Life cycles include gathering with community for the important transitions in your life, and marking your moments of celebration or loss with spiritual guidance and meaningful ritual. Kehilla’s lifecycle services are available for Kehilla members only.
Celebrating Children & Baby Naming
We celebrate the arrival of children, welcoming them with joy into our community and into the Jewish people. Whatever their path into your family, we celebrate children of all genders, newborn and older children, at home or in the synagogue, with or without brit milah/circumcision. Kehilla’s spiritual leaders work with you to build the welcoming ritual that is right for your family.
Youth B’Mitzvah Program
See Kehilla’s B’Mitzvah program
B’Mitzvah for Adults
Deepen your Jewish practice and learning through this path of serious exploration and study. With mentorship and guidance from Kehilla spiritual leaders, you’ll join a cohort of adults in a process that’s structured to support your curiosity and growth in relationship to Torah, Jewish practice and G-d. The program is convened by Sharon Grodin, Kehilla Spiritual Leader, and Bracha Stone, master teacher.
Learn more here about adult b’mitzvah »
Conversion
You don’t have to be Jewish at Kehilla, but if you’re drawn to becoming Jewish, we’re excited to offer you support, guidance and celebration. Our conversion group facilitates your continuing Jewish learning, exploration and practice, and culminates with a beit din/rabbinic panel and mikvah/ritual immersion to affirm your conversion, and calling you to the Torah for an aliyah to celebrate. The program is convened by Rabbi SAM Luckey and Sharon Grodin.
Weddings / Kiddushin
Whenever two beloveds get married, the celebration extends beyond the couple — to the people closest to them, to their community, and in Jewish tradition, to the whole world. We are blessed to share in your simcha (celebration), and to accompany you through this amazing life transition. One of our rabbis or our hazzan/cantor will guide you through the process of moving from “single” to “married,” including counseling, ceremony planning and preparation, officiating, and the option to be recognized and celebrated during a Shabbat aufruf – a blessing with the Kehilla community. We work closely with you to craft the ritual that’s right for you. We do our best to match you with the officiant you prefer.
Death and Dying
We accompany you in loss and grief, facilitating rituals and supporting grieving processes to hold you as you move through the stages of transition that can follow the death of a loved one. We understand that loss is as complex as relationships are, and that each mourner’s path is unique and unpredictable. Our clergy and spiritual leaders work with people who are dying, holding open the possibilities for the end of life as an intricate and profound experience for people approaching death and those close to them.
Our Chevra Kadisha, or Holy Burial Society, is a devoted group of volunteers who offer the holy service of ritually preparing the loved one after death for burial or cremation. Our clergy are available to plan and lead the funeral or memorial, as well as shiva gatherings at your home during the week after the funeral. Kehilla members can contact the Chevra Kadisha at chevrakadcontact@kehillasynagogue.org.
If you are a Kehilla member seeking urgent pastoral care, get in touch with us here.