Fabrangen
Fabrangen Retreat 2004

Klezmer Dance

Featuring the soulful body-moving outtasite Yiddishe groove of
MACHAYA
Featuring Fabrangen's own Jay McCrensky, Barbara Hess, and talented friends

! Great music - Dance - FUN !
Movement taught for all levels of experience and age

Saturday June 7, 2008
7 pm to 10 pm

$20 per person
$36 for families

Bannockburn Drive and Laverock Lane, Bethesda, MD 20817

We will arrange transportation from Metro for those who need it - please ask
For more information contact: klezmerdance@yahoo.com 202-595-9138

Fabrangen's New Torah!

Through a community-wide effort, Fabrangen has rescued a Holocaust Torah for new life in the Fabrangen community. Please join us May 8 and May 11 as we welcome the Slobodka Torah to the Community.

Email Announcements

Every two weeks, Fabrangen sends out an email letting people know what's going on at Fabrangen. Be sure not to miss out on what's going on in the community.
Google Groups
Subscribe to Fabrangen's Biweekly Announcement List
Email:
See previous announcements

fabrangen signDetails About Fabrangen | Directions to WES

An Independent, Egalitarian, Participatory Havurah in Washington, DC
Founded 1971
  • Fabrangen holds Shabbat Services on Saturday mornings at 9:30 a.m. at the Washington Ethical Society (WES) building at 7750 16th Street NW, with access via Silver Spring Metro and the S buses.
  • Child care and children's education programs run during services.
  • Newcomers, visitors, and guests are warmly welcomed at our activities.
  • If you plan to attend Shabbat services for the first time or just want to get re-acquainted with Fabrangen, we will pair you up with a Fabrangen member who will meet you before services and guide you through them. Please contact Melissa Kahn with the date you plan to attend and your contact information.
  • Membership Information
  • Fabrangen West

Summer Havurah Retreat

This summer, join more than 300 people from a wide range of backgrounds at the National Havurah Committee's 30th Summer Institute, "Blessed is the One who spoke the world into Being," August 11-17, Franklin Pierce University, in Rindge, NH. Spend a week on in-depth study, moving prayer, spirited conversation, creative arts, social justice work, and enriching experiences for children and families. For more information, including cost and scholarship information, visit www.havurah.org.

Fabrangen's 36th Anniversary!

Pictures of the 36th Anniversary Gala

musiciansfrom Chaim Dworkin (picasaweb)

from Lloyd Wolf (flickr.com)dancer

Pomegranate with Lamed vovFabrangen celebrated its 36th, double-chai anniversary over the weekend of November 9 - 10, 2007. The celebration included Friday night services & dinners in members' home, a commemorative Shabbat service on Saturday morning followed by a potluck lunch, a panel discussion about Fabrangen's early roots in social justice activism, and a gala extravaganza on Saturday night. The theme of the gala was Fabrangen: Past, Present, and Future. The past included stories by Shoshana Waskow, Arthur Waskow, and Mike Tabor. The present included a special musical presentation coordinated by Emily DeVoto. And Fabrangen's future was foretold in a clever, hilarious skit written and presented by Fabrangen's teens. Other highlights included: Kay Elfant's rendition of the "Top 10 Reasons to Celebrate Fabrangen's 36th Anniversary;" Ellen Garshick's and Rick LaRue's "best of" selections of Adon Olam memodies from Purim shpiels over the years; and a Fabrangen piyyut by Fran Goldman.

Many thanks for all who worked hard on the celebration and to everyone who participated, especially those who came from out-of-town to join us!

Read about Fabrangen's 36th Anniversary in an article published in the Washington Jewish Week on November 8, 2007.

Larry Garber wrote an essay about Fabrangen for the Nov. 12 New Israel Fund Newsletter.

memory book coverMemory Book

Fabrangen has published a Memory Book documenting its history and accomplishments, plus a roster of all Fabrangeners and a section of personal tributes. Copies of the memory book may be purchased for $10 each.

You can see the table of contents to get more of a sense of this wonderful tribute to our community.

You can purchase the book online through Paypal - please email Fran Goldman at frangoldman@starpower.net to indicate that you have paid online for the Memory Book.

36th Anniversary Fund

Fabrangen established a 36th Anniversary Fund to strengthen our community’s next 36 years! Half of each gift will go toward the purchase of a new Torah and the other half will go toward community service, holy books and ritual objects, and reserves.

You can participate in this important project by paying online through Paypal.
Please email
Rick LaRue at rick.larue@verizon.net to indicate that you have donatel online to the Memory Fund

Logo by Lloyd Wolf © 2007

More Fabrangen History - (PDF format)

  • Miriam Feinberg's 1978 Master's Thesis: Fabrangen, A Jewish Communal Experience:
    Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

  • Rob Agus's February 2, 2007 D'var Torah in honor of the Fabrangen 36th Anniversary

  • FABRANGEN’S ROOTS: CONFRONTATION AND THEN RENEWAL - REMINISCENCES
    Panel Discussion on Saturday, November 10, 2007: Moderator Abby Bellows with Rabbis Harold White, David Shneyer, Arthur Waskow along with Chava Weissler and activist/farmer Michael Tabor

    IT’S 1966, WHO DO YOU CALL WHEN . . .

    • A rabbi of a large Washington DC temple says he doesn’t know if he supports
      integration (especially since a member is a prominent segregationist!)

    • The DC Jewish Community Center announces it’ll move to the suburbs and leave
      no JCC presence in the City!

    • Prominent area Jews have a reputation as slumlords?

    NO ONE WILL LISTEN, SO . . . YOU FORM . . . JEWS FOR URBAN JUSTICE!
    In 1966, a group of young Jewish civil rights workers, area and campus activists, and Vietnam War resistors came together to confront the Washington Jewish establishment as well as study, learn, and rediscover their Jewish heritage. Eventually JUJ evolved into Fabrangen -- which is currently celebrating its 36th anniversary!
    Part I | Part II | Part III (Handouts prepared by Mike Tabor)


Fabrangen Home
Fabrangen's office is located at 7750 16th Street, N.W.,Washington, D.C. 20012
Coordinator: Gloria Whitman
Phone/Fax: (202) 595-9138 Email: fabrangen@yahoo.com

Webmasters: Michael Pinck
Last Updated May 12, 2008

Picture of Fabrangen members at our 2004 Retreat © 2004 by Carl Dahlke