Religious Services
Shabbat Services
In normal non-Covid times, Shabbat morning services are held at 10:00am most Saturdays throughout the year. During the pandemic, our services have most often been held via Zoom.
The liturgy is usually from a Reform siddur. Services are led by a rotating set of BJCC members.
All visitors are heartily welcome to come and daven with us, and share in our discussion of the week’s Torah portion. In non-Covid times we hold a potluck luncheon after the Shabbat morning service one Saturday per month. Visitors are welcome to attend services and stay for lunch, or just bring a dish and join us for lunch at about 11:30am. The BJCC has a dairy kitchen, so potlucks are vegetarian with the addition of kosher types of fish (no shellfish or catfish, etc.). Please feel free to just drop in and be our guest for your first potluck visit.
Contact the BJCC’s Religion Chair (listed on the last page of our Shofar newsletter) for more information about our services. Check the Calendar page or the Shofar page on this site for the current month’s schedule.
High Holidays
We provide full High Holiday services each year on Erev Rosh Hashanah, first day of Rosh Hashanah, Kol Nidre (Erev Yom Kippur), Yom Kippur morning, and Neilah (the closing service).
Detailed information about High Holiday services is announced in the September Shofar.
Guests do not need a ticket to attend our High Holiday Services. To support these services, you can mail a check (memo “HHD services”) to BJCC Treasurer, PO Box 782, Blacksburg, VA 24063, or use the DONATE button below, indicating in the “Add a Note” field that your donation is for High Holiday services. We very much appreciate your generosity!
Special Services
The BJCC holds special services throughout the year. All are welcome to attend, although some of the services are geared toward specific audiences. For example, the Religious School organizes Saturday morning Shabbat services twice a year. The children in the Religious School lead these services. Several times a year, we hold a 30-minute Havdalah service geared to young children (under 6). And at specific times we hold Yizkor memorial services.
A Note about Yizkor: The Yizkor memorial service allows us to remember our departed loved ones. It is part of the traditional festival service on the 8th days of Sukkot and Passover, the 2nd day of Shavuot, and Yom Kippur. The BJCC provides an abbreviated Yizkor observance at least twice a year in addition to the Yom Kippur observance. These services last 30 minutes and require a minyan of Jewish adults. The calendar will indicate the dates and times of Yizkor services. BJCC members will be notified through the members’ listserv.