A Blessing for New Members of our Congregation

Tonight, at our Erev Shabbat services, our congregation will be welcoming and celebrating new member households who have become part of the Temple Emanuel family over the past year. We have been blessed with significant growth leading up to and following the High Holy Days.  Our Clergy staff has been thinking about creative and meaningful ways to bring these new members into our community.  We decided that, in order to truly represent the Brit - the sacred partnership that is inherent to joining a synagogue - our ritual needed to be more than simply the Clergy extending a blessing - it had to come from within the entirety of the congregation:  Clergy, new members and current members should all participate in the blessing  together.  Here is what we came up with:

Clergy:

Our God and God of all people.  We thank you for the gift of partnerships that connect us to You through the blessing of shared experience.  Tonight our sanctuary is filled with these new members of our congregation. We ask your blessing on these men, women and children as they become part of our lives – and we become part of theirs. Show them the path to meaningful involvement and life-changing connection as we join together to make our congregation more complete.

New Members rise as they are able and recite:

We give thanks for the opportunity to become a part of this congregation.  May our involvement bring us friendship, meaning and purpose.   We are committed to help build this sacred community.  

Current Members rise as they are able and recite:

We are thankful for the new perspectives and spiritual gifts you bring.  May we learn from and strengthen one another.  Together let us share our joys and find comfort in times of sorrow.  We welcome you with excitement and commitment.

All:

Baruch Atah Adonah, Eloheynu Melech Ha Olam, asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav, V’tzivanu livnot kehillot kedoshot

We Praise You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the Universe, who sanctifies us through the commandments and commands us to build sacred communites.

Clergy offers Priestly Blessing