We Were Built for This
Take a look at how Mishkan has grown and all we’ve been able to offer since the start of the pandemic. We did this with your help, with your Buildership, with your support. Let’s keep building this modern-day Mishkan together, and get excited for what tomorrow may hold.
Listen to Our Podcasts on Spotify
Subscribe to Contact Chai
Contact Chai is a podcast from Mishkan Chicago, hosted by Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann. In each episode, Rabbi Lizzi is joined by a guest to explore down-to-earth spiritual practice.
Introducing Our New Podcast: The Morning Scroll
The Morning Scroll is a podcast from Mishkan Chicago, hosted by Rabbi Deena Cowans. Tune in for some bite-sized parsha study every week!
Shabbat
Weekly Shabbat livestream
Connect in community every Friday night and every other Saturday morning.
morning minyan
Each Weekday Morning at 8 am
Tune in for prayer, meditation, and the spiritual check-in we all need!
Upcoming Events
We Want to See You!
As Chicago begins to reopen, we’re doing the same! Stay tuned for more in-person events coming to you this spring and summer. And take a look at our calendar to see what we already have planned.
Learning in the Park (for Adults!)
July 31 @ 10:30 am - 11:30 amNew Builder Orientation
August 10 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pmSinging and Stories: Family Shabbat in the Park
August 21 @ 10:30 am - 11:30 am
You may have heard rumblings since we opened registration to Builders last week, but let us just say, OFFICIALLY, this year is going to be epic.
We're hosting High Holidays in-person at the Chicago History Museum! Next week, registration opens up to everyone for High Holy Fest: Get Higher 5782 — four days of fresh air, music, prayer, and inspiration with Mishkan.
After this year of isolation, we're getting together (outside) for a kind of spiritual oasis or a mini-retreat – a festival crafted to give you the space to feel all of the feelings. This past year has had no shortage of major world and local events to process, and the High Holidays are an invitation for reflection and recommitment to the places, people and issues that matter most in our lives. Whether you’re ready for in-person davening or looking to tune into our live-stream, we have options for you.
Check out all our a la carte options for you, your family and friends at the link in bio!
Just stopping in to say we love Shabbat. And we love our Davening Team. That’s all! ✨
Tomorrow!
The sun is out, let’s get together for singing and stories in Winnemac Park! Rabbi Deena and Rachel Mylan will kick it off with singing and stories, followed by shmoozing for all ages. BYOPicnic and blanket, playground provided. Meet up just east of the Winnemac Playground (by the corner Argyle and Leavitt)!
We met up yesterday to welcome our newest team members: Rabbi Steven and Rachel Cohn! Rabbi Steven joins our rabbinic team! Rachel (and Claire who starts later this month) joins us as a Family Educator supporting Mensch and Family Programs!
We are so thrilled to welcome them! Please drop some love and a warm welcome in the comments. 🥰
Learn more about Steven, Rachel and Claire in the link in our bio!
TONIGHT! Join us in North Center for a Pop-Up Shabbat. The weather has been gloomy but the skies are clearing just in time!
We'll be joined by special guest drasher, Rabbi Jessica Lott. We'll also ceelebrate the auf-ruf (pre wedding shout out) of Elizabeth Atwater and Kyle Brumfield.
Register right now at the link in our bio and then get prepped for an evening of music, laughter, inspiration and community. Bring a blanket or an outdoor chair and get hyped!
Tomorrow!
The sun is out, let’s get together for singing and stories in Winnemac Park! Rabbi Deena and Rachel Mylan will kick it off with singing and stories, followed by shmoozing for all ages. BYOPicnic and blanket, playground provided. Meet up just east of the Winnemac Playground (by the corner Argyle and Leavitt)!
Our beloved Director of Programs Ellie Spitz will be leaving Mishkan for a new position as Operations Director at SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva!
Ellie has worked at Mishkan for the past seven years and their growth as a professional over that time has tracked alongside Mishkan’s growth, from a scrappy three-person-all-hands-on-deck team to a robust community with 12 full-time staff and a small army of part-time staff, many of whom Ellie has supervised and mentored.
