We Are Two Weeks Away from the Beach Boys Purim Celebration and Dinner, Sign Up Today!
02/22/2023 04:01:22 PM
Feb22
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February 22, 2023 * eKoleinu * 1 Adar 5783
Shabbat Services Friday, February 24 at 6:30 PM Join Student Rabbi Frankie Salzman, Cantor Nancy Cohen, and Piano Accompanist Lisa Edwards for our services in-person at Kol Ami or online on our YouTube channel, on thetemple website, or on ourFacebook page. To purchase a prayerbook, Mishkan Tefillah, available in print or in kindle version click here.
Dear Kol Ami Community, In recent days our ReOpening Task Force who has guided our congregation through the Covid crisis met. The committee members, Dr. Neil Romanoff, Neal Zaslavsky, Dr. Lilia Lukowsky, Rabbis Eger and Levy and, our Interim Executive Director, Devorah Servi, and have revised our Covid protocols based on the current situation. Effective immediately 1) We will no longer check vaccinations cards and, 2) We can resume serving food inside.
That said, the committee strongly encourages all members and guests to get the latest available vaccines and boosters including the latest bivalent booster.
Indoor masks are at the discretion of the individual at this time. As we are constantly monitoring the situation in LA County, we will continue to revise our policies based upon the recommendations and guidance of the Los Angeles County Health Department and our ReOpening Task Force on an as needed basis as it is our desire to keep our community as healthy as possible.
Kol Ami celebrates Purim on Sunday night March 5 starting at 5:30 pm with a Middle Eastern dinner ($20 a person) and then continues with Megillah reading the Surfin’ Safari Purim Schpiel at 6:30 pm. Grab your Ray-Bans and surfboard for a Beach Boychiks Purim! Come in costume! Register online for this in-person dinner and Purim Celebration. There will be $20 per person dinner from Al Basch. Please register by Thursday, March 2nd at noon. REGISTER HERE
Join Rabbi Levy for this special 4-week mini-course introducing us to the wide world of midrash, collections of ancient teachings, and reflections on the Hebrew Bible. This class will begin by discussing what midrash is: what it is, where it comes from, and how it impacts the way Jews have read sacred texts for centuries. We'll then dive into more well-known texts from midrash with a special focus on Genesis Rabbah, the collection of teachings around the book of Genesis. All levels of Jewish learning are welcome! REGISTER HERE
“Turn an ordinary Friday night into something extraordinary!” On Friday night, March 3, 2023, hundreds of synagogues across the continent will participate in a historic national Jewish event to celebrate what unifies all Jews — Shabbat! Everyone is invited… singles, couples, families — all ages.
That’s the magic of Shabbat Across America and Shabbat Across Canada. By participating in this continent-wide event, you will not only have the opportunity to experience Shabbat, but you will be sharing your experience with tens of thousands of Jews across North America.
No matter what your affiliation or which Shabbat Across America or Shabbat Across Canada location you choose to attend, NJOP’s annual Shabbat program will give you a “taste” of Shabbat. Explanatory services, traditional rituals, delicious meals, and lively discussions are all important components of the Shabbat experience, as well as the opportunity to spend the evening with like-minded people.
Shabbat Across America or Shabbat Across Canada is for every Jew, and those who are unable to go to a registered location can participate in their own homes or in gatherings with friends and family.
Celebrating the Bar Mitzvah of Ryan Cohen-Jordan, son of Mark Cohen and Tim Jordan.
Shabbat Awakening will be led by Rabbi Eger, Rabbi Levy and, Student Rabbi Frankie Salzman in person or on the livestream on YouTube, the Kol Ami website, and Facebook!
We hope you'll join Rabbi Levy for the next installment of his series of adult education classes focusing on the five different megillot (scrolls) that are read over the course of the Jewish holiday calendar. Naturally, the book of Esther is read on Purim since it describes the founding of this holiday, but there are many aspects of this book we don't often explore amidst the joy and celebration. This class will give an overview of the book of Esther, its particular quirks, and how it has been interpreted over the ages.
Tzedek Council Lunch Bag Assembly for Hollywood Food Coalition
Saturday, March 11, 2023 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Join the Tzedek Council of Kol Ami as we continue our support of the Hollywood Food Coalition by assembling lunch bags for their Sunday lunch distribution program. This is a special opportunity to fulfill the Purim mitzvah of matanot laevyonim (gifts for those in need)!
We made just over 500 lunch bags to be distributed across LA during our last event in January and we're hoping to keep up those numbers! We'll provide the materials so all we ask is that you show up ready to help support this important cause!
