Newsletters

Worship Event 
of the Week

Shabbat Blessings
As we hit a quiet time during the upcoming Fourth of July weekend, we still have an opportunity to make Shabbos together. At 6:45 p.m. this Friday, July 5, we are together virtually for Shabbat blessings and a little Torah. Click here for the Zoom link.

This Week's
Torah Portion

Parashat Korach (Bamidbar/Numbers 16:1-18:32)
Korach, along with Dathan and Abiram, organizes an unsuccessful rebellion against Moses.  Spoiler alert: Moses wins. The question becomes, when is a rebellion against authority and those in power just and when is it unjust? Possibly the litmus test lies in whether the rebellion is on behalf of those who are marginalized and without voice in the great decisions made about their lives versus those who are only in it for themselves.

Upcoming
Kol Ami Event

Community Coffee
Kol Ami is hosting a coffee get-together at 10 a.m. Thursday, July 18, at Aixois (251 East 55th St.). Come chat, work, or simply enjoy a cup of coffee with us!

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



As I write this, I’m hearing the announcement from the U.S. Supreme Court that, unlike everyone else in our country, the president of the United States is above the law. This ends a term of the court in which they have abrogated the long-held Chevron Doctrine — finding that federal judges, rather than administrators who are the top experts in their fields, are better positioned to make decisions about our dangerously climate-challenged ... Click here to read the rest of Rabbi Doug's blog post.

Weekly Feature

For July Fourth, a Hot Dog Origin Story
By Wynne Begun


Hot dogs and the Fourth of July are inextricably linked (pardon the pun). Hot dogs can be kosher, kosher-style, vegan, turkey, gluten-free, etc. — lots of choices to meet our diverse food needs. But how did this humble handheld become what it is today? 

It originated in 1867, when Charles Feltman, a German immigrant and a baker, started selling sausages out of a converted pie cart on Coney Island. He inserted them into soft buns, so customers could eat them without utensils. He called them “Coney Island Red Hots,” an innovation we now know as the hot dog. 

Around the same time, in 1872, Isaac Gellis and his wife, Sarah (also immigrants), opened a kosher butcher shop (later, a delicatessen) on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, where they also sold, among other things, all-beef German-style sausages, or “hot dogs.” 

The hot dog had caught on. Feltman’s Coney Island cart grew into the “Ocean Pavilion” entertainment complex, where its restaurant kept hot dogs on the menu. Former Feltman employee (and Polish Jewish immigrant) Nathan Handwerker got in on the craze by opening his own hot-dog stand. He charged a lot less and made his eatery a “grab joint.” His dogs, too, were all-beef kosher-style. (It wasn’t until the latter half of the 20th century that Hebrew National and, later, Abeles & Heymann produced truly kosher dogs.)
 
One of my fond memories of the humble hot dog is the Chicago-style hot dog. My mother introduced me to it when I was a little girl, and I try to still have one whenever I visit the Windy City. Click here for a recipe. I plan to assemble a few this coming week!