RABBINIC NEWS
Are you faster than the rabbi? Come find out! Put your body to the test when you race against Rabbi David up the Stowe Rec Path for a sporty fundraiser. Adults, youth, and families, come join the fun! 100% of the proceeds support the Lamoille Community House warming shelter. Please register here.
As we celebrate the world's birthday, we bring our awareness equally to the fundamental precariousness and preciousness alongside the joys and simchas of life. Let us live up to our highest values by embracing with all our hearts and all our souls, with everything that we have, the path that will lead us to a deep and abiding fulfillment. Please register here.
Join Jewish communities across Vermont by taking actions and raising money to help those in detention, separated from their families, and those seeking legal asylum. Donate here.
In visits to the border, one need comes up over and over: legal help. In order to help with this, the Jewish communities across Vermont are joining together for a campaign through Yom Kippur to raise money for three organizations (one local Vermont Freedom Bail Fund, one national HIAS – Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, one focused on the southern border Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center) that are providing legal support and bail for those in need. We hope to raise $7500 to be divided between these three organizations.
Please donate here generously.
JCOGS ISRAEL TRIP
June 22 - July 1, 2020
Join Rabbi David for this extraordinary trip to Israel. Click here for the proposed itinerary and estimated cost. And don't hesitate to contact rabbidavid@jcogs.org if you are interested or have questions!
Increase the Light
In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
Thank you to the entire community for coming out to be part of this amazing experience, and particularly to our partners: Stowe Media Group, Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center (Community and Education Fund), the Helen Day Art Center, Stowe Performing Arts, and the Greater Stowe Interfaith Coalition, including St. John’s in the Mountains Episcopal Church, Stowe Community Church, Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Stowe, and Bahá'ís of Stowe.
Rabbi David Fainsilber
Rabbi David Fainsilber is the spiritual leader and first full-time rabbi of the Jewish Community of Greater Stowe. Originally from Montreal, Rabbi David and his wife Alison joined our community in 2013. You may spot Rabbi David, Alison, and their three children skiing at the mountain, biking on the Lamoille Rail Trail, or schmoozing at the Farmers’ Market.
Rabbi David has brought a surge of energy and spirit to JCOGS. He has grown the JCOGS religious school 800%, reaching youth from birth to college. Rabbi David infuses Shabbat and Holy Days with spirit, and composes and records liturgical music. He is instrumental in working across the local community with faith, business, law enforcement, and educational leaders to help form the first homeless shelter in Lamoille County. Rabbi David is an active leader of the newly formed Morrisville-Stowe Coalition steering committee, tackling systemic bigotry in our community. His pastoral presence is healing in our turbulent world. His impact has been featured in the The Boston Globe, the Vermont weekly Seven Days, and VPR. Prior to moving to Vermont, Rabbi David served as an interfaith CIRCLE Fellow, AJWS Kol Tzedek Fellow, and as a rabbinic intern for Nehar Shalom, Kolot Chayeinu, and MIT and Tufts Hillels. Ordained at the pluralistic rabbinical school of Hebrew College, he also received a Certificate in Organizational Leadership from Boston University and Hebrew College. He is currently part of the fourth cohort of the prestigious CLI Fellowship.
Rabbi David is more than slightly obsessed with Crossfit, enjoys chopping wood, and loves wrestling with his kids. Read his writings and listen to his music at www.melodyofeverysoul.com.