Upcoming events

We need prayer and connection more than ever during this time. So every weekday at 8am, we will gather online for a half-hour Zoom of prayer and learning.

Sing your heart out to your favorite Hebrew chant with us! Whether you are an expert or a first-timer, we welcome you! Lay led by Antonia Lassar. Light snacks are provided. For more information, please contact [email protected] *This event is fully indoors*

Joined IKAR in the past year and want to meet more congregants? This is the party for you! Come for a night of community and schmoozing. Hear from our CEO and founder, Melissa Balaban, one of our clergy members, and our Membership Director, Ilyse Pallenberg.

Poetry can often heal, elevate the soul and awaken the heart. Come join IKAR’s Jewish Poetry Circle as we read Jewish poets — the Oneg Shabbos poets of the Warsaw Ghetto, Medieval Sephardic poets, Israeli and Jewish-American poets up to the present—the historical context of their writing, spiritual relationships, personal agonies and joys. The Circle is not an academic writing class but rather an informal experience of a committed group of participants to explore and hopefully bond with Jewish poetic expression and with each other.

For thousands of years our ancient texts have been weaponized against queer people and queer people have felt alienated and rejected from our Jewish communities. But – there is more to the story. In this 4-part series we will explore the texts of our tradition that actually seem to reflect queer experiences and read other Jewish texts through a queer lens. How much more connected can we feel to our tradition when it is more expansive?

Wind down and get ready for Shabbat with us! Join our virtual Happy Hour, every Friday at 5pm PST. We are diverse: still working and retired; single, divorced, widowed, and in a relationship; have children, grandchildren, pets, plants, or none of the above; Angelinos and transplants. What we have in common is Ikar, a multitude of experiences, and a desire to spend some of our time enjoying events and experiences with those in our age group. Approximately 60 and above.

Join fellow TRIBErs as we enter Shabbat together with a community dinner. Cost to attend: $18 Have questions? Please email [email protected].

You’re Invited to Sababa’s Cozy Home-Hosted Potluck! We’d love for you to join us for a soulful evening of delicious food and delightful company. Please bring a veggie dish and dessert to share, and we’ll take care of the rest. Location details will be shared with those who RSVP. We can’t wait to see you there!

We welcome everyone to our Shabbat morning services, no matter their level of observance, experience, or familiarity with Hebrew. Daven with us in person at Shalhevet, or join us virtually on YouTube or Zoom. Childcare is available during Services for kids ages 2-5. Stay afterward for our kosher, vegetarian community lunch. Upcoming B’nai Mitzvahs 1/25/2025 Henry Held 2/1/2025 Talia Tarason 2/8/2025 Mikhail Shaphir 2/15/2025 Fox Gendell 2/22/2025 Dominic Ferretti

Please let us know if you’ll be joining Morah Beth, a member of our IKAR clergy, and other awesome IKAR families for our Bite Size Family Shabbes program. We meet from 11am – 12pm in Shalhevet’s rooftop classroom. Please bring a dinosaur if you have one! We hope to see your family there! For 0-5 year olds and their families.

A little intentional silence can go a long way.  Join Devorah Brous and Dr. Barry Goldstein on Shabbat morning before services, 9-9:30 am for a guided mindful meditation. Location: Shalhevet Rooftop. Grab your coffee and ready your soul with the sacred sound of communal silence.

Join us for TRIBE Havdalah, lay-lead by longtime TRIBEr Matt Arons. Come together, after three stars appear in the Saturday evening sky. With blessings over lights, wine or grape juice, and spices, Havdalah is an inspiring way to mark the end of Shabbat and usher in the new week.

Join us after lunch for a Know Your Reps Conversation with LA County Supervisor Holly Mitchell and Rabbi Brous. Jan. 25, 1 pm, Shalhevet Beit Midrash.

This book is lighthearted and full of good feelings. It’ll be fun to get together and talk about it. Even as a child in 1910, Sara Glikman knows her gift: she is a maker of matches and a seeker of soulmates. But among the pushcart-crowded streets of New York’s Lower East Side, Sara’s vocation is dominated by devout older men—men who see a talented female matchmaker as a dangerous threat to their traditions and livelihood. After making matches in secret for more than a decade, Sara must fight to take her rightful place among her peers, and to demand the recognition she deserves. Two generations later, Sara’s granddaughter, Abby, is a successful Manhattan divorce attorney, representing the city’s wealthiest clients. When her beloved Grandma Sara dies, Abby inherits her collection of handwritten journals recording the details of Sara’s matches. But among the faded volumes, Abby finds more questions than answers. Why did Abby’s grandmother leave this library to her and what did she hope Abby would discover within its pages? Why does the work Abby once found so compelling suddenly feel inconsequential and flawed? Is Abby willing to sacrifice the career she’s worked so hard for in order to keep her grandmother’s mysterious promise to a stranger? And is there really such a thing as love at first sight?

