This Week's Torah Portion-
This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Shemini (Vayikra/Leviticus 9:1-11:47). We read this week about the laws of Kashrut; about permitted and forbidden foods. As we end Pesach wherein permitted and forbidden foods play a central role to our celebration we are still mindful of food. Let us take the message of our Passover into our daily lives; to appreciate how our food arrives at our table, to create a sense of the sacred around what we eat and understand that there are way too many in our community and our world who suffer from food scarcity.
Weekly Features-
Shabbat Morning Adult Study and Worship- Join us this Saturday, April 18 at 9:30 am, for an interactive Adult Study session. Rabbi will begin with the sacred texts of the Torah as the foundation of contemporary topics and it will be followed by Shabbat morning service. The event is limited to the first 24 registrants, so please be sure to register here .
Special Guest Speaker- Mark your calendars for the next installment of our Guest Speaker Series on Friday, April 24 at 6:45 pm, presenting Jessica Rockhold , the executive director of the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education. As Yom HaShoah Remembrance Day occurs this month, we will have the opportunity to learn how the work of MICHE preserves memory, and uses the lessons of the past to create present day bridges of understanding. The speaker and discussion will follow the Friday Shabbat service.
Zoom Meetings- While Zoom may take some getting used to, seeing everyone's faces over the past weeks as we've gathered for Pesach, Shabbat Worship, Shabbat Blessings, Saturday Study, and weekday Morning Worship & Connection has been oddly comforting and an easy way to be together in community during this stressful time. Come as you are, and be with us. Just click on the bolded event title and that will take you to our website where you can register for any upcoming event. There are still more ways to stay in touch.
Email office@kolamikc.org …
● … if you’d like to volunteer to check in weekly with 2-3 of our Kol Ami families by phone or text
● … if you’re interested in taking part in the Kol Ami Family Experience
● … if you want to help plan and participate in social-justice efforts
● … if you want to know more about the Kol Ami Book Club, Kol Ami music, or Jewish meditation options
● … if you know of someone who would be interested in becoming a member of Kol Ami.
Community Events-
Yom HaShoah 2020 virtual event-
The community is invited to share the experience of this year’s Yom HaShoah service, offered through video for the safety of our community. Although unable to gather in person, the organizing agencies have identified ways to maintain the abiding traditions of Yom HaShoah and to honor the legacy of both those lost during the Holocaust as well as those who survived it.
This years’ service commemorates 75 years since the end of World War II and the liberation of the survivors, 77 years since the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and the 57th anniversary of the dedication of the Memorial to the Six Million.
The program, which includes the lighting of 6 candles in memory of the six million Jewish victims, will be available on April 21, 2020 at 1:30 pm at www.mchekc.org as well as through the social media platforms of MCHE, Jewish Community Relations Bureau/AJC, and the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City. At the conclusion of the video, community members are invited to light a candle in your home in memory of the 6 million and in honor of the survivors.
Mary Covitz, daughter of Rose and Leo Zemelman, will chair the program. Rabbi Sarah Smiley of The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah will provide remarks.
Traditional elements of the Yom HaShoah service which cannot be safely created during this time, as well as Yom HaShoah services from across the world, will be shared via MCHE’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MidwestCenterforHolocaustEducation/
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Announcements & Upcoming Events
Morning Worship and Connection: Come together each weekday morning to pray, connect and check-in with Rabbi Doug Alpert. - Thursday, April 16 8:00am-8:15am Morning Worship and Connection: Come together each weekday morning to pray, connect and check-in with Rabbi Doug Alpert. - Friday, April 17 8:00am-8:15am Shabbat Morning Adult Study and Worship: It is always a wonderful discussion as we start with our sacred texts as the foundation for an exploration of contemporary topics. Shabbat morning worship follows our discussion. Registration required, limited to 24 participants. - Saturday, April 18 9:30am-11:30am Kol Ami Book Club- "O Jerusalem!": Miss people to talk books with? We got you. Join us in the Kol Ami Book Club as we discuss "O Jerusalem!," a classic on the formation of the modern state of Israel. While we live through a tumultuous time in the world, in O Jerusalem! we dig into the frightening, exciting, violent and hopeful events that led to the birth of the modern state of Israel. Don't miss this chance to virtually chat with Jewish book lovers about this challenging and inspiring book. Read what you can, but don't let not finishing the book keep you away. After all, we all know how the story of 1948 ends (Israel!) ... - Tuesday, April 21 6:30pm-8:00pm Shabbat Evening Service with Guest Speaker Jessica Rockhold: For our Shabbat Speaker series on Friday, April 24 we will welcome Jessica Rockhold, Executive Director of the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education (MCHE). We look forward to Jessica enhancing our own observance of Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Remembrance Day on Tuesday, April 21. Jessica Rockhold, Executive Director of the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education (MCHE). Jessica earned her B.A. in Modern European History and her M.A. in Museum Studies with an emphasis in Holocaust History from the University of Kansas. She served as the research assistant to the Senior Historian of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum before joining the staff of MCHE in June 2003. At MCHE she served as the Director of Education and the Associate Director before being named Executive Director in 2020. - Friday, April 24 6:45pm-8:15pm Jewish Meditation: Meditation helps focus more of one’s mind on the present moment. In this monthly one-hour session, participants learn and practice the basics of Jewish meditation with an introduction to each session’s theme by Rabbi Alpert. - Sunday, April 26 2:15pm-3:15pm |
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