Shabbat Shulchan This Friday, December 9, at 6 p.m., we look forward to another Shabbat Shulchan, Shabbat Table, in the lobby at All Souls. It’s an opportunity for an informal Shabbat prayer experience, followed by a Seudah, a festive Shabbat meal to share together (also informal).
Ask the Rabbi Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Judaism A reminder: Submit questions to Rabbi Doug that you’ve always wanted to ask about Judaism. These questions will be the basis for our study together in 2023. Email your queries to rabbidoug@kolamikc.org. Social Justice
Toy Drive for MLK Jr. School Kol Ami is providing gifts for elementary-school students in kindergarten and first grade — about 120 children — who might not otherwise receive Christmas presents. These need not be expensive — Play-Doh, pop-its, fidgets, miniature cars, kinetic sand, or culturally appropriate dolls and action figures are always popular. I will collect toy donations at our Shabbat service December 9. Thank you for your generosity. — Pat Clinton
Upcoming Kol Ami Event
Kol Ami Book Club The next book club meeting is at 7 p.m. Tuesday, December 27, on Zoom. The book under discussion will be Thistlefoot, by GennaRose Nethercott. Zoom link to come.
We Wish Mi Shebeirach A Complete Healing of Mind, Body and Spirit to:
Louis Breinin Robert Clinton Jennifer Dake Alies Dalton Dennis Dalton Ken Davidson Marvin Lee Denton Rev. Kendyl Gibbons Harriet Greenwald Michah ben Sarah Wayne Courtois-Seligman
If you would like a name to continue to be listed or if you have a new name to include, please send an email to healing@kolamikc.org.
Rabbi's Week in Review
Anti-Semitism has been front-and-center in the news recently. The former president dining at his home with white supremacist/Holocaust denier/neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes and Kanye/Ye, who can’t seem to get a sentence out unless he is going off on us, has put anti-Semitism on the front burner in a way that I cannot ever remember experiencing in my lifetime.
This Week's Torah Portion Parashat Vayishlach (Bereishit/Genesis 32:4-36:43)
We read this week about Dinah, the daughter of Leah who is sexually assaulted. With this narrative, we continue to think about how we can lift up voices of women who have been marginalized, both in Torah and now.
Weekly Feature Oh Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah By Wynne Begun
I can tell Hanukkah is coming by how dark it is getting, by the arrival of the toy catalog from Amazon, and the discussions that arise within my family regarding whether we should or should not give gifts to the adults. These are annual occurrences that lead up to that wonderful time of the year when families observe Hanukkah, each family creating their own eight-day Festival of Lights.
What do you do to make the holiday special? We would like to share, in an upcoming newsletter, the customs and foods and anything else that make Hanukkah festive for your family. Please submit just a few words describing your unique celebration to office@kolamikc.org by December 18. We look forward to learning a little more about you!
____________________________________ Corrections to the Weekly Feature in the November 29, 2022, Issue
“View From the Bridge: One of Our Own Conversion Candidates Reflects—Sierra Harbinson, a nurse in reproductive health care and a parent to two rescue dogs, grew up in Germany and moved to Kansas in 2012. Sierra answers Ellen Karp’s questions about converting to Judaism.” (In the original text, we misstated Sierra’s last name and pronoun preference, and also misspelled Katie Harbinson’s last name. We regret the errors.)
Our mailing address is: Congregation Kol Ami 4501 Walnut Street ℅ All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church Kansas City, MO 64111
