Beth Immanuel is a friendly and welcoming community. Click here to learn what to expect when you visit.
A Sabbath Fellowship
Beth Immanuel is a Sabbath Fellowship. We assemble on the seventh-day, the biblical Sabbath, to honor the holy day according to the commandment. Our Sabbath begins on Friday night with special prayers in the synagogue to welcome the Sabbath, but the majority of our Sabbath observance on Friday night happens in our homes, with family and friends gathered around the Sabbath table. On Saturday morning we come together for synagogue services and a teaching from the weekly Torah portion. For those who want to stay around and participate, the rest of the day is filled with meals, fellowship, study opportunities, and additional prayers services. The Sabbath ends after sunset on Saturday night.
The Sabbath day is a day of peace. It is a day for setting aside the troubles of our world. On the Sabbath, we close the doors to the troubles, stresses and anxieties of this present age and we enter into the calm spirit of peace that comes from the presence of Christ. "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful" (John 14:27), says the Master. On the Sabbath day, we quiet ourselves enough to feel the presence of His peace. The prophets tell us that when Messiah comes, all mankind will keep the Sabbath: "'From Sabbath to Sabbath, all mankind will come to bow down before me,' says the LORD" (Isaiah 66:23). Every time we keep the Sabbath, we experience a small foretaste of the perfect Sabbath rest that will be ours in the Messianic Era and the World to Come.