Artwork by Leon Skolnick - Chavurat Shalom Participant

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

Chavurat Shalom​ is saddened to announce the death of its beloved president, Leonard Minsky, on February 21, 2022. May his memory be a blessing.

Artwork by Ellen Feingold - Chavurat Shalom Participant

Chavurat Shalom (Fellowship of Peace) is an informal group from every Jewish religious tradition that meets to worship and learn together. We welcome people of all faiths from Sanibel, Fort Myers, and other Southwest Florida locations, including visitors to the area and guests as well as Zoom participants everywhere.  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. When health risks lessen, we will gather informally in the Sanibel and Ft. Myers area. Our current activities include weekly Shabbat Eve services on Fridays at 7:30 p.m. led by participants, with readings, singing, and Torah commentary provided by other volunteers; a weekly Len Minsky Current Events discussion on Saturdays at 11:00 a.m.; and a lecture and discussion led by Chavurat Shalom participants and outside experts on Thursdays at 11:00 a.m. Current events topics have included Israeli annexation of territories, anti-Semitism throughout the world, and U.S. Jews’ views about Israel.

We commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day in January 2022 by hosting three special educational programs during the Thursday 11 a.m. lecture and discussion sessions. 

• On January 6, Margot Lobree spoke about escaping the Nazis by being sent away from her family as a pre-teen to England in her talk titled “Kindertransport Survivor”. 
• On January 13, Louis Schmidt related his experiences as an interviewer of Holocaust survivors for film director Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation in his presentation “The Untold Story of How the Stories were Told”.   
• On January 27,   Robert Hilliard related his experiences of caring for Holocaust survivors immediately after the war in his talk “Surviving the Americans”.

 
To celebrate Chanukkah, forty Chavurah members enjoyed an in-person potluck luncheon outdoors on Sanibel on December 5. On April 13, thirty Chavarim gathered outside on Sanibel for a Purim party. All enjoyed a Purimshpiel written and directed by Chavurat Shalom member JoAnn Katz  and delicious hamentashen and other snacks. We hope to gather for other in-person events in the Sanibel/Ft. Myers area when health conditions permit. Check this website for further information or email the address below.
 
Chavurat Shalom member Kathy Zoss conducted a Seder via Zoom on the second night of Passover, Saturday, April 16.

In  commemoration of Yom HoShoah, on April 28th, Erez Cohen gave a moving presentation about his Polish grandmother’s Holocaust experience that he researched extensively titled “Across the Square: A Grandchild’s Quest to Find his Grandmother’s Holocaust Survival Story”.

Rabbi Myra Soifer continued via Zoom from Reno, Nevada to teach her “Text of the Month Club”,  selecting texts from the Hebrew Bible, Haftorah, Talmud, or other Jewish sources and emailing the study text in advance of the session to class participants.  She will resume these classes in November.

Chavurat Shalom has embarked on a new project, Community Partnerships. Our first partner is the Florida Gulf Coast University Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
 
An additional special Chavurat Shalom project is the collection of donations by our Tzedakah committee. Last year the committee members voted to donate these funds to non-profit organizations aligned with the demands of the COVID pandemic.  This year the focus for distribution of funds is the well-being of women and children in our local community of Fort Myers, our national community, and in Israel.  Because of the dire situation in Ukraine, the committee donated to the Joint Distribution Committee’s Emergency Fund to assist the Jewish community there.
 
Everyone is welcome to join all Chavurat Shalom events. Send an email request to chavuratshalom@gmail.com to receive Zoom links.

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Outstanding Thursday lecture and discussion topics led by both Chavurat Shalom participants and prominent outside speakers include:
 
Kabbalah 
Spinoza
The Jews of China: Keifung, Harbin and Shanghai
The Other Peace Process: Interreligious Dialogue in Israel and Palestine in the Service of Peace
What Tisha B’Av Means to Us Today
A Rabbi’s Work with the Vatican
 IsraAID: Israeli Humanitarian Aid Around the World
 Kristallnacht was the "End of the Beginning" of German Nazi terror
​and "The Beginning of the End” for Jews in Europe
 The Journey to Preserve the History of Small-Town Jewish Communities
King Solomon and Why He Was Israel's Best King
Israel: A State of the Nation Report
Purim Explained
Across the Square: A Grandchild’s Quest to Find his Grandmother’s Holocaust Survival Story

For a complete listing of all past Chavurat Shalom Thursday programs, CLICK HERE
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For more details about our group or upcoming events, or to join us for any or all of these events,
contact us at chavuratshalom@gmail.com or write to
Chavurat Shalom of Southwest Florida, PO Box 722, Sanibel, FL 33957.

Chavurat Shalom is a 501(c) 3 non-profit tax-exempt organization. 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
P.O. 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 Roth

NON-OFFICER BOARD MEMBERS

Don Bachman
Esta Berger
Evelyn Clark
Marcia Rudin

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

To join a committee please email us below