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Saturday Morning Unplugged on June 3rd, 2023 was an especially learning-centered service.  We apologize for the spotty audio quality of this episode, but the touching insights shared by Rabbi Lizzi and Rabbi Steven make this installment worth a listen! **** For upcoming Shabbat services and programs, check our event calendar , and see our Accessibility & Inclusion page for information about ou...

Today’s episode is a Shabbat Replay of our service last night, June 9th. This is a lightly abbreviated recording of the entire service, so if you’re looking for Rabbi Steven’s powerful Pride sermon on the passing of Pat Robertson, a particular song, or any other moment, check the timecodes below. Timecodes: [00:52] Lechu Neranena L’Adonai [03:59] Welcome from R’Lizzi [07:18] Shiru L’Adonai [10:40]...

Every weekday at 8:00 am, Mishkan Chicago holds a virtual Morning Minyan. Our Thursday sessions are hosted by Mishkan's Founding Rabbi, Lizzi Heydemann. You can join in yourself , or listen to all the prayer, music, and inspiration right here on Contact Chai. In our June 8th, 2023 session, Rabbi Lizzi taught us about Parashat Behaalotecha, the Torah portion which contains the very human story...

Every weekday at 8:00 am, Mishkan Chicago holds a virtual Morning Minyan. Our Thursday sessions are hosted by Mishkan's Founding Rabbi, Lizzi Heydemann. You can join in yourself , or listen to all the prayer, music, and inspiration right here on Contact Chai. In our June 1st, 2023 session, Rabbi Lizzi taught us about Parashat Naso, the Torah portion which contains commandments on nazirite vow...

On Friday, May 26th, Mishkan Chicago wished Rabbi Deena a fond farewell as she embarks on her journey to New York City where she will serve B’nai Jeshurun as Director of Family Life and Learning. We are proud to present this lightly abbreviated audio version of the entire service. If you’re looking for any song or moment in particular, check the timecodes below. Timecodes: [00:00] — Intro [02:40 ]...

Every weekday at 8:00 am, Mishkan Chicago holds a virtual Morning Minyan. Our Thursday sessions are hosted by Mishkan's Founding Rabbi, Lizzi Heydemann. You can join in yourself , or listen to all the prayer, music, and inspiration right here on Contact Chai. In our May 25th, 2023 session, we prepared for the revelation of the Torah — Shavuot begins tonight! The song featured at the beginning...

Today’s episode of Shabbat Replay is from our Virtual Shabbat service on Friday, May 19th when Rabbi Steven delivered a pre Shavuot sermon. Celebrate Shavuot and Rabbi Deena’s last service this Friday, May 26th. Join us in Northcenter Town Square at 6:30 pm or come early at 5:30 pm for a Pizza Picnic complete with an ice cream truck and games! https://www.mishkanchicago.org/events/2023-05-26/ ****...

Every weekday at 8:00 am, Mishkan Chicago holds a virtual Morning Minyan. Our Thursday sessions are hosted by Mishkan's Founding Rabbi, Lizzi Heydemann. You can join in yourself , or listen to all the prayer, music, and inspiration right here on Contact Chai! Our May 18th, 2023 session covered Parashat Bamidbar.  This portion is from Numbers, and numbers are sequential, logical, and clear, ri...

Last week, Rabbi Steven and Rabbi Lizzi were honored to attend Mayor-Elect Johnson’s Interfaith Breakfast with hundreds of faith leaders from around Chicago. In his sermon at our May 12th Friday Night Shabbat service, Rabbi Steven reflected on this moment of optimism and cooperation, and challenged us to treat everyone in this city as not only neighbors, but kin, loved ones so dear to us that we c...

Every weekday at 8:00 am, Mishkan Chicago holds a virtual Morning Minyan. Our Thursday sessions are hosted by Mishkan's Founding Rabbi, Lizzi Heydemann. You can join in yourself , or listen to all the prayer, music, and inspiration right here on Contact Chai! Our May 11th, 2023 session covered Parashat Behar-Bechukotai. This portion includes instructions on shmitah , the sabbatical year where...

At our May 6th Saturday Morning Shabbat service, Rabbi Deena reflected on the difficult verses in Parashat Emor which ban people with certain physical disabilities from serving as priests. In the light of the disability rights movement, how can we do better? **** For upcoming Shabbat services and programs, check our event calendar , and see our Accessibility & Inclusion page for information ab...

Every weekday at 8:00 am, Mishkan Chicago holds a virtual Morning Minyan. You can join in yourself , or listen to all the prayer, music, and inspiration right here on Contact Chai! Our Thursday Morning Minyans are hosted by Rabbi Lizzi, and in our May 4th, 2023 session, she had a lot to say about the whole "only people without blemishes can serve as priests" thing in this week's par...

