Upcoming events

After our online Minyan on Monday mornings we open a short Grief Garden Circle, a sacred listening space, from 8.30-9.00am.  Please join us there if you are holding grief. To join our weekly Grief Garden Circle, click here Have questions? Please email [email protected] Schedule a 1-0n-1 Grief Support with Dev here: https://cal.com/devorah-brous/grief-support?duration=60

Our virtual Morning Minyan is one of the best-kept secrets of IKAR. Monday-Friday and Sunday at 8am PT on Zoom, we’ll explore a different modality we might use to help us access our prayer life: singing, meditation, study, etc. And each day we will end with a Mourner’s Kaddish.

Once a month, TRIBE is creating our own Beit Midrash (house of study) for us to engage with Jewish text to find how we can live more fulfilling, meaningful lives as we navigate our 20s and 30s! Each session will take us on a journey of text exploration and introspective work. Part of the session will be studying in hevruta, or with a study partner, and part of the session will be taught by Rabbinic Intern Jacob Schatz. No previous text study required! Join us for dinner, study, and lively discussion. Timeline: 7 PM – Dinner 7:45 PM – Learning (indoor/outdoor)

What is the Grief Garden? Please join Dev Brous, a certified trauma-informed Compassionate Bereavement Care grief counselor, and herbalist. Join this safe, reflective space to hold, and to be held as we “garden” grief. Here, we share reflections on what we’re learning from grief through embodied weekly prompts that connect people to nature-based Jewish healing practices. To sign-up, please fill out this form. Here’s the link to join the Grief Garden FS2S What’sApp: https://tinyurl.com/2eacz8nc Schedule a 1-0n-1 Grief Support with Dev here: https://cal.com/devorah-brous/grief-support?duration=60  

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.

Join us for a virtual literary study of the text of the Torah, aided by the keen eyes of the classical commentators. This series is co-sponsored with Hadar.

Through IKAR’s PATH Meals collaboration, a small group of volunteers will serve and enjoy warm meals with the veteran residents who are temporarily housed at P.A.T.H. Cotner residence.

A night of comedy, matchmaking, and meddling with Yenta Podcast hosts Raye Schiller and Antonia Lassar. Join us at ikar for a live matchmaking event where the Yentas will help you find your perfect match! All ages and relationship statuses are welcome, as long as you’re willing to meddle!

Come together for our tech-free (off-mic) Kabbalat Shabbat Services with a focus on lifting our voices in song as a community. Enter through our alleyway and down the ramp into our event space. For those with accessibility needs, you can be dropped off and enter through the front door. Following Services, join us for dinner! TRIBErs (20’s-30’s) come for dinner and singing.

Wind down and get ready for Shabbat. 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 (60+).

Every Saturday morning at 9am, join Dev Brous and/or Dr. Barry Goldstein for a weekly meditation on the Shalhevet rooftop. And find your way to sip some homemade herbal tea blends, FromSoil2Soul, near the coffee station in the kitchen.

In 1942, Executive Order 9066 laid the foundation for the mass removal and subsequent incarceration of over 125,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans. The federal government built ten concentration camps throughout the interior of the country where they incarcerated the majority of the Japanese Americans removed from the West Coast. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the closure of the camps. Join IKARite Brian Rosenbaum, Kristen Hayashi (Curator and Director of Collections at the Japanese American National Museum), and J.A.N.M. community members, whose family members were incarcerated, for a discussion about this shameful moment in US history, the echoes of which reverberate today.

We welcome everyone to our Shabbat morning services at 9:30am PT, 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. 5/16/2026 Lilah Bokman 5/23/2026 Wolff Lakota Ellis 6/6/2026 Bear Karuna & Theo Hirschel Bender Miller 6/13/2026 Liam Avi Bachrad 6/20/2026 Levi Hochman 6/27/2026 Milo Reid Greenberg-Creel 7/25/2026 Michael Goldstone 8/1/2026 Jonah Pulde 8/15/2026 Jonah YoonWoo Kend 8/22/2026 Noa Ellis Goldstein 8/29/2026 Archer Mekor Sroka 10/10/2026 Myla Vener 10/17/2026 Ayla Morchower 10/24/2026 Samuel Ethan & Joshua Gabriel Goldstein 11/7/2026 Lucille (Luci) Halpern-Fingerhut 11/14/2026 Henry Posalski 11/21/2026 Bo Mandell 11/28/2026 Ezekiel Mataan Brous-Weber 12/5/2026 Samuel Rafael Marquit 12/19/2026 Finch Rhodes

We offer ASL interpretation at our Shabbat Morning service, on the third Saturday of every month — because everyone deserves to be in the room, fully.

