Welcome to the Adas Israel Ruach Minyan Webpage We are a traditional, spirited, lay-led, egalitarian Kabbalat Shabbat service. The Ruach Minyan seeks to create an environment that will welcome and enrich Jews from all backgrounds and provide a warm environment for prayer, study, and growth.
For the second year in a row, the Kesharim Committee of the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism (USCJ) awarded a grant to Adas Israel’s Ruach Minyan for “Innovative Young Adult Davening Communities.”
The Ruach Minyan is one of eight innovative minyan programs in the country to receive this award.
The Ruach MinyanThe Ruach Minyan meets on the first and third Fridays of each month. During the summer months, services begin at 6:30 pm in the winter months and are generally held either in the Sisterhood Hall (2nd floor) or in the Miller Chapel (1st floor). Services are followed by either a potluck at a home/party room nearby or by a catered dinner at Adas Israel. Adas Israel is located at 2850 Quebec Street, NW at the corner of Connecticut Avenue and Porter Street about five miles from the Connecticut Avenue (south) Exit on the 495 Beltway. It is conveniently located 2 blocks away from the Red Line Metro, Cleveland Park Station.
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» Upcoming Minyanim and Dinner Info
» Dinner Payment Information» Support the Ruach Minyan with an online donation
» Calendar 2009-10
» Get involved (with davening, publicity, potlucks)
» Potluck Kashrut GuidelinesQuestions or comments?
We'd like to hear from you! If you have any questions, ideas to help run the minyan, or would like to volunteer to help with organization, please email RuachMinyan@adasisrael.org.
If you would like to be on the Ruach Minyan email list, please subscribe to our Yahoo Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Vanness-RuachMinyan or email Vanness-RuachMinyan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
Or... join our Facebook page! http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6280982681
Potlucks and Community Dinners
Potluck dinners
Usually take place on the third Friday of the month, at a location other than Adas Israel. Please check the calendar below for exceptions to the usual schedule. For kashrut guidelines and other ways of contributing to potlucks, please see the Ruach Minyan Potluck kashrut guidelines below.Community dinners
Usually take place on the first Friday of the month at Adas Israel. Please check the calendar below for exceptions to the usual schedule. No outside food should be brought to these dinners. Advanced RSVP is required to attend these dinners.Friday, March 5, Ruach Minyan Service at Adas Israel
Shabbat Dinner at Adas Israel follows
Service, 6:30 pm
Shabbat Dinner follows. Cost: $12/person
RSVP to Wed., Mar. 3 at 1:30 pm to ruachminyan@adasisrael.org. Include information on dietary restrictions (vegetarian or have food allergies)
Payment information at right: Google checkout or pay by check
Volunteers are needed to help with dinner set up & clean up.
Your help is very much appreciated! E-mail ruachminyan@adasisrael.org to let us know when you can help. Helping with setup/clean-up also enables us to work with you if you need a discount on the price of dinner.Remember: while the Ruach Minyan welcomes you to both davening and dinner, if you cannot come to both portions of the evening, don't let that stop you from attending either just dinner or just davening!
Catered (non-Potluck) Dinners Costs
Adults: $12/person
Kids: $6/person ($8 for special scholar dinners)
RSVP to ruachminyan@adasisrael.org and include if you are a vegetarian or have other concerns.
USE GOOGLE CHECKOUT TO PAY NOW FOR YOUR DINNER!
Click on the drop down menu to select the date of the dinner you're paying for. "Add to cart" will direct you to Google for checkout.
If you are paying via Google Checkout and have not received a confirmation from Google your transaction has not been processed and your credit card not charged. We are sorry about the glitch but ask that you please try and put it through again. Thanks for your patience.OR make checks payable to "Adas Israel Congregation" and send to:
Adas Israel Congregation
Attn: Carol Ansell
2850 Quebec Street, NW
Washington, DC 20008
If cost is too high, don't let that deter you. Email judith@jhellerstein.com and we can discuss!
Please also consider making a donation to Ruach Minyan online
Suggested amounts: $18, $36, $54.Your generosity will help us maintain our inclusive and welcoming Shabbat experience by sponsoring extra meal orders for future unanticipated or scholarship guests to our dinners, so that we don't have to turn people away or run out of food. $36 can provide scholarship for 3 guests' meals. Donations will go towards the general minyan fund unless special requests are made. In the "comments" section, please note any special details -- what you'd like to sponsor, or the name of someone you're honoring with the donation -- and whether we may acknowledge you publicly for your gift; please also email this information to ruachminyan@adasisrael.org to confirm these details.
