FVJC-Emek Shalom is the center of Jewish life in the Farmington Valley and beyond, offering a warm, inclusive, intergenerational community for all who seek it. We come together to engage in worship, Jewish learning, social events, and social action initiatives designed to foster a sense of community and connection.
We offer a full spectrum of meaningful worship opportunities, life cycle events, an engaging religious school, and fulfilling social and educational programming in a warm and welcoming environment. Across generations, we learn together (Torah), search for holiness (avodah), and participate in acts of kindness (gemilut chasadim). These pursuits allow us to create wholeness, fulfillment, and a pathway to peace (shalom) for ourselves, our community, Israel, and our world.
We embrace diversity in all its forms and are inspired by the wisdom of our tradition to welcome the stranger and seek to make all who enter our sacred space a part of the FVJC-ES family. Our religious school, worship opportunities, educational and social programs create a community based on inclusiveness where everyone is truly welcome.
Mission
To provide a warm and welcoming environment that meets the spiritual, religious, educational, cultural, social and emotional needs of the local Jewish community, including interfaith families and friends.
To promote inclusion and affirmation to ensure that all congregants needs will be met from birth to death.
To create a community where all are actively engaged and inspired to become lifelong members.
To be a community where all are welcome and supported and where elders are revered and children are cherished.
To support world Jewry and the State of Israel
History
FVJC was established in 1960 by a small group of families who had moved to the Farmington Valley and were seeking a Jewish home. Together they worked to build a community from across the spectrum of Jewish practice. FVJC is affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) and today we have over 220 families, many of whom are interfaith, engaging with the values of Judaism, and are part of our kehillah kedoshah, a holy community.
