Kabbalat Shabbat (Welcoming Shabbat)

Rabbi Gila Colman Ruskin is a rabbi, educator, and artist whose work in Mosaic Midrash invites participants to explore sacred text through creativity, reflection, and transformation. Her practice brings beauty and wholeness from what is broken or discarded, offering fresh and deeply personal pathways into Jewish learning.

Rabbi Gila’s poetry appears on Ritualwell, and she is a regular contributor to the CCAR newsletter as part of its team of Torah commentators.

Now retired from the pulpit and living in Philadelphia, Rabbi Gila previously served for ten years as rabbi of Temple Adas Shalom in Havre de Grace, Maryland, and for fifteen years as the founding rabbi of a Conservative congregation in Baltimore. Her wide-ranging career has included teaching, chaplaincy, and interfaith leadership, as well as leading teen journeys to Poland and Israel.

Deeply shaped by her experience as a caregiver for her mother, who lived to 102, Rabbi Gila also offers caregiver coaching grounded in compassion and spiritual insight. She and her husband, Paul, cherish time with their children and grandchildren.

More information about Rabbi Gila is HERE.

Salvage Your Treasures

In the next few weeks, salvage your unused jewelry (single earrings, Grandma’s brooch, cufflinks, never-worn long-ago gifts) and thrift shop finds, and bring them to the temple on May 16th. For our purpose: assembling the crest of Tikkun, these are invaluable and precious.  Each of your donations will be integrated into the design. If you cannot attend on May 16 but would like to contribute jewelry, a box for donations will be in the TvO lobby.