Chavurat Shalom of Southwest Florida
  • ABOUT US

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Artwork by Chavurat Shalom member Sue Citrenbaum

Chavurat Shalom is a welcoming community in Southwest Florida
committed to the study and celebration of our Jewish cultural heritage and religious traditions to enlighten and enrich our lives

[email protected]
 Chavurat Shalom is an informal group from every Jewish religious tradition that meets to worship, learn, and socialize together. We are not affiliated with any Jewish organized movement. Our group is community-led. Each person has an equal voice in it and may participate to whatever extent desired.

Presently we worship and meet via Zoom, with occasional in-person events in Fort Myers or Sanibel Island, Florida.  Whether interacting with each other face-to-face or over Zoom, we all enjoy the companionship and warm community Chavurat Shalom offers. We welcome people from all over the country.

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Photograph by Chavurat Shalom member Dr. Marge Peppercorn from her book Golfing Safari

Chavurat Shalom holds weekly Shabbat Eve services via Zoom every Friday throughout the year at 7:30 p.m Eastern Time. The services are led by members, with readings, singing, and Torah reading and Torah commentary, incorporating elements of all streams of Judaism. The Shabbat services are coordinated by Drs. Ellen Feingold and Kathy Zoss, with other volunteer participants.

 All other Chavurat Shalom activities are held on Tuesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. (Eastern Time) via Zoom. The schedule is:
  • First Tuesday of the month, 7:30 p.m.: Marcia Rudin Zoom hosts our informal “Schmoozes”
  • Second Tuesday of the month, 7:30 p.m.: Dr. Ellen Feingold leads our Torah Talk discussion of the current Torah portion
  • Third Tuesday of the month, 7:30 p.m.:  Len Minsky Current Events Discussion, organized by Dr. Don Bachman with other volunteer participants
  • Fourth Tuesday of the month, 7:30 p.m: Lectures and discussions by Chavurat Shalom members and outside speakers organized by planning committee Irene Skolnick, Barry Fulmer, and Renee Minsky

For a complete listing of Chavurat Shalom’s past programs, see below.
Chavurat Shalom Board Meetings, open to all to attend, are held as needed at 6:30 p.m.  Eastern Time on the first Tuesday of the month before the monthly “Schmooze” sessions.

Everyone is welcome to attend our events.  All activities are held via Zoom, with in-person gatherings on Sanibel Island and in Ft. Myers planned occasionally. Check this website or email [email protected] to get further information about these events and to obtain the schedules. All times are Eastern Time.

Several times a year, Chavurah Shalom’s Tzedakah Committee solicits donations from members. The committee has contributed these funds to the following: Jewish Federation of Los Angeles (to aid victims of the recent wildfires), Friends of the IDF, M’ever La Yam (Across the Sea), Rambam Hospital (Haifa), Soroka Hospital (Beersheva), Israel Children’s Fund, Friends of ERAN, American Friends of Rambam Hospital, American Friends of Saroka Medical Center, American Friends of Leket Israel, American Friends of the IDF, Sar-El, AID Coalition, Brothers and Sisters for Israel, American Friends of Magen David Adom, FISH (Sanibel), Gladiolus Food Pantry (Fort Myers), Jewish Federation of Lee and Charlotte Counties (Fort Myers), St. Matthews House (Naples and Fort Myers), Harry Chapin Food Bank (Fort Myers), Planned Parenthood of Southwest Florida, Association of Rape Crisis Centers (Israel), The Shelter for Abused Women and Children (Naples), Cycle Forward (Lee County), Quality of Life Center (Fort Myers), and the JOINT Distribution Committee (funds designated for Ukraine).
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​We thank Tzedekah Committee Chair Dr. Ellen Feingold and her committee members for their efforts.
If you wish to donate to the Tzedakah Fund, send your check made out to Chavurat Shalom with Tzedakah Fund in the memo line to PO Box 722, Sanibel, FL 33957.

