Beth El Synagogue Center

Keruv

Keruv is Inclusion: Keruv is Hebrew for “to draw closer.” 

Keruv’s mission is to assist Beth El Synagogue Center in holding its doors wide open for congregants and visitors to feel welcomed, included, and comfortable. We embrace diversity in its many forms, among them age, gender, color, sexual orientation, interfaith partnerships, and the full spectrum of Jewish background and observance. We welcome those with physical, emotional, or intellectual disabilities. We know that we are enhanced by our diversity and are committed to building our synagogue family together. 

Ongoing Keruv Activities

  • Advocacy – Keruv Committee members are liaisons and advocates for groups in our community with special needs and offers programs and accommodations to enable participation from all members, such as large print prayer books, hearing devices during services, gender-neutral bathrooms, wheelchair accessible seating, and quiet spaces during the High Holidays. 
  • Pride Shabbat – Shabbat service held in June to celebrate our LGBTQ community. 
  • Let’s Talk About It – A warm, social-worker-facilitated support group that meets 4 times annually where members discuss issues related to intermarriage and interdating. 
  • Keruv Korner – Our article in the synagogue Bulletin to share activities, programming and reflections related to the theme of inclusion. Click here to read some articles from the Keruv Korner. 
  • Kulanu Shabbat Experience – A holiday experience based on need and interest to families who have young children with intellectual or autism spectrum disorders that prevent them from engaging in other youth services. 

Join the Keruv Committee

The Keruv Committee is always looking for new members to join our committee and contribute to our work to enhance inclusivity at Beth El. Please contact Carrie Fox at csfox99@gmail.com if you are interested in getting involved or if you have suggestions or requests.

Past Keruv Committee Events

  • Judaism and Differently Wired Brains: an Introduction to Neurodivergent Torah, February 25, 2025. Open Beit Midrash learning led by Rabbanit Dr. Liz Shayne of Yeshivat Maharat. 
  • Community Dinner with Guest Speaker Haftam Yitzhak Heathwood, who spoke about the Ethiopian Jewish community and the holiday of Sigd, December 6, 2024.
  • “Teaching G!d Our Torah” and “Lev Yodea Marat Nafsho (The Heart Knows Itself): Trans Identity and Self Determination in Halakha,” June 8, 2024. Sermon and study session led by Laynie Soloman, Associate Rosh Yeshiva at Svara. 
  • We Belong Together: Neurodiversity in the Synagogue, February 8, 2024. Presenter: Michelle Steinhart of Matan (www.matankids.org). Presentation and replay available upon request.  
  • Embracing my Multitudes: At the Intersection of Queerness, Jewishness, and Beyond, June 24, 2023. Shabbat morning sermon by Rachel Kundstadt for Pride Shabbat. 
  • Chiaroscuro: The Light and Darkness of My Vision, February 25, 2023. Speaker: our member Judy Schmeidler.
  • Fostering LGBTQ+ Inclusion, June 25, 2022. Shabbat morning sermon by Corey Friedlander for Pride Shabbat. 
  • The Power of Voice, February 6, 2022. Speaker: Rabbi Lauren Tuchman. Source sheet and replay available upon request.
  • Jews of Color: A Discussion On Jewish Diversity, sponsored by the Beth El Keruv Committee, October 21, 2021. Speakers: Heather Miller, Kendell Pinkney; moderated by Rabbi Zach Sitkin. Replay can be viewed here.
  • What makes me Tic: Comedy, Disability, and the Inclusive Community, March 21, 2021. Presented by Pamela Rae Schuller.

Learn More About Diversity & Inclusion

Community Resources

  • Keshet, working for the full acceptance of LGBTQ Jews and their families in Jewish life.
  • 18 Doors, supporting interfaith families exploring Jewish life.
  • Removing the Stumbling Block, blogging by inclusive Jewish educator Lisa Friedman.
  • Jewish Multiracial Network, advocating for Jewish diversity in the Jewish community.
  • Respectability, fights stigmas and advances opportunities so people with disabilities can fully participate in all aspects of faith communities.
  • National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Westchester, building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.
  • PFLAG Westchester, aka “The Loft,” offering peer support groups and a monthly, open topic drop-in center for parents, friends, family members, and LGBT people.
  • Center Lane, a program of Westchester Jewish Community Services, supporting LGBTQ youth (13-21) through fun, relaxed, horizon-expanding, age-appropriate activities.
  • Eshel, creating community and acceptance for LGBTQ Jews and their families in Orthodox communities.
  • JQY (Jewish Queer Youth) supports and empowers LGBTQ Jewish youth with a special focus on teens and young adults from Orthodox, Chassidic, and Sephardi/Mizrahi communities. 
  • Matan offers community consultations, training, workshops and other resources to help Jewish community leaders and educators provide purposeful, enriching and inclusive opportunities for people with disabilities and their families.