Prayer
Sephardic nusach, sung the way our families have sung it for generations.
Our community
A Sephardic synagogue in West Boca Raton
קהילה
We are a family friendly, Sephardic Orthodox synagogue in beautiful West Boca Raton. All are welcome.
Congregation Bircat Shalom is a Sephardic Orthodox synagogue in West Boca Raton, Florida, at 10300A Courtside Lane. We were founded by families who wanted a place to daven in the nusach they grew up with — the melodies of Morocco, Syria, Iraq, Egypt and beyond — without giving up the closeness of a small minyan. Prayers are in Hebrew; you’ll hear English, French, Spanish and Hebrew spoken around you.
We are unaffiliated with any large institution and proud of it. There are no membership hurdles, no assigned seats you have to earn, and no one is turned away for lack of means. If you walk in on a Shabbat morning, someone will hand you a siddur and find you a seat.
Our services are led by our own hazanim together with visiting hazanim who return to us year after year for the High Holy Days. Children daven alongside their parents, and the kiddush afterward is as much a part of the morning as the tefillah itself.
Through the year
The winter Shabbatot open with Bakashot — piyutim sung before Shaharit while it is still dark. From Rosh Hodesh Elul the shul fills again in the small hours for Selihot, the penitential prayers that carry us into the Yamim Nora’im.
After Pesah we gather for Mimouna, the night of open doors, sweets and blessings that closes the festival, and through the year we mark hillulot — the yahrzeits of the tzaddikim — with learning, a se’uda and singing late into the evening.
Families turn to the shul for the moments in between as well: a hashkava for a parent, zeved habat to name a daughter, a se’udat hodaya in thanks for good news. Speak to a gabbai and we will arrange it.
Family
Children's participation is encouraged. Programs run on the High Holy Days.
Hospitality
Guests, travelers and newcomers are welcomed at every service.
Tzedakah
Honors and donations support the minyan, the Sifrei Torah, and families in need.