Past Lecture and Discussion Topics Led by Chavurat Shalom Members and Prominent Outside Speakers:
Lesser Women in the Bible
History of the Cochin Synagogue in India from 1568-1968
How French and Italian Jews Survived the Holocaust
Treatment of Animals in the Bible and Healthy Diets
Kabbalah
Spinoza
Tisha B’Av
Destructive Cults
Miriam
Religion and the American Election
Jews in Agriculture
Maimonides
Abraham
Ethnogenesis of the Jewish People
The History and Development of the Hebrew Alphabet
A Northern Jew Becomes a Southern Police Officer and Private Investigator
High Holydays Without Synagogue
Twenty-Eight Years of an Academic Career Working in Russia and with Russian Students in the U.S.
Humanistic Approach to Judaism
A Rabbi’s Work with the Vatican
The Challenge of Assimilation to Future Jewish Continuity
Israel Update: Dialogue with a Prominent Israeli-American
The Unsung Jewish Resistance Heroes During the Holocaust
Cancel Culture
A Taste of Talmud
A Trilogy: Samuel, Saul, and David
Medical Assistance in Dying
Golda Meir
Music as Resistance in the Holocaust
President Biden and the Middle East: Continuity or New directions?
Coming to a Theater Near You
Evangelicals and Jews
 Memories of a Kindertransport Survivor
 Being a Kidney Donor
Food Insecurity in Israel During the Pandemic and Beyond
Women in Politics: Where We Are and Where We’re Headed
Illegal Immigrants in Israel from Sudan and Eritrea
Bella Abzug, the Congresswoman from New York City
What Tisha B’Av Means to Us Today
The Meaning of the Unah Taneh Tokef
 The Etrog: Rare and Revered Fruit
 IsraAID: Israeli Humanitarian Aid Around the World
 Evolution of Ritual, Belief and Practice
 The Other Peace Process: Interreligious Dialogue in Israel and Palestine in the Service of Peace
 The Seven Species and More: Biblical Plants and your Health
 Why Kristallnacht was the "End of the Beginning" of German Nazi terror and
"The Beginning of the End” for Jews in Europe
 Joshua
 The Journey to Preserve the History of Small-Town Jewish Communities
 The Jews of China: Keifung, Harbin and Shanghai
 Memories of Marcel Marceau and the Rising Tide of Anti-Semitism in Europe and How Our Jewish Community is Combating It
 Kindertransport Survivor 
 The Untold Story of how the Stories were Told (Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation)
 Surviving the Americans – Treatment of Jewish Survivors of the Holocaust
 Challenges to Living Non-violently with Peace and Justice
 How to Educate our Youth to Deal with the Challenges of Life Jewishly
 King Solomon and Why He Was Israel’s Best King
Israel: A State of the Nation Report
Historical Perspective on the War in Ukraine
Purim Explained
Vashti: Purim's Other Woman
Water Quality in South Florida: Challenges and Opportunities
​Anti-Asian Discrimination and Attitudes in the United States
​The Passover Seder: The Basics and the Subversive
Across the Square: A Grandchild’s Quest to Find his Grandmother’s Holocaust Survival Story
​​Tracking the Elusive Box Turtles of Sanibel
The Great Florida Invasion: From Pepper to Pythons
The Challenge and Promise of Catholic-Jewish Relations Today
Why the Maccabees Would be Horrified by Chanukkah
My Journey As a Convert to Judaism
​ Aging and Stress
Magdala, Crossroads of Jewish and Christian History: A Story of Discovery, Creativity, and Encounter
Fate, Family, Fasting: Three Eternal Pillars of the High Holidays
Trends in Antisemitism and Extremism in Florida and the US
Is the Golden Age of American Jewry Over?
The Work of SCCF on Water Quality Issues Including the Effect of Hurricane Ian on Sanibel’s Marine Environment and the Caloosahatchee River Watershed
How Israel is Leading in Water Renewal
When Criticism Turns to Hatred: Antizionism and AntiSemitism
Why Hate Speech Cannot be Defined
Reflections from Campus: What Jewish Student Life on Campus Today Might Teach Us about Jewish Life Tomorrow
The Importance of Israel’s Yom Ha’Atsmaut Celebrating Seventy-five Years of Independence
Israel’s 9/11:  The Short and Long-term Implications
 Jerusalem: The Divided/United City
 From Tikkun Olam to Ticking Bomb: The Effect on Jewish Students on the Universities’ War Against the Jewish State
 An In-country Perspective: Personal Observations Directly from Israel on the Ongoing Israeli/Palestinian Crisis
 Addressing Hate Speech and Anti-Semitism in Condo and Homeowners Associations
 Ask the Rabbi
 The Israel-Hamas War: Global and Regional Implications
 The Life and Times of Commodore Uriah P. Levy, First American Jewish Naval Hero and
Savior of Monticello
 Ask the Doctors
What You Might Want to Know About Unitarian-Universalism
​The Real Fight for Academic Freedom
Israel at War as Seen Through the Eyes of a Volunteer Doctor
Ask the Doctors Part II
  Reflections from My Trip to Israel as a Volunteer in February, 2004
Choosing Life vs. Choosing Death: Judaism’s Vital Message for Civilization
Emma Goldman: A Woman Ahead of Her Time
​Intimations of a Dark Period: The Renewal of Anti-Semitism in the US and Abroad
​My Life with Shells
Challenges I Faced as an Eighteen-Year-Old Immigrant in America

