The Greater Washington Coalition for Jewish Life
is a close knit Jewish community in Litchfield County that joins together one weekend each month for worship services, Jewish celebrations, life cycle events, and programs that present Judaism in a relevant, interactive, and creative way. We respect and observe the three principles of Judaism: worship, study, and acts of loving-kindness. The Coalition welcomes all who seek knowledge about or a relationship with the Jewish faith and people, regardless of gender, race, marital status, sexual orientation, ethnic background, or political affiliation. People with all approaches to Judaism are encouraged to participate whether they consider themselves Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative, Orthodox, Jews by Choice, or participants in Interfaith relationships.
Our President, 14 member Board of Directors and Treasurer are all volunteers.
We employ a Spiritual Leader and an Administrative Manager.
Members participate by volunteering their space, time, and expertise for the good of the organization.
How We Function
- We intentionally do not have a synagogue, therefore we dedicate our funds primarily to excellent programming.
- Membership dues include access to most activities, including to High Holiday Services, Shabbat Services, and Study Sessions.
When We Meet
- We meet one weekend each month from September through June.
- Friday evenings are for Shabbat Services and dessert or dinner.
- Saturday or Sunday mornings we meet for Torah Study and Essential Judaism-Hebrew School
for Grownups. - Some Saturday afternoons are for special events.
- Some Sunday mornings are for Bagels and Books, Speakers’ Series, Cultural Programs, and
Educational Programs.
Where We Meet
- To maintain the personal nature of our community, monthly meetings take place at members’ homes.
- We hold High Holiday services, Passover Seder, and other large gatherings at the Washington
Club Hall or other local facilities.
You Are Invited to a fascinating discussion
“Judaism, Christianity and Islam:
Perspectives on Stewardship of the Earth”
led by 3 Leaders of Faith
GWCJL Spiritual Leader Rabbi Natan Margalit
The Reverend Cheryl Anderson
and Educator of Islam Aida Mansoor
Sunday, October 10th
Program begins at 12:30 PM
at the First Congregational Church of Washington Parish House
GWCJL Celebrates 15 Years
The Greater Washington Coalition for Jewish Life is pleased to be celebrating our fifteenth anniversary as a local Jewish organization. This year we have watched as our appeal continues to grow our numbers and the services we provide continue to change with the needs of membership. Our programs have been compelling, holiday celebrations well attended and meaningful, and this year has brought transformational change, with the hiring of our new spiritual leader, Rabbi Natan Margalit.
Rabbi Natan is a Judaic scholar, sympathetic and a gentleman. Raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, he studied Anthropology at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, made aliya, and studied for many years in Israeli yeshivot. He received rabbinic ordination at The Jerusalem Seminary in 1990 and earned a Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley in 2001 in Talmud. Rabbi Natan has written and taught for many years on Judaism and the environment, innovative approaches to Jewish texts, Jewish spirituality, gender and Judaism. He and his wife Ilana and sons, Nadav and Eiden live in Newton, MA.
Over the course of the year, we celebrated at different members’ homes or public venues the holiday of Sukkot, where our young families decorated a sukkah; Simchas Torah, where we completed a cycle of Torah readings; and we continued our Judaic and Torah classes at members’ homes studying Jewish history.
Our young families continue to grow steadily, and they have enjoyed a very full schedule this year. Tot Shabbats and tennis for the kids, Sukkot celebration and sukkah building along with apple picking, a Chanukah art program, family ice skating, cooking class for children, Family Pot Luck Dinner with other Coalition members and yoga for kids were in the schedule this year.
We are very proud of our community outreach programs. This past year we worked with the Torrington Chapter of FISH and GWIM, Greater Waterbury Interfaith Ministries, which provide groceries and a soup kitchen and shelter for the needy. Our Shabbat evening donations by our members is divided between these two charities. We are still working with Chapman House in Waterbury, to provide donated gifts and volunteer time for these special kids. And our first ever Chanukah Tzedakah project netted $800 in gift cards that were donated to Brownstein Jewish Family Services to distribute to needy Jewish families in the area.
The hard work and creative activity of our Board, our Administrative Manager, Karen Hylwa, and the most able leadership of our co-presidents, Richard Lewis and Burt Welte, along with the many members who have volunteered their time and energy and given generously for special programs and mitzvah projects have helped our community remain vital and strong and interconnected in so many ways.
We are part of this wonderful Jewish community in which we live and share with one another, our neighboring synagogues and Jewish organizations and our local Jewish Federation, which from our very beginning has continued to support our efforts. Together with our families and each other we take this journey forward, looking to many years ahead, where we see a future as bright as each one of us can imagine.
We wish our community a meaningful Seder, and a Chag Pesach Sameach — Happy Holiday, Happy Year.