Garden City Jewish Center
Garden City Jewish Center
Find Your Connection to Jewish Community
 
We are a friendly, inclusive, and welcoming Reform congregation.  Membership is open to all Jews, those interested in becoming Jewish, dual-faith families, singles, and students.
 
Religious School registration starts in September.
 
For more information, email us at gcjewishcenter@gmail.com
  1. 22 Nov

    Shabbat Service (Multi-Access)

    7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
    Next dates: 29 Nov | 06 Dec | 13 Dec |
  2. 23 Nov

    Torah Study (Zoom)

    11:00 am - 11:30 am
    Next dates: 07 Dec | 14 Dec | 21 Dec |
  3. 24 Nov

    Religious School

    8:50 am - 10:50 am
    Next dates: 01 Dec | 08 Dec | 15 Dec |
  4. 30 Nov

    Bar Mitzvah - Jonathan Korn

    4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
  5. 06 Dec

    Pot Luck Supper

    6:30 pm - 7:15 pm
  6. 27 Dec

    Chanukah Latke and Dessert Party, Family Service

    6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Welcome to the Garden City Jewish Center

The Garden City Jewish Center is a thriving Reform congregation in which Jews of all denominations, dual-faith families, singles, and students are welcome.  Members from all over Long Island celebrate Regular Shabbat services on Friday evenings.

We have a “Sunday-Only” Religious School for Pre-K through Bar/Bat Mitzvah students. Active Sisterhood. Adult Education.

We have modest membership dues and no building fund.

The GCJC has member families from Garden City and many surrounding towns, including New Hyde Park, Rockville Centre, Mineola, Franklin Square, West Hempstead, Malverne, Lynbrook, Floral Park, Baldwin, Great Neck, Westbury, Garden City Park, Elmont, East Hills, East Meadow, Hempstead, Albertson, Valley Stream, Merrick, Manhasset, Williston Park, Bayside, and more.

For information, e-mail gcjewishcenter@gmail.com.

Garden City Jewish Center Religious School

The families of the Garden City Jewish Center come from many surrounding towns and villages, and the majority of them are from mixed or dual-faith backgrounds. People of all faiths are very comfortable with Rabbi Goodman’s ability to reach every child and guide them to a higher level of understanding about Judaism and its teachings.  By Confirmation age (8th/9th grade), many students opt to continue studying with Rabbi Goodman, and are taught Comparative Religion, Bioethics and Ethics.

The Religious School calendar follows the Garden City Public School calendar year, ending in mid-May, and offers a way for busy families to meet their children’s many sports, academic, and social obligations, while gaining all the necessary skills and information to meet the goal of a Bar or Bat Mitzvah.

Click here for more information about the Religious School.

For more information, email gcjewishcenter@gmail.com. 

Garden City Jewish Center

 

From the Union For Reform Judaism / Reform Movement

Why Israel Celebrates the Ethiopian Jewish Holiday Sigd

Why Israel Celebrates the Ethiopian Jewish Holiday Sigd jemerman

Jewish Life Around the World
sigd
For many generations, the Beta Israel had longed to reach Jerusalem in a quest to renew their covenant with God and for spiritual redemption. So strong was their desire that they created a holiday as a time to pray for this miracle. They called it Sigd (meaning "worship") and celebrated it on the 50th day after Yom Kippur. This year it is celebrated today, November 4.

For Some of Us the Holidays Are Just…Hard

For Some of Us the Holidays Are Just…Hard jemerman

Death and Mourning
star of david starry lights
As we head into the holiday season, I am acutely aware of how much different this year is going to be than previous ones. I will be celebrating without my mom for the first time. My mother died in January 2021, and I'm still dealing with the unexpected waves of grief that wash over me, sometimes out of nowhere. As I head into this first winter holiday season without her, I'm not quite sure I know what to expect, other than everything is going to be very different.

Enjoy A Crockpot Shabbat

Enjoy A Crockpot Shabbat jemerman

Entree Recipes
Photo of a chicken stew dish in a bow
As the weather begins to get chillier, many home cooks pull out their trusty slow cookers to create easy yet warm dishes. Slow cooking is nothing new. It hasn't had staying power with Jewish communities just because the resulting food is delicious; it also allowed observant Jews to keep Shabbat by kindling a fire before sundown on Friday and keeping food warm until Saturday afternoon.

The Cost of Free Land

The Cost of Free Land jemerman

Secular Holidays
The author's Great-Great-Uncle Louie Sinykin posing with men in Dakota garb in South Dakota's Black Hills. Date unknown.
When I was a child growing up in the 1980s, the story I learned about Thanksgiving followed the classic script: it highlighted amity between the Pilgrims and their Indigenous neighbors. Due to this connection, the hunger of the European settlers was met with squash and turkey.