Newsletters

Worship Event 
of the Week

Shabbat and New Year's Celebration
We at Congregation Kol Ami always look forward to the final Shabbat of the secular year. At 6:45 p.m. Friday,  December 29, at All Souls, we continue our tradition of coming together for Erev Shabbat worship, followed by games, beverages and treats to bring in 2024. Bring your favorite game along with a treat (savory or sweet) and your beverage of choice.

Bring Your
Paper Bags
You may bring your gently used paper grocery sacks with you when you come to All Souls. We donate them to Migrant Farmworkers Assistance Fund for food distribution to farmworkers and their families. Thank you!

Yahrzeits
This Week

December 28
Tommy Compton – stepfather of Marion Breinin

Bell Finkel – great-grandmother of Rebecca Hollister

December 29
Gary Kretchmer – spouse of Sheryl Kretchmer

December 30
Leon Kretchmer – father of Gary Kretchmer

We Wish
Mi Shebeirach
A complete healing of mind, body and spirit to:

Robert Clinton
John Cottrell
Kenneth Dantzler
Bill Drummond
Rev. Lloyd Fields
Dana A. Fuller
Amanda Goldstein
Harriet Greenwald
Michelle Hills
Karla Jacobs 
Butch Murphy
Katie Nottingham
Harolyn Richberg
Michah ben Sarah
Edi Shifrin
Rachel Silk
Gerry Trilling
Joel Zitron

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



As I write this, Fay and I are returning from a memorable trip to Chile. While I could write solely about our time in Patagonia and its awesome, overwhelmingly beautiful landscape carved out of ice millions of years ago — and a feeling of some insignificance in relation to G-d’s created world — there are other pieces of the trip that had me connecting back to our own stories and our present existence. Three components to our Chilean experience resonated ... Click here to read the rest of Rabbi Doug's blog post.

This Week's Torah Portion
Parashat Vayechi (Bereishit/Genesis 47:28-50:26)



With this Torah portion, we conclude the book of Bereishit/Genesis and conclude the Jacob and Joseph narrative. We learn the emphasis Judaism places on legacy, on the blessings we leave those who follow us, and how, through Jewish burial and mourning observances, we honor memory and connection to those on whose shoulders we stand.

Weekly Feature

Editors’ note: We had planned this article for early October but postponed it in light of the October 7 attacks and ensuing conflict. We include it now as a gentle reminder — amid the current outrage, horror, regret and hateful speech engulfing the Middle East — that Israel and its people stand for and have accomplished much, of which we can be proud.

The Technion, the MIT of Israel
By Ellen Karp


Einstein's tree (Wikimedia Commons)

​​​​​​​The Technion, Israel’s oldest university, was founded in 1912, in Haifa, at a time when Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire. It remains in Haifa, one of Israel's most diverse and inclusive cities. 

It is a place where Arabs and Jews have traditionally studied and worked together. About 40 percent of its 9,000 undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students are women, and 20 percent are Arab, which roughly mirrors the demographics of Israel’s citizenry. 

Technion's founders, a group of German-Jewish engineers and scientists, believed that a strong technological base was essential for the future of the Jewish state, which offered little by way of natural resources. Albert Einstein was an early, passionate advocate after he visited the Technion in 1923. During his visit, he planted a palm tree, and last February, a new palm tree was planted to mark the tree’s centennial. 

The Technion has been a center of innovation and entrepreneurship. In its early years, graduates played key roles in developing Israel's infrastructure, and it has fueled Israel's economy. It boasts four Nobel Prize laureates.

On a personal note, my mother and father (MIT ’40) were longtime active supporters of the Technion. They led a number of fundraising trips to the Technion for ATS, the American Technion Society. For them, it was a way of honoring the Technion's commitment to high-quality education, open to all of Israel's citizens. For more info or to subscribe to the Technion newsletter, see ats.org.