Bircat Ha Shana
Bircat Ha Shana membership
ברכת השנה
Your family's names go on the Bircat Ha Shana sheet for the whole year and are read and blessed every time the sefer Torah is opened — whether or not you're there that day. About $3.29 a day for your whole household.
A berakha at every Torah reading, all year long
Also written Birkat HaShana, Birkat Ha'Shana, Birkat Hashanah or Birchat HaShanah. It is the same membership — see our glossary of spellings.
Every household that joins Bircat Ha Shana is written onto the sheet the hazan and the rabbi read from. Each time the sefer Torah is opened at our services — all year long, week after week — your family's names are read and blessed by name. You do not have to be in the room for it to happen.
$3.29 a day
That is $3.29 a day — less than a cup of coffee — for your family to be blessed at every Torah reading all year.
- Reserved seating for you and your family at all services
- Priority on room reservations for the High Holy Days at the hotel
- Your family's names read and blessed every time the sefer Torah is opened, all year long — present or not
- Support for the daily minyanim, shiurim and the children's program
Every year Moshe stands up during the fast — tired and weak like everyone else — and sells the honors and Bircat Ha Shana from the bimah. It is an honorable thing to do, and every honor or membership taken online before Yom Kippur is one less that has to be sold that way. Whatever isn't taken online will still be offered in person, as always. If the community stands behind us and we sell out beforehand, it helps the shul enormously.
Membership renews automatically each year (or each month). Call a gabbai to switch between the monthly and annual plan — the change takes effect right away and you are only charged the difference. If you cancel, your membership stays in place until the term you already paid for runs out. Questions? Email the shul.
Step 1 of 2/Your plan
Membership — questions we get
- Is Bircat Ha Shana the same as Birkat HaShana?
- Yes — one membership, spelled several ways. Also written Birkat HaShana, Birkat Ha'Shana, Birkat Hashanah, Birchat HaShanah or Bircas Hashana. All of them mean "the blessing of the year," and all of them refer to this membership at Congregation Bircat Shalom in West Boca Raton.
- What does the membership actually include?
- Your family's names are read and blessed every time the sefer Torah is opened, all year long, whether you are in the room or not. It also includes reserved seating at all services, priority on High Holy Day hotel rooms, and support for the daily minyanim, shiurim and the children's program.
- Do I have to be Sephardic, or a member, to daven here?
- No. Every Shabbat and weekday service is open with no ticket and no membership. Membership is a way to support the shul and to have your names blessed at the Torah through the year.
- Can I switch between the monthly and annual plan?
- Yes. Call a gabbai and the change takes effect right away — you are only charged the difference. If you cancel, your membership stays in place until the term you already paid for runs out.