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Rabbi Rafi's Installation Weekend

Rabbi Rafi's Installation Weekend

דְּבַשׁ וְחָלָב תַּחַת לְשׁוֹנֵךְ

Honey and milk are under your tongue

— Song of Songs 4:11 // שיר השירים ד:יא —

Honey and milk, the taste of the promised land, is always accessible. It is not only out there, beyond our reach, but within each and every of us.

This is a beloved teaching of mine from R. Shefa Gold on this beautiful verse from Song of Songs.

I invite you to join me over the Shabbat of February 20th and 21st in celebrating our Shir Hadash community in all of our sweetness as I become officially installed as a member of our clergy team and our greater community. We will sing, pray, laugh, and learn together alongside some of my dearest teachers. I am so grateful to Becky, Or, Sharon, and Judith for making this trip to celebrate with us. I am also overjoyed that Rabbi Emerita Melanie Aron will be flying out to install me on Shabbat morning. And rumor has it that some of the extended Ellenson clan will be coming, too!

May each moment of these festivities be as sweet as the milk and honey that is just under our tongues. I truly cannot wait.

- Rabbi Rafi Ellenson

Read on to find out how you can be a part of the Kabbalat Shabbat in the round and installation book, learn more about the weekend's events, RSVP, and get to know our guests!

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Calling All Singers and Instrumentalists!

Congregants who sing or play instruments are invited to be a part of a very special Kabbalat Shabbat in the round during Rabbi Rafi's Installation Weekend! Join us as we rehearse for this extra special service.

If you would like to participate musically:

  • Instrumentalists: Please email rabbirafi@shirhadash.org and let me know what instrument you play. Depending on the size of our ensemble and what instruments we have, you may be asked to play on specific pieces, and at other moments to join the singing. We can provide lead sheets for transposing instruments in the proper key.

  • Singers: You are warmly invited to join the rehearsals — no prior experience required. If you love to sing, you belong here. Please email rabbirafi@shirhadash.org so we know to expect you and can print out the right number of song sheets.

Rehearsals will be held on February 5  and February 19.

Friday, February 20

6 PM | KABBALAT SHABBAT & DINNER: RABBI RAFI'S INSTALLATION WEEKEND KICK-OFF!

Start the Installation Weekend on a high note with a very special musical Kabbalat Shabbat, featuring a delicious dinner. Be sure to stick around (and bring your singing voice) for A Very Rafi Tish!

RSVP Here

 

Saturday, February 21

9:30 AM | TORAH STUDY WITH DR. JUDITH ROSENBAUM

Join Dr. Judith Rosenbaum, CEO of the Jewish Women's Archive, to lead a very special Torah Study session. We'll be exploring the lives of two radically different Jewish women, Emma Lazarus and Emma Goldman.

RSVP Here

 

10:30 AM | SHABBAT SERVICE WITH RABBI RAFI'S INSTALLATION

Come together for a very special Shabbat service, which will include Rabbi Rafi's installation! Shir Hadash's choir will be performing, and Rabbi Emeritus Melanie Aron will be officiating the installation.

RSVP Here

 

12:15 PM | KIDDUSH LUNCH AND BELOVED TEXTS

Be sure to stick around after Shabbat for a delicious Kiddush lunch and Beloved Texts activity, hosted by Rabbi Rafi and special guests Rabbi Or Rose (Director, Miller Center for Interreligious Learning and Leadership) and Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld (President, Hebrew College). 

RSVP Here

 

5:30 PM | TEEN SESSION WITH BECKY VOORWINDE

All teens are welcome to a session hosted by Rabbi Rafi and Becky Voorwinde, CEO of Bronfman Fellowships. The discussion will use a text from the Mishnah to better understand friendship. Come for the learning, stay for the stories about 17-year-old Rabbi Rafi!

RSVP Here

 

6:45 PM | HAVDALAH, DESSERT AND DANCE PARTY!

Close out the weekend in style with a Havdalah service, followed by a rockin' dance party for all ages! Come dressed in your finest 'fits and bring your best dance moves!

RSVP Here

 

Meet Our Guests!

Rabbi Sharon cohen anisfeld

Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld has been president of Hebrew College since 2018. She previously served as Dean of the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College for 11 years. Rabbi Anisfeld graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1990 and subsequently spent 15 years working in pluralistic settings as a Hillel rabbi at Tufts University, Yale University, and Harvard University. She was a regular summer faculty member for the Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel from 1993-2016 and is co-editor of two volumes of women’s writings on Passover, The Women’s Seder Sourcebook: Rituals and Readings for Use at the Passover Seder and The Women’s Passover Companion: Women’s Reflections on the Festival of Freedom. She has been recognized on multiple occasions as one of the most influential rabbis in America by Newsweek, the Daily Beast, and the Jerusalem Post. Rabbi Anisfeld writes and teaches widely, weaving together Torah, rabbinic commentary, and contemporary literature in her wise and compassionate approach to the complexities of the human experience and the search for healing and hope in a beautiful but fractured world.

 

Rabbi OR ROSE

Rabbi Or Rose is the founding Director of the Betty Ann Greenbaum Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership of Hebrew College and a senior consultant to Interfaith America. He previously served as the Associate Dean for Informal Education at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College and as co-founder and director of CIRCLE, a center for interreligious education co-sponsored by Andover Newton Theological School and Hebrew College. Rabbi Rose is Publisher Emeritus of The Journal of Interreligious Studies and the co-editor of the award-winning anthologies, My Neighbor’s Faith: Stories of Interreligious Encounter, Growth, and Transformation (Orbis, 2012) and With the Best of Intentions: Interreligious Missteps & Mistakes (Orbis, 2023). His most recent publication was a biography of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (d. 1972) for teen readers (ages 12-15, Monkfish, 2025). Rabbi Rose is currently completing a contemporary multifaith commentary on the Book of Psalms (Paraclete Press, 2026).

 

DR. JUdith rosenbaum

Judith Rosenbaum (she/her) is CEO of the Jewish Women’s Archive, a pioneering digital archive and public history organization. She has devoted her career to creating a more expansive Jewish story and harnessing history as a tool for social change. An educator, historian, and writer, Judith earned a BA in History from Yale University and a PhD in American Studies from Brown University. As a Fulbright Fellow, she studied women’s collective communities in Israel. Judith teaches, lectures, and publishes widely on Jewish studies and women’s studies. She has also served on the faculty of the Bronfman Fellowship and is a Schusterman Senior Fellow. Judith lives with her family in the Boston area.  

 

BECKY VOORWINDE

Rebecca Voorwinde is CEO of The Bronfman Fellowship, an international pluralistic Jewish leadership program founded in 1987. Rabbi Rafi is a 2011 alumnus of the Fellowship & Jojo Sidney is an alumna of the Fellowship's Campus Commons program. Becky graduated Summa Cum Laude from Barnard College with a B.A. in American Studies and she holds a Certificate in Jewish Executive Leadership from Columbia Business School. Becky serves on the Education Advisory Committee for M2:The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education, the Advisory Board for the Center for Jewish Peoplehood Education, and the Board of Advisors for Assembly. Becky resides in Brooklyn with her husband Michael and their three children. 

 

Wed, January 21 2026 3 Sh'vat 5786