Whether running MishKamp, organizing Shabbat dinners all over the city, creating the programs and referral network for Maggie’s Place, directing the behind-the-scenes magic of High Holidays, or just reading announcements on our Shabbat live-stream, Ellie has brought joy and enthusiasm to everything they have done at Mishkan, and we are so proud to see them take this next step on their professional journey.
We love you Ellie! Contribute to their Kudoboard at the link in our bio!
There's never been a better time to join Mishkan as an official Builder.
This year put us all to the test but we are stronger, more accessible, and farther reaching than ever before. With Builders in over 25 states from age 18 to 90, our model for membership is designed for anyone, anywhere — at an annual rate that feels right for you.
High Holiday registration opens to Builders on July 22nd (in one week!). Jump in on some new levels of Buildership to ensure you have first dibs at registering for services!
Link to learn more and become a Builder at the link in bio!
Join us this weekend for a Tisha B'Av program that is in-person or remote – you decide!
For those attending in-person, we will begin at 8:15 pm with learning and Havdalah, followed by chanting from the Book of Lamentations. Then, you’ll have the chance to listen and reflect in community or to call-in to a community hotline while you walk on the beach for a more meditative experience. For those joining virtually, you will zoom in at 9 pm for an audio-only experience of the chanting of the Book of Lamentations. Then get up, dust yourself off, and start the journey toward rebirth at the High Holidays.
Learn more and register at the link in bio!
Tune into this Tisha B'Av-inspired bonus episode featuring Joe Grant and Anna Gaebler — two advocates and organizers working on economic justice in Chicago.
Rabbi Lizzi joins Joe and Anna in conversation about our shared history of destruction and despair, as well as our shared history of hope, determination, the fight for justice and equity. If you're looking for a way to bring Tisha B'Av (the saddest day on the Jewish calendar commemorating the destruction of temples) into the 21st century, this episode is a perfect listen!
You'll learn more about the themes of the holiday, as well as economic justice at Mishkan and beyond.
Listen at the link in bio!
[image description: Dark gray background with a yellow wave form moving up and down. The logo for Contact Chai, a yellow sun with white clouds and sun rays behind it, sits at the top. Below reads "Contact Chai, Transforming Despair into Determination with Joe Grant & Anna Gaebler"]
Tune in tonight for virtual services live-streamed through FB!
Just a chill staff lunch to take a break from High Holidays prep! We’re getting excited, hbu?
Last Friday our Pop-Up Pride Shabbat had to move indoors due to flash flooding. While we were so bummed to miss an in-person opportunity to hang, one BENEFIT was that we could livestream. And that means... we have a new episode of Shabbat Replay on Contact Chai featuring Mishkanite Joshua Shwartz's drash.
Tune in to listen or revisit Joshua's reflection on Torah in relation to pride, Jewish identity, and finding a spiritual home at Mishkan.
We're off this Friday night to take a wee little break! If you're looking for your Friday Shabbat fix, check out our sister communities in the Jewish Emergent Network. We will be back next Friday with live-streamed services.
More info at the link!
Tomorrow! Join us for the things you love about Mishkan in the morning: music, stretching, learning, and inspiration.
Tomorrow! Weather permitting... let’s get together for singing and stories in Winnemac Park! Rabbi Deena will kick it off with singing and stories, followed by shmoozing for all ages. BYOPicnic and blanket, playground provided. Meet up just east of the Winnemac Playground (by the corner Argyle and Leavitt)!
Our Davening Team is one of a kind!
Come listen to them and sing along on Friday at our Pop-Up Pride Shabbat.
Register at the link in bio!
Check out our most recent Shabbat Replay featuring a drash from R'Deena, about activist Opal Lee Juneteenth and being a champion for justice.
Tonight! #TGIF #shabbatshalom
Tomorrow!
The sun is out, let’s get together for singing and stories in Winnemac Park! Rabbi Deena will kick it off with singing and stories, followed by shmoozing for all ages.