At our April 28th, 2023 Friday Night Shabbat service, Rabbi Lizzi connected the ancient nation-building project of Moshe in the Torah to the 20th century foundation of the State of Israel, and examined the losses suffered by both Israeli and Palestinian families to create it. Seventy-five years after the day which Israelis mark as a joyous Independence Day and Palestinians mark as a mournful catas...

At our Saturday morning service on April 15th, Rabbi Deena argued that the Torah's food laws are more than just an all-or-nothing, take-it-or-leave-it obligation — kashrut is also an ancient mindful eating practice we can all learn from! **** For upcoming Shabbat services and programs, check our event calendar , and see our Accessibility & Inclusion page for information about our venues....

At our final Shabbat service before Passover, Rabbi Steven left us with some words of wisdom on the spiritual and practical dimensions of kashering your kitchen for Passover. Does your soul need a little spring cleaning, too? What can you leave behind in Mitzrayim? Join Mishkan for our third annual virtual seder on Thursday, April 6th at 7:30 pm. https://www.mishkanchicago.org/event/from-me-to-we-...

On March 24th, 2023, Mishkan participated in the Lakeview-wide Mental Health Shabbat. Rabbi Steven delivered a drash on breaking the silence around suicide in the Jewish community. Please be advised that this sermon contains discussion of suicide. **** This sermon is from our March 24th, 2023 Shabbat service at Second Unitarian Church. For upcoming Shabbat services and programs, check our event ca...

How do Sephardi families' Seder plates differ from their Ashkenazi cousins? How do different Sephardi communities' observances differ from one another? And how has American Ashkenormativity erased those differences? And what even is Ashkenormativity?! In this very special Passover episode of Contact Chai, Rabbi Deena explores how her Sephardic heritage shaped her family's Seder trad...

Rabbi Lizzi explores the spiritual technology of the Passover Seder, which, every year, forces us to reckon with our past to understand our present and imagine a radically different future. Mishkan Chicago's Passover Resource Round-Up https://www.mishkanchicago.org/shabbat-holidays/holidays/pesah/ From Me to We: Virtual Passover Seder (Thursday, April 6th) https://www.mishkanchicago.org/event...

"God's plan all along is to get God's people together. When you get God's people together, there should be an expectation that something is going to change...Can you still be faithful even if the only thing changing is you? Your views, your perspectives, your thoughts. Hanging with people who have a different lived experience might change you. So let us get together, let us uni...

What did the ancient rabbis have to say about abortion? And how are Jewish organizers today drawing inspiration from the tradition they handed down? On Friday, February 17th, we celebrated Repro Shabbat with a panel on reproductive justice hosted by Rabbi Steven and featuring two Mishkanites with extensive experience on this issue — Sarah Garza Resnick and Elizabeth Posner. For upcoming Shabbat se...

At our February 10th Friday Night Shabbat service, we celebrated Jewish Disability, Awareness, and Inclusion Month. After a message on the timeless wisdom embedded in the Ten Commandments, Rabbi Lizzi welcomed Mishkanite Anna Giuliano to share her experiences as a member of the disability community. For upcoming Shabbat services and programs, check our event calendar , and see our Accessibility &a...

Even with a charismatic, visionary leader like Moshe, big changes are impossible without ordinary people choosing to bravely place their faith in a better future. Today’s Shabbat Replay is from our February 4th Saturday morning service. Rabbi Lizzi welcomed friends and family of BMitzvah Julius, shared some updates on what to expect from Mishkan in February, wished us all a happy Tu B’Shevat (the...

In anticipation of Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish New Year of the Trees, Rabbi Steven spoke with Hans Detweiler, a member of the Mishkan Sustainability Team with an impressive environmental activism resume, for a conversation about small things you can do to decarbonize your life. Check out the show notes below for links to resources about decarbonization curated by the Mishkan Sustainability Team. ****...

At our Friday Night service on January 27th, Rabbi Lizzi offered a welcoming message of decompression from this painful week of mass shootings. Then, Rabbi Deena delivered a drash on this week’s parsha from Exodus, comparing its plagues of death to our own. For upcoming Shabbat services and programs, check our event calendar , and see our Accessibility & Inclusion page for information about ou...

At our Saturday Morning Shabbat service on January 21st, we welcomed Jenny Schaffer, a Mishkanite running for Police District Council, a new position for civilian oversight of the police created by the Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) ordinance, who taught us about the long fight for police reform. For upcoming Shabbat services and programs, check our event calendar , and see our Ac...