Shabbat Blessings At 6:45 p.m. this coming Shabbat — Friday, June 23 — we gather together on Zoom for Shabbat blessings and a little bit of Torah. It is always a great opportunity to connect as a community while celebrating Shabbos in our own homes. For the Zoom link, click here.
Social Justice News
Workers Rally
Pat Clinton, Kol Ami president, and Brad Ordo, Kol Ami vice president-kehilah, attend a rally in support of fair wages for workers in downtown KCMO June 14.
I spent the better part of last week at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Falls Village, Connecticut, at the final/culminating retreat for my Clergy Leadership Incubator (CLI), a two-year rabbinic fellowship striving to promote significant transformation of synagogue life. (And I, the rabbi, consistently test as an introvert every time I take a Myers-Briggs personality test, resulting in an approach to retreats bordering on ... Click here to read the rest of Rabbi Doug's blog post.
This Week's Torah Portion Parashat Chukat (Bamidbar/Numbers 19:1-22:1)
We read this week of one of the more mysterious rituals in Torah (and one of my favorite pieces of Torah) — the Parah Adumah, the ritual of the red heifer. The red heifer is sacrificed and burnt, and its ashes used to render a priest who has been rendered impure by touching a corpse ritually pure. Huh!
As we categorize our mitzvot, our commandments, as either rational or nonrational, this is about as nonrational as they come. So why would we ever perform the commandment or even read about it in our Torah?
There are times when the people we love want us to do something for them that makes no sense to us. We may not understand it, but we do it anyway simply because they need us to do something for them. So it is in our relationship with G-d — to feel that we can give something back to G-d in the relationship and not just be takers.
This is true for all of our relationships. We cannot be solely about getting our needs met; we all need to feel needed. It is in the opportunity to do for others that gives meaning to our lives.
Kol Ami News The Newsletter Is Going on Vacation By Pat Clinton
It’s summertime, and our Kol Ami newsletter will be on a short hiatus so that our regular contributors can take a little time off. The newsletter returns July 25.
In the meantime, watch for weekly announcements with news of events. Of special note: a Shabbat picnic at Loose Park July 7 and, especially, a joint Shabbat service with New Reform Temple and B'nai Jehudah at the Kemper Museum of Art July 14! And watch for notices of Shabbat blessings June 30, and study sessions at Rabbi Doug’s July 8 and July 22.
Until then …
Our mailing address is: Congregation Kol Ami 4501 Walnut Street ℅ All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church Kansas City, MO 64111
