From Our Members
“I found Fabrangen in April 2020 through a Google search. I was seeking an experience that centered on Jewish spirituality, prayer, and community, especially eager to find spiritual connection during the early throes of the pandemic when I and so many others feeling anxious and uncertain of what was happening and what was to come. In Fabrangen, I found a group to which I tethered my tossing boat and will anchor for awhile, feeling welcomed and included from the very start. I have learned much by listening and taking in the experience of Shabbat services and holiday gatherings done in festive and spirited Fabrangen style. I look forward to becoming more involved and meeting in person soon. But– forever in gratitude and deeply appreciative of the virtual access that made being a part of Fabrangen so possible and pleasant during this unprecedented pandemic time.” – Cara S.
“Fabrangen is a creative, thoughtful place with generous, knowledgeable people who welcome newcomers and new ideas.”
– Joyce M.
“We have been attending services at Fabrangen since before we were married. At first, we attended only High Holiday services, but after our son was born, we began visiting for Shabbat services every once in a while. We were overwhelmed with how welcome we felt, right from the beginning. Even though we can only make it once a month, at best, we have always been treated like family, and our son feels like he has grown up surrounded by the love of this congregation. We have been encouraged, but not pressured, to help lead services, and have felt our connection to the rituals – both old and new – grow deeper through the experience. We are so grateful to Fabrangen for being our congregational home for the past decade”. – Haninah L. & Emily N.
“I have come to respect and appreciate the warm and personal way our community supports members when they suffer the loss of a loved one. Our community and chevra kadisha have found ways to help members through difficult times, respecting Jewish tradition while leaving room for personal expressions of grief at our losses and joy in celebrating the lives of our loved ones.” – Ruth L.
“One of the things I like about Fabrangen is that nobody discusses real estate.” – Manny T.
“Soon after we started coming to Fabrangen we got engaged. Although we were very new to the community, as soon as some members heard about our engagement, we were invited to have an aufruf. We didn’t have any family members who could attend but the warmth and caring of everyone who celebrated with us made it a day to remember.”
– Ellen D. and Adam F.
“My first contact with Fabrangen, as it was for many people, was at High Holiday services . . . My main memory of that Rosh Hashanah was that one of the leaders in the participatory service was a person who sang with gusto but for whom carrying a tune was clearly too heavy a burden. I looked around; no one seemed to notice; the crowd was wholeheartedly singing along. Then gradually it came to me: if this energetic but tuneless person could stand on the bimah and be accepted, even encouraged by this congregation, then maybe there was room for me, too – a young woman whose feelings about Judaism were not always “in tune” but who was searching to be part of a community of equals. It’s [30] years later, and Fabrangen has never let me down on that score.” – Anne-Marie D.
“In 1983, I was considering converting to Judaism. My first-ever Jewish service was at Fabrangen. It was daunting: long, interactive, in the round, and foreign in language and in style. Quite a change from everyone facing forward in pews for no more than an hour! It’s hard to be anonymous in such a group of 40 to 50 people, but I was trying. And then, halfway into the service, I looked up to see a dark-haired man with a warm but intent face walking toward me. He was beckoning me with a few crooks of his finger. Was I being summoned for some strange ritual? Was he mistakenly thinking I might actually know how to do something? I was nervous bordering on downright scared, but I rose and followed him. We left the main sanctuary . . . and went into the hallway where the answer lay. He had asked me to do perhaps the one thing, the only thing, that a non-Jew could do in the service: help carry the table back into the sanctuary so the Torah could be placed on it. Two decades later I still don’t feel I can ever repay John Laster’s welcoming act of kindness. But whenever I need a reminder that much goodness can come from simple gestures, or what Fabrangen means to me, I think of what he did. What a heartening way to begin!” – Rick L.
“I am grateful to Fabrangen for providing me a base and a home for my spiritual explorations. The list of “experiments” that I have unleashed on my chevra over the years – who can count them? Do you remember the dancing Torah drashes by the Dancing Dybbuks? The yoga-Torah explorations? The silent Torah drash? The introduction of Rabbi Shefa Gold’s chants? The giant puppets of Jonah and the whale and the people of Nineveh? The placing of stones on nests of green for Yizkor? Thank you, friends, for helping me delve into the richness of our heritage and explore it in these not so conventional ways.” – Dale L.
“I came to Fabrangen knowing no one, first while I had a one year Smithsonian Fellowship. I underwent major surgery during Rosh Hashanah and awoke to find the flowers from the holiday Bima recycled in my hospital room. Right after Thanksgiving my father died suddenly in an accident. Fabrangen arranged a Shiva after I returned from the family funeral. I found myself introducing myself to many who attended and knew I had become part of the Fabrangen community.”
– Diane T.
“I spent a Shabbat at Fabrangen during my junior year in college, because I had traveled to DC with a group of other students from Hillel to participate in a march on Washington against the Vietnam War. My memories are quite fuzzy, except for eating American cheese on sliced white challah and sleeping on a very hard floor. Nine years later, when I moved to DC after law school, right before the High Holidays, I asked if any help was needed with services. I was assigned the Haftarah reading for the first day of Rosh Hashanah. That was142 years ago. I have since participated in Fabrangen High Holiday services as a service leader every year since 1981. I feel deeply honored to be a part of this communal effort that makes such a difference in so many people’s lives.” – Rhonda W.