VCJC News & Notes 1/2/2026

Van Cortlandt Jewish Center

News and Notes

Here's this week's edition of the VCJC News and Notes email. We hope you enjoy it and find it useful!

Reminders

2. Shabbos schedule
   
   
   Shabbos information is, as always, available on our website, both in the information sidebar and the events calendar.
   Here are the times you need:  
   Shabbos Candles Friday 1/2/26 @ 4:22 pm
   
   
   Shabbos Ends Saturday 1/3/26 @ 5:26 pm

   If you require an aliyah or would like to lead services, read from the torah or haftorah please speak to one of the gabbaim.

   
   

   
   

   
   

3. Shabbos parsha

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   Parashat Vayechi 5786 / פָּרָשַׁת וַיְחִי

   3 January 2026 / 14 Tevet 5786

   Parashat Vayechi is the 12th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading.

   Torah Portion: Genesis 47:28-50:26

   Vayechi (“He Lived”) is the final Torah portion in the Book of Genesis. It opens as Jacob prepares for his death, making his son Joseph swear to bury him in the Cave of Machpelah. Jacob blesses Joseph’s two sons and his own 12 sons and then dies. Jacob’s sons bury him. The portion ends with Joseph’s death. [1]

   
   

   
   

4. Please help with information about buildings

   As part of rebuilding the membership and congregation, the Board of Trustees would like your help. There are a lot of either new or renovated buildings being put up in our catchment area. We would like to seek the cooperation of the owners / developers of those properties in publicizing these opportunities to live near an orthodox synagogue.  If you are aware of any of these buildings, please provide what information you can about them.  This could include the address, any contact information that might be posted, and any information about the building itself (size, type, etc.). Additionally, if you are aware of vacancies in existing buildings or of houses for sale, please let us know about that as well.

   
   

   
   

5. 3rd annual Community Cleanup Day for MLK Day
   We received the following in an email and are passing it on for your information.

   “My name is Spence Weitzen, and I work for GrowTorah, where we do experiential & environmental Torah education. I hope you're doing well!

   
   

   I'm reaching out as we're hosting our 3rd annual Community Cleanup Day for MLK Day with the UJA Federation of NY & Westchester Parks Foundation on Monday, January 19th, which also happens to be Rosh Chodesh Shevat! Here's a link to the event page.

   
   

   The event will take place at the Bronx River Pathway. We've had hundreds of participants collect hundreds of pounds of trash in the past while honoring the legacy of Dr. MLK Jr. and preparing for Tu B'Shvat.”
   
   
   Their flyer is below.  The snow date is March 29, 2026. Note that the Van Cortlandt Jewish Center is a collaborator!

   
   

6. An Appeal from the Met Council for SNAP help

   
   

   See the VCJC blog post from the Met Council’s announcement.

Our mailing address is:
Van Cortlandt Jewish Center
3880 Sedgwick Ave

Bronx, NY 10463