​Wherever you are on your spiritual journey,
the focus of Central Reform Temple of Boston is to provide everyone
with a home for growth and new horizons.
We are a house of prayer for all people.

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Rabbi Shire leads the procession carrying the Torah scrolls to the new Ark on Rosh Hashanah followed by Michael Scanlon and Jill Silverstein. Photos by Jesse Kiefer
The word rabbi means "teacher" and our rabbi embodies that title in a very special way. Reading his sermons is a wonderful way to reach a deeper understanding of the ethics that support our faith tradition. 

Shabbat Service In Person and Multicast

Friday, August 24 at 6:30pm
Join us for our Multicast Shabbat service (in person and online).  This week, Rabbi Shire will share a "taste of the High Holy Days" at our services.  We welcome John Dilworth as accompanist who will be our organist for the HHDs this year.​​
Get to know CRT, and think about joining us for the Holy Days coming up in September.
​Keep up with everything going on at CRT, including Zoom links to multicast services,  by reading "The Week Ahead," our weekly newsletter. Want to join the email list? Email 
​info@centralreformtemple.org​​​​​​

CRT Selichot Service
​Online Only

Saturday, September 5 at 8:00pm​​
We will begin the penitential period in the Hebrew month of Elul with Selichot on Saturday September 5th. This beautiful , meditative service, prepares us for the coming season, with its familiar melodies of the High Holy Days and ancient and contemporary liturgy. 
 
We invite all to come home to their Jewish family at the High Holy Days - whether friends, relatives, or new connections made as we pray together.
NON-MEMBERS must pre-register .​

High Holy Days at Central Reform Temple of Boston

September 11-21, 2026
CRT is pleased to welcome friends and guests to our 2026/5787 High Holy Day services at no charge. Like synagogues everywhere around the world, pre-registration FOR GUESTS is required for both online and in-person attendance. This is a matter of both hospitality and security. In today's world, sadly we must be vigilant. 
Complete the registration form below. You will receive notice that you have been are pre-registered  and for those joining virtually, you will receive the Zoom links. ONLY PRE-REGISTERED GUESTS will be admitted. No walk-ins will be admitted.
We hope your experience at this New Year will be inspiring and filled with meaning. Though we do not charge guests for Holy Day tickets, we will gratefully accept your donation to CRT.  Shanah Tovah!​​​​​​

Shabbat Service In Person and Multicast

Friday, September 25 at 6:30pm
Join us for our Multicast Shabbat service (in person and online).  celebrating Sukkot together.
​Keep up with everything going on at CRT, including Zoom links to multicast services,  by reading "The Week Ahead," our weekly newsletter. Want to join the email list? Email 
​info@centralreformtemple.org​​

Shomrei Adamah - Guardians of the Earth

Saturday, September 26 at 4:30pm
We will come together in our newly painted Sukkah to explore our responsibility to care for the earth during the festival of Sukkot.
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CRT Book Group

Sunday, October 4, 2026 at 7:00pm
SUMMARY: Renowned scholar Stephen Greenblatt brings the past to life in what is at once a work of scholarship, a literary page-turner, and a thrilling testament to the power of the written word. In the winter of 1417, a short, genial, cannily alert man in his late thirties plucked a very old manuscript off a dusty shelf in a remote monastery, saw with excitement what he had discovered, and ordered that it be copied. He was Poggio Bracciolini, the greatest book hunter of the Renaissance. His discovery, Lucretius’s ancient poem On the Nature of Things, had been almost entirely lost to history for more than a thousand years.
Central Reform Temple of Boston is a uniquely welcoming community that embraces the richness of the Jewish tradition. Our worship, conducted primarily in English, is inclusive and accessible. We offer a warm, unconditional welcome to all who seek to join us in worship, study, and service, without regard to religious background or beliefs. One need not be born Jewish, be able to read Hebrew, or convert to Judaism to be a full, participating member of Central Reform Temple. Interfaith families and people of all faiths, including the unaffiliated, are fully embraced. Members of the LGBTQ community are a vibrant part of our Temple family.
March 13th marks our return to Multicast Shabbat services (in person and online). We will celebrate being together in person with a Shabbat Potluck supper after services. We will start with a Shabbat Schmooze with the rabbi and CRT members at 5:40 in the Emmanuel Room.  Rabbi Shire will lead us in worship  and we will be  accompanied by our musicians.
Everyone is welcome. 
​ If you would like to be on the newsletter list at CRT, email 
​info@centralreformtemple.org​​
With a focus on adult programming and social justice, we strive to be engaged with each other both within and outside our Shabbat, Festival, and High Holy Day Services. Our one-of-a-kind covenant relationship with Emmanuel Episcopal Church with whom we share our spiritual home, integrates us both physically and ideologically within the Back Bay interfaith community.

Our Rabbi

Rabbi Dr. Michael Shire joined Central Reform Temple of Boston as part-time rabbinic leader on July 1, 2022. Rabbi Shire also holds the title Rabbi in Residence at Emmanuel Church in the city of Boston. He is Professor of Jewish Education at Hebrew College.

From the Rabbi's Study

Perhaps the single most practical thing Judaism has offered to the world, is the distinction between the working week and a day of rest. This concept of Shabbat first conceptualized in the Hebrew Bible and then spun into a myriad forms has been applied by every Civilization through the ages to provide a cessation in the unceasing drive to have, to own and to obtain more! 
For as Abraham Joshua Heschel stated in his Classic work, ‘The Sabbath’, Shabbat is rather a time to be, to become, to be open to wonder...
Rabbi Shire leads the service with music by Amy Lieberman, our Music Director. This is our first Shabbat service after the summer break as we come back together to prepare for the High Holy Day season coming soon. The service leaflet used for Service I (1) which can be found at this link: https://www.crtboston.org/service-pdf-links.html The songbook with words for songs not in the prayerbook can also be found there. Visit CRTBoston.org for more information on Central Reform Temple of Boston services and events.
Rabbi Shire leads the service with music by Mark Cleveland and our music director, Andrew Mattfeld. This is a special service with guest speaker Jody Kipnis, CEO or Holocaust Museum Boston, speaking about her journey and the progress of the new museum in Boston. Wonderful service, great music. The service leaflet used for Service II (2) which can be found at this link: https://www.crtboston.org/service-pdf-links.html The songbook with words for songs not in the prayerbook can also be found there. Visit CRTBoston.org for more information on Central Reform Temple of Boston services and events.

Subscribe to Central Reform Temple YouTube Channel

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Enjoy CRT Shabbat Services “on demand” on the temple YouTube channel. When you subscribe you will be notified by email each time a new video is uploaded. Experience CRT services for the first time, review a service you missed, or relax into prayer and meditation in the middle of the week. Enjoy!

​Central Reform Temple of Boston meets at our home in
Lindsey Chapel at Emmanuel Church,
​15 Newbury Street in Boston, Massachusetts.  
​We welcome you to join us!

Guests who would like to receive our weekly email with information on service dates, activities, and more please email us at [email protected].
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CRT members lighting shabbat candles on Simchat Torah at The Ark - Pinner and Northwood Liberal Synagogue in UK
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CRT members study ancient Jewish manuscripts at The Bodleian Library in Oxford, UK
Many photos courtesy of Jesse Kiefer.