For families of all types and stripes with kids ages 0-5 (kids – don’t forget to bring your grown-up!) Whether you’re a rookie or a ringer, we invite you to tap into the age-old wisdom of Shabbat with your family. Join us as we slow down, reconnect, and rock out with our favorite clergy. What better way is there to end the week? Contact [email protected] for more information.

This event is for IKAR members only.   Join us for an afternoon of IKAR magic! Reconnect and schmooze with fellow ECC and Limudim parents, enjoy a live magic show, and learn more about The IKAR Center. This event is for adults only. Things to Note: Food/Drinks: Vegetarian snacks and drinks will be provided (no dinner). Accessibility: There are two steps to enter the home for the restroom. The event will be held outside. Pets: There are two dogs in the home, but they will be crated during the event. Parking: Street parking is available.

This virtual drop-in class is open to anyone who wants to explore the subject of our aging, with the aim of creating community as we turn towards this largely uncharted terrain. At every meeting, we will consider a short piece by Anne Lamott, which will serve as a springboard for practical exercises and conversations that incorporate our tradition’s wisdom and our own. Together we will set new goals for approaching our aging with insight, grace, purpose – and humor. Recommended age 55+.

This event is for IKAR members only. Join us for an energetic evening of Israeli dance, led by IKAR community member Susan North Gilboa as part of our Taste of IKAR series, hosted by the Capital Campaign team. Whether you’re a seasoned dancer or brand new, all are welcome to join in the fun. Throughout the evening, there will be an opportunity to learn more about The IKAR Center and ask questions about our vision for the future. As we work toward our goal of 100% community participation, every gift truly makes a difference. The evening will conclude with a clear fundraising ask. A light snack and drink will be provided; no meal.

Join us virtually to hear about the important work happening in our community and how we can take action to make our community a more just and loving place.

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*

In the gaps, the ambiguities, the contradictions, and the mysteries of Torah, Midrash is born. Like a flower emerging from the crack in the sidewalk, a new image captures our attention, transforming the entire landscape. In this three-part series, we’ll investigate the project of Midrash– where these new stories come from and how they shape our understanding of both the Torah and its interpreters.

IKAR and Temple Beth Am are joining forces for Shavuot. What better way to celebrate the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai than pulling an all-nighter, learning Torah from sundown to sunrise. We’ve got it all covered: soul-stretching study, heart-expanding singing, and too much dairy to be good for you (BYO Lactaid). From text-based learning to creative workshops, there’s something for everyone! Stay tuned for the full schedule (we have amazing teachers lined up!) About our 2026 Plenary Speaker, Rabbi Benay Lappe Ordained by The Jewish Theological Seminary in 1997, Rabbi Benay Lappe founded SVARA in 2003. An award-winning educator specializing in the application of queer theory to Talmud study, Benay has served on the faculties of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Temple University, American Jewish University, The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, The Graduate Theological Union’s Center for Jewish Studies at UC-Berkeley, and The Wener Institute. Benay was named to The Forward 50 list of most influential American Jews, The Forward’s 2014 List of Most Inspiring Rabbis, is a Joshua Venture Fellow, and in 2016 received the prestigious Covenant Award for innovative Jewish education. While learning and teaching Talmud are her greatest passions, Rabbi Lappe is also a licensed pilot, shoemaker, and patent-holding inventor.

We welcome everyone to our Shabbat morning services at 9:30am PT, 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. 5/23/2026 Wolff Lakota Ellis 6/6/2026 Bear Karuna & Theo Hirschel Bender Miller 6/13/2026 Liam Avi Bachrad 6/20/2026 Levi Hochman 6/27/2026 Milo Reid Greenberg-Creel 7/25/2026 Michael Goldstone 8/1/2026 Jonah Pulde 8/15/2026 Jonah YoonWoo Kend 8/22/2026 Noa Ellis Goldstein 8/29/2026 Archer Mekor Sroka 10/10/2026 Myla Vener 10/17/2026 Ayla Morchower 10/24/2026 Samuel Ethan & Joshua Gabriel Goldstein 11/7/2026 Lucille (Luci) Halpern-Fingerhut 11/14/2026 Henry Posalski 11/21/2026 Bo Mandell 11/28/2026 Ezekiel Mataan Brous-Weber 12/5/2026 Samuel Rafael Marquit 12/19/2026 Finch Rhodes

Through IKAR’s PATH Meals collaboration, a small group of volunteers will serve and enjoy warm meals with the veteran residents who are temporarily housed at P.A.T.H. Cotner residence.