Newsletters

This Week's Torah Portion- 

This week’s Torah portion is a double portion-Parashat Achare Mot-Kedoshim (Vayikra/Leviticus 16:1-20:27).  This week’s Torah portion Achare Mot begins by stating that, “after the death of Aaron’s two sons [Nadav and Avihu]…..”   Aaron is not allowed to mourn.  With that piece my thoughts turn to families who are separated from loved ones as they die from COVID19, and how difficult that must be.

At the same time as we get to the second of the two Torah portions for this week, Parashat Kedoshim, we are instructed to not stand idly by while the blood of our neighbor is shed. (Vayikra/Leviticus 19:16). We embrace life, and from this verse we derive that Pekuach Nefesh-the sanctity of human life is the highest of Jewish values.  We have faced many challenges in our history and yet, we have continued to embrace life.

Featured Worship Event-

Join us via Zoom on Friday, May 8 at 6 pm for our monthly family experience.  Our value for this month is trustworthiness.  We will also celebrate Israel this month, the ancestral home of the Jewish people.  A very informal Shabbat service at 6:45 pm will follow the program.
We look forward to the time when we can come together in person to celebrate a wonderful first year of the Congregation Kol Ami Family Experience.  Stay tuned for further details.

Weekly Features-

Member Directory & ShulCloud Access

All members should have received an invitation from ShulCloud to join the member portion of the new and improved website. If you did not receive the invitation sent this past Friday, check your spam folder to make sure it wasn't routed incorrectly. If you are still having issues, you can email office@kolamikc.org for assistance. 

You can find the log in to the members only area in the upper right hand corner of our website, kolamikc.org. Once you have logged in, you will see a navigation heading called "My Account". In this section you can find our updated member direcgtory and directly update your own account information. 

Jewish Food During These Times

As we fill our time during our “stay at home,” many of us are turning to cooking. Some of us are creating favorite recipes so that something about our lives is familiar and comforting. Some of us are trying new and exotic recipes to offer novelty in our “Groundhog Day” lives. A source of a connection to our Jewish roots that offers us recipes, some that may be familiar and some that may not be, is Naama – The Jewish Food Society. The goal of Naama is to preserve beloved Jewish foods and to celebrate new ones. All the recipes on the site have connections to Jewish traditions that represent a variety of cultures, as Jews have lived and flourished in the Diaspora. Austrian schnitzel, Moroccan tagines, and even challah can be found on the site. Naama sends monthly emails featuring recipes along with information about the sources and traditions associated with these foods. During these days of endless time and the need to fill it, trying one of these new Jewish foods will enhance each of our connections to the Jewish community of the world!  The website to explore our culinary culture may be found at https://www.jewishfoodsociety.org/ ​​​​​​​

Congregants In The News-

Stan Stern got our weekday morning prayer connections into the New York Times Coronavirus Briefing on April 23, 2020. He wrote:

“Every morning our rabbi leads a short online service and gives a short lesson or commentary. We have been doing this for weeks now, and it is a structured way to start the day, be calm, see people and have contact with the world.” 

New to attending Zoom services with Kol Ami? Click here for instructions on how to join a Zoom meeting online.  

We Wish Mi Shebeirach,
A Complete Healing of Mind, Body and Spirit to:

Sofie Johnson
Kenneth Dantzler
Elizabeth Bamberger
Denny Dalton, son of Alies & Dennis Dalton
Dennis Dalton

If there is a person you would like the congregation to say a prayer of healing and renewal for, we would be happy to include their name in the weekly announcements.
 
Please email names to  healing@kolamikc.org 

Note: Names will continue to appear in the announcements until such time as a request for removal is received.