Poems by Chavurat Shalom member Myra Klahr

Always Searching
Searching for happiness
We forget to
Search within

Searching for peace
We forget to
Search our hearts

Searching for light
To illuminate the darkness
We forget our own
Brilliant light

Let’s celebrate
The light of renewal
This Shabbat

As our love
Four ourselves
And for each other
Lights the world
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Photograph by Chavurat Shalom member Dr. Marge Peppercorn from her book Golfing Safari

In Remembrance of Being Jewish

Remember the joys of our Jewish heritage
That through the millennia
We overcame and
While we remain
The unwanted guest
At the dinner table
Of the world
We celebrate mitzvot
With each other
 
Remember that
We welcome the stranger
Even at our own peril
Remember that
The world envies
Our covenant with Hashem
Never forget
Who we are
That in a world
Without Jews
There would be
No theory of relativity
No understanding of psychology
Fewer Nobel laureates
Whose discoveries
Impacted people’s lives
And so
We unwanted guests
Celebrate
Who we are
And the exceptional qualities
We bring
To mankind 

For more details about our group or upcoming events, or to join us for any or all of these events,
contact us at [email protected] or write to

Chavurat Shalom of Southwest Florida
PO Box 722
Sanibel, FL 33957

 Your tax-deductible contributions to Chavurat Shalom may be directed to the Tzedakah Fund, Speaker’s Fund, or General Fund. Please make your contributions payable to Chavurat Shalom of Southwest Florida and mail to:
​Chavurat Shalom of Southwest Florida
PO Box 722
Sanibel, FL 33957

Bylaws

OFFICERS

President: Cheryl Fulmer
First Vice - President: Ellen Feingold
Second Vice - President: Kathy Zoss
Secretary: Irene Skolnick
Treasurer: Barry Alan Roth

NON-OFFICER BOARD MEMBERS

Don Bachman
Evelyn Clark
Myra Klahr
Marcia Rudin
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Contact our officers or non-officer board members using the email link below.

COMMITTEES

Public Relations & Website
Shabbat Service Coordination
Speaker Series
Special Events
Fundraising
​Tzedakah
Membership
​Membership Engagement
To join a committee please email us below
EMAIL US


Chavurat Shalom of Southwest Florida, PO Box 722, Sanibel, FL 33957
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Poetry and Artwork by Chavurat Shalom of Southwest Florida members
  • ABOUT US