Lunch n Learn With Special Guest Speaker: Alden Solovy
Thursday, March 16, 2023 12:00 PM
Join our monthly online lunch & learn here on Zoom! You bring the lunch, Rabbi Eger will bring the learning!
This month we'll welcome Poet-Liturgist Alden Solovy, who will read from his new book – These Words: Poetic Midrash on the Language of Torah – and will explore the Torah learning behind several of the poems. These Words focuses on 70 powerful words from Torah, which serve as the basis for 70 unique poems exploring the world of meaning contained within them. Alden will also talk about his process to create the book and will take your questions.
Join Student Rabbi Frankie Salzman for a two-session exploration of gender.
In what ways did the early rabbis understand gender? What rabbinic stories challenge the idea of gender being binary? How do contemporary Jewish thinkers approach the topic of gender? Discuss these questions and investigate your own relationship to gender using Judaism as a guide.
This is open to everyone interested in learning, reflecting, and growing.
Shabbat Scholar in Residence Dr. Michal Bar-Asher Siegal with Lunch
Saturday, April 1, 2023 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM
Dr. Michal Bar-Asher Siegal is a scholar of rabbinic Judaism. Her work focuses on aspects of Jewish-Christian interactions in the ancient world, and compares early Christian and rabbinic sources. She is a faculty member at the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and she was an elected member of the Israel Young Academy of Sciences. During the 2022-2023 academic year, she is the Horace Goldsmith Visiting Professor in Judaic Studies at Yale University. Her first book is Early Christian Monastic Literature and the Babylonian Talmud (Cambridge University Press, 2013; winner of the 2014 Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award). Her second book is Jewish-Christian Dialogues on Scripture in Late Antiquity: Heretic Narratives of the Babylonian Talmud (Cambridge University Press, 2019; finalist, National Jewish Book Award, 2019).
Lunch is $20 per person. Please register by Thursday, March 30th at noon. REGISTER HERE
Special exhibit: Auschwitz: Not Long Ago and Not Far Away
Sunday, April 16, 2023 12:30 PM - 3:00 PM
In observance of Yom HaShoa, join Rabbi Eger and Rabbi Levy for a visit to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library to see the special exhibit: Auschwitz: Not Long Ago and Not Far Away. The only West Coast exhibit of its kind. For the first time in history, this Auschwitz exhibition, co-produced by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Spanish company Musealia, is traveling to the Reagan Library to show an extraordinary collection of more than 700 original artifacts of inestimable historic and human value, that bears direct witness to one of the darkest chapters of humankind.
Kol Ami has reserved 18 tickets for Sunday, April 16, 2023, at 1:00 PM. The price of the ticket is a special group rate of $28 a person. This price includes the special audio headset. REGISTER HERE
We had a magnificent Shabbat with our guest last Friday night: Rabbi Ayala Miron of our sister congregation in Rosh HaAyin, Israel. The name of the congregation is Bavat Ayin and she founded it 20 years ago. The community is very active and a member of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism (IMPJ) which is Reform Judaism in Israel. She challenged us all to become overseas members at this critical time in Israel’s history when the far-right extremists are doing everything they can to undermine the judiciary and are targeting Reform and Conservative Judaism. If you would like to support the work and the community, join Rabbi Eger in becoming an overseas member of the congregation Bavat Ayin, you can use this link:Donations to Bavat Ayin
Congregation Kol Ami has adopted a Code of Ethics as a holy, respectful, mindful and safe way of interacting with one another. We join with other Reform Jewish communities dedicated to creating safe and sacred spaces. The Code of Ethics was created by a working Task force of our Board of Trustees, adopted by our Board and subsequently adopted by the congregation at our Annual meeting in June, 2022. You can view the Code of Ethics on our website at here.
Refuah Shleimah: A Speedy Recovery We keep the following members in our healing prayers: John Altschul, Dr. Aaron Aronow, Heidi Kebbas, Addie Lelyveld, Cantor Patti Linksy, Peter Mackler, Keith Rand, Ivan Rosenberg, Richard Ross, Lowell Selvin, Miles Senn, Karen Shanbrom
Kol Ami requires proof of vaccination including at least one booster for all events for all those eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine. If you are not yet eligible for a booster, you must provide proof a negative test within 24 hrs of the event. While masks are optional at indoor events the Los Angeles County Health Department strongly recommends that you wear a mask indoors. At Kol Ami we are mindful that there are many people who are immune compromised and as an act of loving kindness (Chesed) and compassion (Rachamim) we recommend you wear a mask except when eating or drinking indoors.
To learn more about Kol Ami's COVID-safety policy please click here.
