn Program 

Rabbi Wax  will teach about the Poetry of Psalms, exploring several contemporary riffs on Psalm 150 as well as other non-canonical psalms by contemporary poets such as Leonard Cohen, Alicia Ostriker, Grace Schulman, Joy Ladin, and Rachel Barenblat.

*Livestream will be used for the service only. Luncheon and the program will be in-person only.

RSVP below for Zoom & Livestream links if you are not a member of Scarsdale Synagogue or Congregation Shaarei Tikvah.


Rabbi Pamela Wax ran the WJCS Jewish Spiritual Healing Center for 19 years, retiring in 2022. Previously, she served as a hospital chaplain, a congregational rabbi, and as the Reform movement's national assistant director for adult Jewish education. She currently serves as the adult educator at Congregation Knesset Israel in Pittsfield, MA, in addition to offering on-line Mussar and poetry workshops and traveling to congregations around the country to share her love of poetry. She is the author of a full-length book of poetry, Walking the Labyrinth (Main Street Rag, 2022), and the forthcoming chapbook Starter Mothers (Finishing Line Press). Her poems have received several awards as well as a Best of the Net nomination, and have appeared in numerous literary journals. She lives in North Adams, Massachusetts with her husband Chaim Bronstein.

To purchase Walking the Labyrinth visit this website.


Professor Harriet Shenkman, A current member of Scarsdale Synagogue, Harriet Shenkman was born in Brooklyn.  She is a Professor Emerita at City University of New York. She served on the Advisory Board of the Women’s National Book Association, NYC where she moderated programs co-sponsored with the NYU Creative Writing Program. She won several poetry awards, including the Women’s National Book Association 2013 Annual Writing Contest in Poetry and the Women Who Write 2013 International Poetry and Short Prose Contest. She was a finalist for the Raynes Poetry Competition, 2014 and her poem appeared in Union, the Raynes Poetry Competition Anthology. Her poetry has been widely published. A former Poet-in-Residence at BoomerCafe and a current Poet-in-Residence of The Transition Network, she studied with poets Jennifer Franklin, Ellen Bass and Laura Kasischke. Her first poetry chapbook Teetering was published by Finishing Line Press in 2014. Her second chapbook, The Present Abandoned, was published by Finishing Line Press, 2020. She is a multi-genre writer and is currently completing a full-length poetry collection entitled The Wonder Wheel and a novel about the middle east conflict entitled The Camel Tamer.

To Purchase the Present Abandoned please go to Amazon.

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