About Our Services and Service Leaders
About The Service
We use a prayer book/machzor by Jules Harlow to provide the structure for the service along with a supplement with transliterations and readings and songs. The service will be familiar to you if you are used to a Conservative or Reform service. In addition, Rabbi Cherie explains what some of the prayers mean and invites participation in a variety of ways. Congregants lead readings, participate in discussions and share reflections from time to time. If you don't want to speak, you are welcome to sit back and enjoy the service.
About The Service Leaders
Rabbi Cherie Koller-Fox
Rabbi Cherie is well known in the Boston area and beyond. She was ordained by the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York, which is a pluralistic* Jewish seminary. She has served as rabbi of Congregation Eitz Chayim in Cambridge, Temple Emanuel of Marlborough, and as chaplain at Newton-Wellesley Hospital and Beth Israel Hospital. She was also interim president of the Academy for Jewish Religion and is a founder and national chair of the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education. Rabbi Cherie served as chair of the NewCAJE conferences in 2010-2019.
*Pluralism borrows from the wisdom, understandings, and teachings of all denominations of Judaism.
Rabbi Cherie is well known in the Boston area and beyond. She was ordained by the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York, which is a pluralistic* Jewish seminary. She has served as rabbi of Congregation Eitz Chayim in Cambridge, Temple Emanuel of Marlborough, and as chaplain at Newton-Wellesley Hospital and Beth Israel Hospital. She was also interim president of the Academy for Jewish Religion and is a founder and national chair of the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education. Rabbi Cherie served as chair of the NewCAJE conferences in 2010-2019.
*Pluralism borrows from the wisdom, understandings, and teachings of all denominations of Judaism.
Professor Everett Fox
Professor Fox is the Allen M. Glick Professor of Judaic and Biblical Studies at Clark University. He is the author of The Five Books of Moses: A New Translation with Introductions, Commentary, and Notes. He was also a religious consultant to the Dreamworks animated feature, "Prince of Egypt." His book The Early Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings appeared in December 2014.
Here's what people have said about The Chapel Service!
"I really enjoyed the services. Both of you managed to hit the trifecta with services that
1) caused me to reflect and think,
2) caused me to become spiritually engaged and
3) caused me to learn ... all in a warm and inviting atmosphere. I think about the first year of your services I attended, based solely on a posting at the JCC. Despite being new to your group, we were welcomed and made to feel welcome."
HB, Newton
"I love the fact that you offer the choice of three different silent Amidahs. I used a more traditional one but I love the fact that you included one for people who "don't define their belief as a belief in God". It is refreshing to find a service where everyone is truly welcome and able to find meaning for themselves in your service."
SM, Cambridge
"Yizkor at the Chapel Service is so personal. I am so moved listening to people sharing remembrances of the people they are saying Kaddish for. It takes Yizkor to a whole other level. I couldn't share my story the first year and no one asked me to do so, but I hope next year I'll be able to tell my story too."
NS, Brookline
"A group of us came to your services last year. We are recent graduates and we will come back again. It was good to be with families and couples of all ages and we also met nice people our own age at lunch. Someone even gave us a ride home! Thanks for having us."
LF, Cambridge