Worship Events of the Week
This Friday, July 29, at 6:45 p.m., we make Shabbos together on Zoom with Shabbat blessings and a bit of Torah. This is always a great way to stay connected and gain a greater sense of comfort with Shabbat’s Friday-evening ritual.
Click here for the Zoom link.
Also, a reminder that you can connect on Zoom any weekday morning, 8-8:15 a.m., for a short service and a little study to start your day. This has been such a nice addition to our Kol Ami schedule. Hope you can join us any morning you are available. Click here.
Yahrzeit This Week
August 1
Thomas Patterson — husband of Wynne Begun, father of Michael Patterson and Mallary Smith
We Wish Mi Shebeirach
A Complete Healing of Mind, Body and Spirit to:
Tim Bruning
Robert Clinton
Jenny Dake
Dennis Dalton
Renee Dietchman
The Rev. Kendyl Gibbons
Marzena Hanek
Bailey Hix
Michah ben Sarah
Eddie Yeong
If you would like a name to continue to be listed or if you have a new name to include, please emailhealing@kolamikc.org. |
This Week's Torah Portion
This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Masei (Bamidbar/Numbers 33:1-36;13). In my blog for this week, I have an extensive D’var Torah on the combined portions of Matot-Masei, written for my seminary, Academy for Jewish Religion. As our Torah portion this week includes a detailed description of the borders for the land of Israel, my D’var Torah focuses on how the idea of borders impacts how we look at Israel and solutions for peace, and how our own states with borders render widely differing laws on abortion and reproductive rights, particularly given the upcoming vote in Kansas on August 2.
With that invitation to read the blog (Rabbi’s Week in Review), and for everyone, go vote! As Jews, it is one of our cvic and halakhic obligations.
Rabbi's Week in Review
For some reason, a good deal of my time, both within and outside Torah, has lately focused on land and borders. This week’s double portion, Matot-Masei, provides us with the most extensive, but not the only, delineation of the borders for HaAretz — the land of Israel — in our Written Torah.
This started for me back in Parashat Shelach-Lecha with the narrative regarding the 12 spies who scouted the land. What was the ultimate purpose and goal — i.e., why did we need to conquer the land, and what was this gift from G-d of the land that we just had to possess? Click here to read the rest of Rabbi Doug's blog post.
Weekly Feature
Kol Ami Goes to Lexington
Kol Ami plans a service activity with Migrant Farmworkers Assistance Fund in August.
By Pat Clinton
From left: Suzanne Gladney, Brad Ordo, Wynne Begun and Pat Clinton visit an orchard.
In early July, a few board members and I toured the Migrant Farmworkers Assistance Fund operations in Lexington, Mo. (and MFAF’s service area, spanning 70 miles, across Lafayette County, from Wellington to east of Waverly) to see firsthand what they do and where they do it.
An example of migrant-farmworker housing
MFAF founder and director Suzanne Gladney drove us to apple and peach orchards, where farmworkers put in 14-16 hours per day picking fruit, caring for trees and working in packing sheds. She told us of the pride the farmworkers take in their work. The men, in the United States under a federal work program, live in cinderblock buildings, generally six men to a room (as many as 12 to a bathroom). Many of the men travel solo, while some arrive with families, their children attending local schools. (The orchards cover a range of three school districts.) Grocery stores may be 50 miles away.
A room for up to six workers
Suzanne and her husband, Alan Lubert, told us of the Head Start program at MFAF’s Lexington facility, as well as other programs and services that MFAF provides: medical and dental case management, education assistance, advocacy, legal services, and help with emergency material needs. We toured a storage room stacked floor to ceiling with donated food, primarily from Harvesters. We saw the grocery bags that you donate packed with food and supplies (hygiene and cleaning products, diapers, toys, clothing, baseball caps and other items) for migrant workers and their families.
Kol Ami plans a service activity Monday, August 15, at the Lexington site to distribute food, clothing and other supplies to the farmworkers and their families. If you are interested in joining us, please email me or Brad Ordo for information by clicking here. Also, check out the MFAF website by clicking here to see all the work they do.
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