For Immediate Release s511

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Carol Wolf Solomon, 314-280-8841 or [email protected]

2nd Annual Shabbat St. Louis Service Planned

The 2nd Annual Shabbat St. Louis community-wide Shabbat service will take place at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 3, at Congregation Kol Am, 1023 Chesterfield Parkway East in Chesterfield. A Kosher-for-Passover Kiddush reception will follow the service. Reform and Reconstructionist congregations from St. Louis, St. Peters and Southern Illinois are sponsoring this unique collaborative Shabbat service. The entire community is invited to attend.

The Shabbat St. Louis service is being planned and organized by a committee of representatives from the sponsoring congregations in consultation with the Reform Rabbis of St. Louis. The band HaShemesh is once again donating their musical talent to accompany the service.

Shabbat St. Louis is designed to promote the ruach (spirit) of celebrating Shabbat together as a community. The concept for last year’s inaugural Shabbat St. Louis service stemmed from an initiative within the Reform movement to enhance the role of Shabbat morning worship. The Shabbat during Passover has been designated for this community- wide service because it enables the greatest number of congregations to participate. This is the one Shabbat during the year when most congregations do not have a Bar or Bat Mitzvah scheduled. The sponsoring congregations will forego their regular Shabbat morning service and encourage their members to attend the Shabbat St. Louis service.

Participating congregations to date include B’nai El Congregation, Congregation B’nai Torah, Congregation Kol Am, Congregation Shaare Emeth, Shir Hadash Reconstructionist Community, Temple Emanuel, Temple Israel of Alton, IL, Congregation Temple Israel of St. Louis, and United Hebrew Congregation. Shabbat St. Louis Committee members to date are Jack Cohen, Ron Cytron, Nancy Gent, Colleen Isele, Nancy Kodner, Lesley Lutker, Martha Senior, Dave Siegel, Kim Vonk, Sharon Weissman, Carol Wolf, and Carol Wolf Solomon.

For more information, visit the Shabbat St. Louis website, www.shabbatstlouis.org.