Newsletters

Worship Event 
of the Week

Shabbat Shulchan
We make Shabbos together at All Souls this Friday, September 13, at 6 p.m., with our monthly Shabbat Shulchan — an informal service followed by a Seudah, a festive Shabbat dinner. We also welcome families who participate in the PJ Library. Please RSVP to engagement@

kolamikc.org so we know how much food to bring.

Paper Bag Donations
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!

Upcoming
Kol Ami Event

Kol Ami Cooking Series: Baking Rosh Hashanah Honey Cake
 


Help prepare our honey cakes, which we hand out on the first day of Rosh Hashanah. A light dinner will be followed by baking, and then packaging and labeling the cakes. 

When: Monday, September 23 
Time: 6 p.m.
Where: All Souls Kitchen
Cost: Free 

RSVP no later than Friday September 20, at kehilahvp@kolamikc.org.

Upcoming
High Holy Days

Holiday Services
​​​​​​​The High Holidays fast approach. (Erev Rosh Hashanah is October 2.) Watch for the service schedule soon in this newsletter.

Yahrzeits
This Week

September 11 
Edith Compton - mother of Marion Breinin

Rosalie Rosin – mother of Elizabeth Rosin

September 14
Floriene Lieberman – mother of Amy Pollack

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

Robert Clinton
Kenneth Dantzler
Alan Dietchman
Renée Dietchman
Megan Garrison
Harriet Greenwald
Carrie Hollister
Karla Jacobs
Melvin Michael 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



This comes a week later than I had hoped. When heading out of town last week, I wrote my blog early, before the most pertinent news of the week had come out. That news was the murder of six of the Israelis held hostage by Hamas.  

The best known of the six was Hersh Goldberg-Polin, known not because his life mattered more than the other five hostages — they were all gute neshamas, good souls, who touched the lives of ... Click here to read the rest of Rabbi Doug's blog post.

Member Spotlight

Meet Mark Raduziner and Mike Slater
By Ellen Karp
 
Mark Raduziner (left) and Mike Slater

Ellen: What brought you to KC or what has kept you here? Tell us a bit about your backgrounds. 
Mark: I grew up in Omaha, in a conservative synagogue, and moved here in 1981 for a job in magazine publishing. I have a degree in journalism and speech communication, with a minor in broadcasting, from the University of Nebraska, as well as a master’s in mass communication. 
Mike: I grew up in Topeka, in the Methodist Church, and moved here in 1975. I hold a degree in accounting from Washburn University. 
 
What originally drew you to Kol Ami?
Mark: After decades of attending various synagogues, where I never felt completely comfortable or welcomed, I attended some events at Kol Ami. It became apparent that the congregants at Kol Ami were welcoming and embraced diversity — we found a community spirit here.
 
Tell us a bit about your family.
We met in KC in 1982 and will celebrate 42 years together in November. We share our home with Miss Bennie, our 14-year-old pug.  
 
Tell us about your vocation(s).
Mark: I worked in marketing at UMKC before becoming chair and professor of journalism and media communications at Johnson County Community College. 
Mike: I worked for the Social Security Administration in the KC federal building for 30 years. Upon retirement, I worked for Good Samaritan Project and now work at Page Communications as the office manager.
 
What are your avocations?  
Both of us served on the City Council when our neighborhood was the city of Countryside (Countryside merged with Mission in 2003). We have both served on our HOA board, and Mark was chair of the Parks & Recreation Commission in Mission for a decade. We are also into gardening. Mark grows cactus and succulent plants, which number around 300. 
 
This Week's Torah Portion

Parashat Ki Tetze
(Devarim/Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19)


We read of one of 72 commandments enumerated in the parashah, the mitzvah/commandment to not be indifferent. While in the Torah it is somewhat specific to caring for lost property of another until it can be returned to them, over time it has been appropriately expanded to include other ways we must not conceal ourselves from our obligation to help others in need.

Nehama Leibowitz explains that this mitzvah may be difficult to carry out when it involves an enemy with whom we have great hostility. Her hope is that by helping an enemy, they will be an enemy no more. I would add that, possibly, this supposed enemy is not really our enemy; we just need to engage with them in a way that we honor each other’s shared humanity.