This Week's Torah Portion-
This week’s Torah portion is another one of the seven Parshiot that are combined when we do not have a Jewish leap year with an extra month in which to work. Parashat Behar-Bechukotai (Vayikra/Leviticus 25:1-27:34) includes a discussion of the commandments for the sabbatical year and the jubilee year.
These mitzvot/commandments are only to be observed in Israel. The sabbatical year, designed to let the land rest every seven years, is still observed, albeit with no small amount of controversy in finding ways to both observe and circumvent the mitzvah.
Focusing on the spirit of the commandment to foster a sense of care for the land, and to rest from always seeking to control and have dominion over it, connects in an odd way to our present situation wherein normal everyday life is suspended. While the circumstances surrounding COVID-19 are tragic — I’ll never feel OK about loss of life — we are rediscovering some meaningful social connections, a healing of our air with a significant drop in pollution, and even possibly a bit of a lessening in violence.
As we seek to overcome this pandemic with its resulting pain and fear, let us seek to hold on to the positive lessons we have gained during this time in our spiritual wilderness. Let us take the lessons of the sabbatical year to reprioritize what is truly important and good for us and our world.
Weekly Features-
Rabbi's Week In Review
In a time when questions of life and death have taken on a greater sense of immediacy, last week was one in which these issues were most prevalent. The week began with a funeral, not one that was unexpected (and which had nothing to do with COVID-19). In this difficult time, I wondered if and how the community could sufficiently honor the memory of this extraordinary woman who died, one who gave so much to family, friends and community. Embedded in that desire was and is the need to support the family, those who most directly were mourning the loss. Click here to read the full blog post...
Featured Event of the Week
Join us this Saturday morning, May 16, as we connect with each other for Torah study and Shabbat prayers. At 9:30 a.m., we study Torah with challenging and
meaningful discussion. These discussions connect issues we confront in
contemporary life as Jews with the lessons of our sacred text. Our discussion is followed by Shabbat worship at 10:30 a.m. Feel free to have some food at the
ready for our virtual Shabbat brunch following the service.
Kol Ami Member Spotlight*- Rose Kenneally, Pro Bread Baker
Rose Kenneally, a Kol Ami member for as long as she can recall, “sort of just fell into baking” a couple of years ago. Growing up, she loved to cook, but bread baking has more recently become a passion — and a profession. A couple of years ago, Rose spent two months in Maine as a cook on a schooner, preparing four meals a day plus snacks. Making bread every day became a favorite part of the job. After her stint on the sailing ship, she worked as a baking assistant, and then as the lead bread baker, for a local restaurant.
Rose hasn’t been as involved with Kol Ami the last couple of years because she was living out-of-state. She recently was working at a small local bakery in South Carolina when coronavirus became an issue, and she returned home. But while she’s figuring out what direction to take her career next — and when — she still bakes. A go-to for her is challah, and she shares a favorite recipe here: https://food52.com/recipes/3996-ima-s-challah. She also uses the dough for cinnamon rolls, and a family favorite, she says, is using day-old challah slices to make French toast.
*a regular feature for getting to know members of the congregation
The Mi Shebeirach Prayer and List
The Mi Shebeirach prayer provides comforting words that are recited on behalf of those who are ill. When we, our friends or our loved ones are struggling with challenges — physical, emotional or spiritual — this prayer speaks to the desire for healing. We recite or sing this prayer each Shabbat service and ask that the names of those who need to be remembered be called out as we pray.
We also include a list in this newsletter of the congregants, friends and family members we wish to keep in our thoughts when we recite the Mi Shebeirach. To add a person to this list, send an email to healing@kolamikc.org. Names that are submitted will be included in the newsletter for one month. For long-term inclusion on this list, please submit emails monthly.
May we all be blessed with a healing of body and spirit during this difficult time.
Community Events-
KC Strives for a Comeback … but Safely and Sanely
Comeback KC — a public/private coalition of businesses, associations, organizations, and individuals, working in collaboration with area health departments — is working to make people aware of ways they can help the metro area make a safe comeback from COVID-19.
As the region opens up, Comeback KC is encouraging safe practices and is trying to cut through the different messages of competing jurisdictions and partisanship. It is working closely with the health departments of Kansas City, MO; Wyandotte County, KS; Johnson County, KS; and Jackson County, MO.
In the coming weeks, Comeback KC will encourage people to maintain safe practices, find out how and where they can get tested, and participate in contact tracing and self-isolation if sick or exposed. Comeback KC will also help illuminate health inequities in our region and advocate for solutions. Its objectives will evolve as the situation changes.
Comeback KC’s contributors include C19KC, Blue Cross Blue Shield of KC, Kansas City Chamber, Mid-America Regional Council (MARC), idealect, VMLY&R, Tico Productions, and KC Digital Drive.
You can help spread the word to your friends and follow Comeback KC on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram:
https://www.facebook.com/Comeback-KC-107935990899809/
https://www.instagram.com/comeback_kc/
https://twitter.com/comebackkc
A Virtual Panel on Campus Life
The University of Missouri Hillel, in Columbia, MO, is hosting an online Q&A on Sunday, May 17, at 2 p.m.
Spencer Kaseff, the Jewish Education Fellow/Programming Associate at UM’s Hillel, says this one-time Q&A panel will give current high-schoolers an opportunity to learn about Mizzou and its Jewish life, especially at this time of instability and uncertainty. The virtual event will be a chance to ask questions, and get a sneak peek of Hillel’s building.
The registration link is: https://hillel.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcqdu2hqjgrHtaDjtt_JmjvNaRIJGnEYvEZ
Hillel organizers also would like for people to fill out a Google form, found at: https://forms.gle/L5V8b9zpMoT93vPL8