Ruach Minyan Calendar 2009-10 (subject to change)
Start times for minyanim are listed below
2009 July 17 Minyan (7:00 pm)
Potluck Shabbat Dinner offsite followsAug 7 Minyan (7:00 pm)
Shabbat dinner at Adas Israel followsAug 21 Minyan (7:00 pm)
potluck Shabbat dinner offsite followsSept 4 Minyan (7:00 pm)
Shabbat dinner at Adas Israel followsSept 18 no minyan Oct 2 Minyan (7:00 pm)
Shabbat dinner in the Sukkah followsOct 16 Minyan (7:00 pm)
potluck Shabbat dinner offsite followsNov 6 Minyan (6:30 pm--note time change)
Shabbat dinner at Adas Israel followsNov 20 Ruach Minyan co-sponsors Scholar in Residence Dinner
with Prof. Vanessa Ochs. Details forthcoming.Dec 4 Ruach Minyan
Dinner location to be announcedDec 18 Minyan (6:30 pm)
Shabbat-Hanukkah Dinner at Adas Israel follows2010 Jan 1 No Ruach Minyan Service Jan 15 Minyan (6:30 pm)
Potluck Shabbat dinner offsite followsFeb 5 Minyan (6:30 pm)
Shabbat dinner at Adas Israel followsFeb 19 Minyan (6:30 pm)
Potluck Shabbat dinner offsite followsMar 5 Minyan (6:30 pm)
Shabbat dinner at Adas Israel followsMar 19 Minyan (7:00 pm--note time change)
Potluck Shabbat dinner offsite followsApr 2 no minyan Apr 16 Minyan (7:00 pm)
Dinner location to be announcedMay 7 Minyan (7:00 pm)
Shabbat dinner at Adas Israel followsMay 21 Minyan (7:00 pm)
Potluck Shabbat dinner offsite followsJune 4 Minyan (7:00 pm)
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Davening: If you would like to daven (lead Kabbalat Shabbat and Ma'ariv) for the Ruach Minyan Shabbat evening services (Carlebach-style), please contact davening coordinator Ben Schultz at ben.dov.schultz@gmail.com. Join the announcement list to coordinate people leading Friday evening services. Sign up to receive emails by sending an email to ruach-minyan-daveners@googlegroups.com or visiting http://groups.google.com/group/ruach-minyan-daveners.
Publicity Coordinator needed: If interested email RuachMinyan@adasisrael.org
Host a Potluck Dinner: If you would like to host a potluck Shabbat dinner, or if you live in a building with a community party room that does not charge to rent, please contact Bill Levenson, at ruachminyan@adasisrael.org.
Potluck Schedule/Logistics Coordination + Set-up/Clean-up Coordinator Needed: Please email RuachMinyan@adasisrael.org if you're interested in the position, or in helping with set up/or clean-up. If the cost of a community dinner is a barrier for you, don't let it be! Consider hosting or helping with set up for a dinner in exchange for a reduction of the price of your dinner.
Ruach Minyan Potluck Kashrut Guidelines
The Ruach Minyan Kashrut Committee drafted the following guidelines. We hope these guidelines will allow as many people as possible to both contribute to and partake of the Ruach Minyan potlucks.
There are two basic principles that apply to minyan potlucks. First all potlucks will be dairy/pareve. Second all potlucks will have two tables: a Hechshered only table for foods cooked in a kosher kitchen or for items bought that contain a hechsher. The other table will contain dairy/veggie food. These rules apply to Ruach Minyan-sponsored potlucks; Ruach minyan members hosting potlucks in their own homes are welcome to set their own standards for those events.
Here are some suggested guidelines, in the spirit of Conservative Judaism, that seem appropriate for our minyan.
1. No meat or poultry or products with those ingredients, even if kosher.
2. No shellfish or non-kosher fish.
3. Food served at a Ruach Minyan potluck should not be purchased or cooked on Shabbat.
4. All non-meat products with kashrut certification are acceptable.
5. Dairy or parve products (including prepared foods) are okay and can be placed on the Dairy/Veggie tables, provided that careful reading of the ingredients is made to ensure that small amounts of non-kosher ingredients are not included. Non kosher ingredients include (but are not limited to) lard, animal shortening, or suet. (Watch out for pie crusts - most of them contain lard.) Watch out for "shortening," it should specify "vegetable shortening". Also, products with glycerin or gelatin should only be purchased with kashrut certification.
6. For ritual purposes (e.g. kiddush, havdalah), wine and grape juice should have kashrut certification.
7. All cheeses, even those in which rennet is used as a curdling agent, are acceptable, even without kashrut certification.
8. Everyone is encouraged to prepare cooked foods, provided that they use dairy or parve ingredients and put their food on the appropriate table.
9. If you buy bread or prepared foods from a bakery or take-out establishment, please inquire as to the ingredients used.
If you have any questions, or if you're not comfortable deciding if you ought to consider your home kosher, you can consult Judith Hellerstein at judith@jhellerstein.com.
For more info on the Two Tables system which we created and which has been copied by many Independent Minyanim see the Mah Rabu blog: http://mahrabu.blogspot.com/2006/02/hilchot-pluralism-part-i-two-table.html
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