How do you raise a mensch? Come together with fellow parents to explore how Jewish rituals, wisdom, and values can guide us on the sacred (and really hard) journey of raising Jewish children. It takes a village—and maybe a few thousand years of wisdom too.

This bi-monthly gathering is a chance for recent converts, new Jews, and people early in the process of exploring Judaism to come together. The goals are to get to know each other, share what people are thinking about or struggling with or excited about in their current Jewish journeys, and prepare for and debrief holidays and lifecycle events. All questions and reflections welcome. Open to anyone who has converted in the last 3 years or is beginning the process now. For more information, contact [email protected].

Come together with other IKAR Teens to talk about current events, teen issues, or anything on your mind. This is a confidential, safe space for teens to build connections and talk about things.   Have questions? Email [email protected]

The Virtual IKAR Book Club will discuss Torah Travels: A Psycho-Spiritual Journey Through the Weekly Torah Portion by Rabbi Mel Gottlieb – with a special guest, Rabbi Mel Gottlieb! Join from wherever you are! New members are always welcome. We meet monthly via Zoom (link sent out the morning of) to discuss books with a Jewish connection. If you’re interested in joining email [email protected].

Shalom~ YOU are invited. All beings that can hold sacred and safe space for others to tap into belonging, are invited. If YOU are looking to journey in sacred community, and navigate grief, transition, and overwhelm, then YOU are welcome to share space. 🌱 A Grief Garden 🌱 Join us to gather monthly, the fourth Monday of each month, 7:30-9pm PST, to call in our ancestors and say Kaddish. Bring a poem, song 🎶 or BriefGrief share. Hold and be held. For people experiencing personal grief, collective grief, complicated grief, disenfranchised grief, climate grief – ALL are welcome. ❤️‍🩹

Join this virtual, interactive circle using the Jewish Studio Process, facilitated by Ross Berman and Ann Bohrer. Explore the power of making process art in community as a tool for personal and collective renewal. All are welcome – no art experience needed. Unlock your creativity.

For all our work-from-home + virtual + hybrid + rarely-in-the-office TRIBErs: come hang out and work for the day with other TRIBErs in the same boat! Let this be your WeWork for the day.

For thousands of years our ancient texts have been weaponized against queer people and queer people have felt alienated and rejected from our Jewish communities. But – there is more to the story. In this 4-part series we will explore the texts of our tradition that actually seem to reflect queer experiences and read other Jewish texts through a queer lens. How much more connected can we feel to our tradition when it is more expansive?

Shalom~ YOU are invited. All beings that can hold sacred and safe space for others to tap into belonging, are invited. All transwomxn, genderqueer, non-binary people, all who identify as women… All grandmas, daughters, mamas, aunties, sisters…if YOU are looking to journey in sacred community, then YOU are welcome to this intergenerational ritual. Because we all need a fertile, sacred space to glean wisdom and heal…We gather together monthly in the garden for the newMOON, to pause and turn inward. Rooted in ancient Jewish ritual, we gather to explore monthly themes of the Hebrew calendar while making herbal bath salts. Join us for an evening of connection, reflection, and rejuvenation. Set intentions, release what no longer serves, and embrace new beginnings.

Join IKAR’s Adventure Circle for a moderate 4-mile round trip Tu B’Shevat Hike & Event (Jewish Arbor Day). No dogs allowed on trail. Hike ends appox 1:30 p.m. At the halfway point we will have lunch & learn with a Rabbi about Tu B’Shevat. It is customary to have assorted fruit and nuts in honor of Tu B’Shevat, please bring extra to share. WHAT TO BRING: Water (one liter minimum), Hat, Sunscreen, Sunglasses, and Your Lunch/Energy Bars/Trail Mix. Hiking Boots or Trail Running Shoes are highly recommended. Assorted fruit and nuts in honor of Tu B’Shevat are encouraged. Community Partners are co-sponsoring this hike. Hike is open to the community.