Newsletter

Shabbat Services
Friday, August 27 at 6:30 PM

Register here to come in person
Join Rabbi Levy and Student Rabbi Elana Rabishaw for our Shabbat services in-person at Kol Ami and online on our Facebook page,  YouTube channel, or on the temple website. To access a free online flipbook of our prayer book Mishkan Tefillah book, click here.

Social Justice Corner

Annual Meeting and Welcoming New Members

TOMORROW! Thursday, August 26 at 7:00 PM
We invite anyone who wants to be involved in social justice/social action in the year ahead to join us for our annual meeting with new co-chairs Jess Winfield and Rebecca Schurz to help set the agenda for the coming year. REGISTER HERE

TOMORROW! RAC-CA Book Discussion (part 3): Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration
In alignment with our work on SB 731/Time Done, RAC-CA's first book group discusses Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration by Dr. Reuben Miller. Both a sociologist and the brother of an incarcerated man, Miller studies mass incarceration from an intimate perspective.  Discuss Last 3 Chapters: August 26, 7-8pm PT, Led by Ariana Zwern REGISTER HERE

Upcoming State Assemblymembers Lobby Meetings
TOMORROW! District 46 - Adrin Nazarian - Thursday 8/26, 2:00pm
District 50 - Richard Bloom - Friday 8/27, 2:30pm
REGISTER HERE


We've all seen the awful images of the unfolding refugee crisis in Afghanistan. Make no mistake, the sitiuation is dire indeed. There are few opportunities for Afghanis to even apply for refugee status at the moment, much less actually get out of the country safely. It's the very early days of what will be a long and challenging time ahead. We're all watching and wondering what we can do to help. In the coming days, weeks, and months, there will be urgent need for the basics of resettlement: housing, mental health care, legal services, etc. We'll be sharing info about organizations in LA that will be doing that work soon.

But right now the greatest need is for advocacy, to get as many endangered Afghans as possible out of the country and into the pipeline for refugee status as quickly as possible. Please ask your legislators to do so. And of course, donating to HIAS, a Kol Ami partner and the oldest Jewish immigrant aid organization in the country, is an obvious step. 

Here is the HIAS "Afghan Crisis -- How You Can Help"  web page with more. Please check back frequently, as it will be updated almost daily.

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TOMORROW! Exploring Prayer in the Month of Elul
Thursday, August 26 at 9:30 AM

Prayer is not an innate gift or hereditary trait, it is a spiritual skill that, like a muscle or instrument, requires practice, repetition, and discovery. On the Thursdays that lead up to Rosh Hashanah, Rabbi Ross Levy will lead via  Facebook  and YouTube Live, a series of live warm-ups for our praying selves, so we don’t go into the HHD cold, but already on the path of reflection, repentance, and an openness to crafting who we wish to be in the coming year.
Missed last week's session? Watch it here

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Family Shabbat: Preparing for High Holy Days
Saturday, August 28 at 10:00 AM
at Balboa Park

Celebrate the beginning of the High Holy Days with our families at Balboa Park. With Tashlich, singing and a story. We will meet just into the park, past parking, at 6300 Balboa Ave Van Nuys, CA 91316. 

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Selichot Service + Picnic
Saturday, August 28 at 6:30 PM 
at Kol Ami

Join us for an evening with the community to formally open High Holy Days season. Bring your own picnic dinner (but no pork or shellfish at the temple), drinks and dessert on us. Havdalah after dinner, followed by High Holy Days teaching in the Sanctuary With Rabbi Eger, Rabbi Levy and Student Rabbi Rabishaw.  FULL SCHEDULE AND REGISTRATION

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Schedule Change
Please note that on Friday night September 3, Shabbat services will be online only from our homes. 

And there will be no Saturday AM services on September 4.

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High Holy Days Are Less Than Two Weeks Away!

Registration is now open for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, including extra tickets, sponsorships and Yizkor Scroll of Memory listings.
Please visit kol-ami.org/hhd to make sure you are all-set for the High Holy Days, (Rosh Hashanah is Monday, September 6!)
REGISTER HERE

Now is the time to add your deceased loved ones onto our High Holy Days Yizkor Scroll of Memory, and to contribute to our community with sponsorships. Please click here to make sure you're all set for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur

Family Service
Monday, September 7 at 1:00 PM

Open to all families. Register Here 

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Summer Sova Food Drive
SOVA is a nonsectarian program of Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles, dedicated to alleviating hunger and poverty in the community through food distribution and offering a wide range of supportive services. Every year in July and August, Congregation Kol Ami joins the effort of helping with food donations. As we go back to in-person service, we ask you to pay your personal tribute toward a world without hunger. Whether you come for Shabbat Service, or every other time you come to temple bring donated groceries to put in the Sova barrels inside the building: Pasta, toiletries, tuna, salmon, peanut and almond butter, canned goods etc. 

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Refuah Shleimah: A Speedy Recovery
We keep the following members in our healing prayers: John Altschul, Esther Baum, Sophie Belzberg, Richard Bernard, Jeanne Cole, Francine Epstein, Greg Facktor, Paul Morgan Fredrix, Ben Reback, Lowell Selvin, Janene Sneider, Henry Somerfeld, Cathee Weiss

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