ADAT SHALOM SYNAGOGUE

A friendly community synagogue serving Fox Chapel and the North Hills of Pittsburgh.

Adat Shalom is a welcoming and inclusive synagogue for individuals and families seeking worship, education, socializing opportunities and community engagement.
  • Events Calendar
  • New and Noteworthy
  • About Adat Shalom
    • Board of Directors
    • Cemetery
    • COVID
  • Contact
  • Pray
    • Services
  • Learn
    • Religious School
    • Preschool
    • Rabbi’s Corner
    • Adult Education
  • Engage
    • Volunteers
    • Book Club
    • Rabbi’s Book Club
    • The Garden at Adat Shalom
    • The Dr. Saul and Emma Fleegler Library
  • Give
    • Ways to Give
    • Mitzvah Trees
    • Yahrzeit Plaques
    • Giant Eagle Gift Cards
  • Membership
    • Leadership Circle
  • High Holidays
  • DONATE

Rabbi’s Corner

Rabbi Yaier Lehrer

ylehrer@gmail.com

412-820-7000

April 18, 2025

  Not every Jew loves Passover. From the food restrictions to the extraordinary effort it takes to prepare for the holiday, not to mention the expense, makes the holiday the most work intensive and restrictive of all the holidays. But I am not one of those people. This has always been one of my favorite holidays. And this past week I got a chance to share my feelings with people who have never observed the holiday at all.

I drove to a town almost an hour away from the city of Pittsburgh to a private Christian School to share the background of the holiday and specifically of the seder. The group that assembled was kindergarten through sixth grade and their school principal gave each of them a paper plate and a set of stickers for every step of the seder.  

Each time we talked about one of the items on the plate, the students found the appropriate sticker and put it on their plate so that each of them would have a seder plate when they left. They had interesting questions and remained engaged throughout. But the best part for each of them was when they all tasted matzah for the first time and almost everyone actually liked it. More than one of the students told me they were going to ask their mothers to get some. They even liked the charred bits of shmura matzah.

This all reminded me of an incident a few years ago where our congregation was serving food at a Christian mission. The director asked me to write out the motzi/blessing over bread on the blackboard so that those present could recite it before eating bread. Those about to eat were clearly moved by the ability to recite these words. They didn’t know what the words meant, but they understood the meaning of what was happening. They understood the gratitude in the words, and the importance of showing gratitude for a meal that they had weekly at this mission that they would not otherwise have.  the same real gratitude that is sometimes missing from some of our simplest blessings.

All of these people appreciated the obvious joy, beauty and deep meaning of Jewish rituals, those rituals that many Jews take for granted and do them by rote, sometimes without remembering the meaning that others doing it for the first time can easily appreciate. Perhaps if we performed our rituals and said our blessings as if we were doing them for the very first time, we could  appreciate and love our rituals more.  And when we appreciate them we will do them better, more often and with real joy and meaning.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach

Rabbi Yaier Lehrer

Rituals, anthropologists will tell us, are about transformation. The rituals we use for marriage, baptism or inaugurating a president are as elaborate as they are because we associate the ritual with a major life passage, the crossing of a critical threshold, or in other words, with transformation. Abraham Verghese

New and Noteworthy

  • ADAT SHALOM GUEST LECTURER SERIES: Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel
  • Passover Seder at Adat Shalom
  • Active Shooter Community Education Night
  • Giant Eagle Gift Cards
  • Rabbi Introduces a New Book Club

Events Calendar

35 events found.
  • May 2025

Calendar of Events

S Sun

M Mon

T Tue

W Wed

T Thu

F Fri

S Sat

1 event, 27

2025-04-27

Yom Ha’Atzmaut Program

Yom Ha’Atzmaut Program

April 27

Yom Ha’Atzmaut Program

0 events, 28

1 event, 29

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Mahjongg every Tuesday

April 29 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Mahjongg every Tuesday

Mahjongg for all levels. Social Hall. Includes instruction for beginners.

