Beit HaLev

Beit HaLev livestream services are on Facebook and Zoom. To watch on Facebook, go to Facebook. com/beithalev; to join the Zoomagogue community, go to

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9152 434704?pwd=THJGTE1OUXI5V XFDTWtuZHF4K3VxUT09. The meeting ID is 915 243 4704, and the passcode is RavGalit.

Livestream services are every Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

Lech L’cha (Go for yourself), in Genesis 16:1-17:27, provides a personal look at the anguish that Sarai suffers from her inability to become pregnant by Avram. Sarai offers her husband her Egyptian servant, Hagar, in the hope that Hagar, if she becomes pregnant, will give birth to a baby boy while seated on Sarai’s lap. In this, way, Hagar will have been Sarai’s surrogate and Sarai will then have “a son through her.” Hagar does indeed become pregnant by Avram, but Sarai then becomes an object of scorn by Hagar. The chapter ends with HaShem reiterating the promise of a son to be born to Sarai and Avram and changes their names to Sarah and Avraham as a special blessing.

All Beit HaLev services use special prayerbooks, “Lev L’Lev,” which were adapted and abridged for the online services from the Reform Siddur, “Mishkan HaT’filah.” Printed versions of the prayerbooks will be available at the in-person Shabbat services.

Beit HaLev is a Jewish Universalist community. It is progressive in thought and traditional in liturgy. The services are joyous, meaningful and musical. Everyone who seeks a path to the divine is welcome.

To request a membership form for Beit HaLev, call Rabbi Galit-Shirah at (562) 715-0888 or email duets@icloud.com.