Erev Shavuot We celebrate Shavuot this evening — 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 11 — at the home of Fay and Rabbi Doug and via Zoom. We’ll have a brief time for worship, followed by a traditional dairy meal featuring Fay’s famous bread of the seven heavens — pan de siete cielos — along with meaningful and engaging Torah study.
We will not gather as a congregation this week for Shabbat. Please join us Saturday evening for Pride Havdalah — see event information in this newsletter — and support our LGBTQ+ community.
Upcoming Kol Ami Event
A Splash Pad Family Gathering Looking for a fun and casual way to gather with other Jewish families with children? We are getting together 10 a.m.-noon Saturday, June 22, at the Gillham Park Sprayground (41st and Gillham Road) for snacks, music and splashing around. There’s also a playground, so pack a change of clothes. All are welcome! Questions? Email engagement@
June 14 Jennifer Clinton – daughter of Pat Clinton, sister of Erica Clinton
June 17 Jerome Breinin – father of Rick Breinin
Flora Hirsch – mother of Deborah Hirsch
We Wish Mi Shebeirach A complete healing of mind, body and spirit: Rabbi Doug Alpert Robert Clinton Kenneth Dantzler Renée Dietchman Harriet Greenwald Karla Jacobs Rabbi Sally Priesand Jean Shifrin Melvin Michael Slater Robert Allen Slater 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
We were filled with gratitude this past week at the news that four of the hostages taken on October 7 by Hamas were rescued. We continue to pray for the release of the remaining hostages still held captive by Hamas.
Yet we cannot rejoice, as the rescue came at the expense of (at the time of this writing) 274 Palestinian lives and many more injured. After being at war for so many months, it seems that the terrible status quo ... Click here to read the rest of Rabbi Doug's blog post.
Kol Ami Event
Weekly Feature It's Tony Awards Week — Jews and the American Theater By Ellen Karp Lerner and Loewe, Oscar Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Neil Simon, Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Miller, Tony Kushner, Mike Nichols, Stella Adler, Lee Strasberg — these are just some of the Jews who have formed the backbone of American theater.
In “Let Us Tell You a Story: How Jewish People Built the American Theater As We Know It” (The New York Times Style Magazine, November 29, 2023), theater critic Jesse Green muses about the contradictions inherent in Jews’ theater accomplishments.
The Hollywood kerfuffle over Bradley Cooper’s prosthetic nose in Maestro prompted some uneasy deconstruction of Jewish predominance in American theater. Yet true Jewishness is mostly invisible onstage, unless the context is Jews as victims or Jews as endangered.
Theater is powerful, with real consequences. The antisemitic trope of Shakespeare's Shylock shouldn’t surprise anyone about the ability of theater to confirm, reinforce and even create dangerous opinions and feelings. Conversely, in 1983, my then 65-year-old father’s attitude toward homosexuality did a 180-degree turn toward acceptance after he saw La Cage aux Folles on Broadway!
Green would like to see American theater, as created by Jews, showcase what Jews are for, not what Jews are fighting against. He wishes this for all minorities. His wish is that actual Jewishness (what other Jews would recognize as authentically Jewish) be more visible in today’s theater.
See the Tony Awards Sunday, June 16, at 7 p.m. CDT on CBS or Paramount+. This Week's Torah Portion Parashat Nasso (Bamidbar/Numbers 4:21-7:89)
We read this week about Nazarite vows — vows of abstention from certain creature comforts and joyous celebration. These vows are generally not looked upon favorably in Judaism. Even as we are obligated to engage with the many troubling events facing our world, we understand that asceticism, denial of pleasure, is not a means toward closeness with G-d. Denial of joy does not benefit those who suffer, and creating moments of joy gives us a glimpse of what a better world might look like.
Our mailing address is: Congregation Kol Ami 4501 Walnut Street ℅ All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church Kansas City, MO 64111
