Membership
You’re invited to become a part of the Shomrei Torah community!
Whether you’re steeped in Jewish tradition or exploring it for the first time, we welcome you. If you’re part of an inter-faith household, we welcome your entire family. Whether you’re interested in learning, prayer, community, culture, or social advocacy, you are welcome here.
Our community is diverse and inclusive, comprised of individuals from varied walks of life with different experiences, expectations, and needs. We gather to learn, listen, laugh, worship, play, and volunteer together. Blending the traditional with the innovative, Shomrei Torah provides all community members with plentiful opportunities to embrace and appreciate Jewish life and Sonoma County living, making both more vibrant and robust.
The benefits of membership are many and ongoing throughout the year. Classes, cultural and social events, musical performances, lifecycle events, opportunities for social action, and the joy and satisfaction of belonging to a vibrant and nurturing Jewish community are just some of what you’ll be a part of here at Shomrei Torah.
Shomrei Torah’s Pledge to You and Your Family
- We value inclusion. We welcome diversity of ability, background, color, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, religious practice, and political belief. We celebrate each other for our differences and we learn how to meet each other’s needs such that we all feel respected and are able to participate as fully as we would like.
- We encourage compassionate social advocacy and action. Civic engagement is a Jewish responsibility. As a community, we actively take on issues around equity and sustainability, and partner with others in the region to make positive change here in Sonoma County and the greater Bay Area. We are also proud of our Jewish Community Scholarship program, through which we sponsor two local high school graduates from underserved communities to attend the college of their choice; most of these students represent the first generation in their family to go to college.
- We look out for one another. No one should celebrate or face challenges alone. Whether dealing with illness, a death in the family, or natural disasters, members of the Shomrei Torah community are here to deliver a meal, tackle some errands, offer an ear or a hug, and support you in whatever way you need.
- We love to learn. Our organized educational experiences for adults and children offer regular opportunities to learn together or individually, and at any age. We learn from each other and l’dor v’dor (from generation to generation), from that which has been handed down. We strive to maintain open and curious minds.
- We worship together. Whether you feel most spiritually alive when belting out a joyful song, engaged in deep discussion about the nature of God, or lighting Shabbat candles with family and friends, Shomrei Torah strives to provide you with avenues of connection to the sacred and holy.
- We provide a spiritual center and community gathering place. Our building and campus serve as a place of refuge, a place to pray, a place to learn, and a place to connect. Our Santa Rosa facility is here for you, a place you can count on to be a city or regional hub following a natural disaster or simply a great venue for a raucous Purim carnival!
- We celebrate and cultivate Jewish peoplehood. We are committed to the vitality, peace, and well-being of the Jewish people, here in Sonoma County, in the greater Bay Area, in Israel, and all around the world.
How Members Create Our Shomrei Torah Community
In becoming part of the Shomrei Torah community, you and your family can celebrate Judaism’s demand that we reflect on and commit to bettering ourselves through education, social engagement, and spiritual practice. We accept this challenge together, and we welcome and encourage our members to participate in community life in ways that honor our Jewish culture and values. We encourage each other to pitch in by serving on a committee, taking a role in services, volunteering at events, dropping off a meal for a member in need, or making other creative and personal contributions. As members we commit to showing up to support our community.
Annual Financial Commitment
Shomrei Torah is here for us every day, in good times and bad, offering all members a strong, supportive, and inspiring “Jewish home.” In turn, we need and humbly ask all members/households to make an annual investment in the well-being and sustainability of our community, even during those times when our individual needs don’t seem urgent or great. Because we want to ensure that all families or individuals wishing to become a part of the Shomrei Torah community can do so, we have no set levels for members’ financial commitments. Instead, we ask each member/household to provide an amount that reflects a significant, but manageable commitment.
In addition to the yearly financial commitment, Shomrei Torah has a Tradition of Giving fundraising campaign each Fall. This fundraiser plays a critical role in closing the inevitable gap between what we raise in annual contributions and our true operating costs. We also encourage donations to any of our many endowment funds and we encourage membership in our Legacy Circle, ensuring that our traditions not only continue, but thrive. Working together, we can continue to support and protect our Shomrei Torah community, which offers each of us so much.
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We are thrilled to welcome you into our congregation!
Please click the link below to fill out our membership application and begin the membership process:
Shomrei Torah Membership Application
If you have questions while filling out the Membership Application, please call the office at (707) 578-5519 or contact us and we will make sure you have all the information you need, help you with any parts of the application, and answer questions. You may also fill out a printed version of the membership application. Contact us to request this.
Mon, October 14 2024
12 Tishrei 5785
Need more information about membership?
Want to chat with a staff member before joining?
Many prospective members have questions and we’d like to help answer them. Talking with our staff is an important and helpful part of the application process. Please fill out the form below and we will contact you:
Check out our speakers from the New Member Tisch in August 2023 featuring Rabbi George, Fran Danoff and Dave Fichera