0 events, 30

1 event, 1

2025-05-01

Yom Ha’Atzmaut

Yom Ha’Atzmaut

May 1

Yom Ha’Atzmaut

0 events, 2

0 events, 3

1 event, 4

2025-05-04

Last Sunday of School

Last Sunday of School

May 4

Last Sunday of School

0 events, 5

1 event, 6

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Mahjongg every Tuesday

May 6 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Mahjongg every Tuesday

Mahjongg for all levels. Social Hall. Includes instruction for beginners.

0 events, 7

0 events, 8

0 events, 9

0 events, 10

1 event, 11

2025-05-11

No School – Mother’s Day

No School – Mother’s Day

May 11

No School – Mother’s Day

0 events, 12

2 events, 13

2025-05-13

Last Tuesday of School

Last Tuesday of School

May 13

Last Tuesday of School

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Mahjongg every Tuesday

May 13 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Mahjongg every Tuesday

Mahjongg for all levels. Social Hall. Includes instruction for beginners.

0 events, 14

1 event, 15

8:00 am - 5:00 pm

K-7 End of Year Ceremony

May 15 @ 8:00 am - 5:00 pm

K-7 End of Year Ceremony

1 event, 16

2025-05-16

Lag B’Omer

Lag B’Omer

May 16

Lag B’Omer

0 events, 17

0 events, 18

0 events, 19

1 event, 20

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Mahjongg every Tuesday

May 20 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Mahjongg every Tuesday

Mahjongg for all levels. Social Hall. Includes instruction for beginners.

0 events, 21

0 events, 22

0 events, 23

0 events, 24

0 events, 25

1 event, 26

2025-05-26

Memorial Day

Memorial Day

May 26

Memorial Day

1 event, 27

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Mahjongg every Tuesday

May 27 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Mahjongg every Tuesday

Mahjongg for all levels. Social Hall. Includes instruction for beginners.

0 events, 28

0 events, 29

1 event, 30

2025-05-30

Confirmation

Confirmation

May 30

Confirmation

0 events, 31

April 27
All day

Yom Ha’Atzmaut Program

  • There are no events on this day.
April 29
April 29 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Mahjongg every Tuesday

  • There are no events on this day.
May 1
All day

Yom Ha’Atzmaut

  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
May 4
All day

Last Sunday of School

  • There are no events on this day.
May 6
May 6 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Mahjongg every Tuesday

  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
May 11
All day

No School – Mother’s Day

  • There are no events on this day.
May 13
All day

Last Tuesday of School

May 13 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Mahjongg every Tuesday

May 15
May 15 @ 8:00 am - 5:00 pm

K-7 End of Year Ceremony

May 20
May 20 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Mahjongg every Tuesday

May 27
May 27 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Mahjongg every Tuesday

May 15
May 15 @ 8:00 am - 5:00 pm

K-7 End of Year Ceremony

May 16
All day

Lag B’Omer

  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
May 20
May 20 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Mahjongg every Tuesday

  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
May 26
All day

Memorial Day

May 27
May 27 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Mahjongg every Tuesday

  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
May 30
All day

Confirmation

  • There are no events on this day.
View Calendar
  • Pray
    • Services
  • Learn
    • Religious School
    • Preschool
    • Rabbi’s Corner
    • Adult Education
  • Engage
    • Volunteers
    • Book Club
    • Rabbi’s Book Club
    • The Garden at Adat Shalom
    • The Dr. Saul and Emma Fleegler Library
  • Give
    • Ways to Give
    • Mitzvah Trees
    • Yahrzeit Plaques
    • Giant Eagle Gift Cards
  • Membership
    • Leadership Circle
  • High Holidays
  • DONATE

368 Guys Run Road

Cheswick, PA 15024

CONTACT US

PHONE: 412-820-7000

EMAIL: pboring@adatshalompgh.org

FAX: 412-820-9725

Copyright 2024 Adat Shalom