Zoom Shabbat Blessings We celebrate Shabbat this Friday, January 10, at 6:45 p.m. on Zoom with Shabbat blessings. (As we have an extra Shabbos, if you will, this month, we are a little outside our usual schedule.) We make Shabbat while staying in the warmth of our own homes. Join us. Click here for the Zoom link.
Ongoing Kol Ami Event
Mah Jongg Club Kol Ami's Mah Jongg Club meets two Monday evenings a month at 7 p.m. Interested in playing? Email office@kolamikc.org.
Yahrzeits This Week January 8 Leizer Balk – father of Fay Balk January 9 Marvin Lubert – father of Alan Lubert January 13 Elaine Lubert – mother of Alan Lubert
Ely Solomon – father of Roberta Solomon
We Wish Mi Shebeirach A complete healing of mind, body and spirit:
Robert Clinton Kenneth Dantzler Alan Dietchman Renée Dietchman Judy Krugman Yale Krugman Carol Ann Parker Steve Sackin Micha ben Sarah Jean Shifrin Melvin Michael Slater Serena Verden
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
Sometimes, without seeking a particular issue to address, one seems to come at me as something that is on many people’s minds.
Lately, it has been the issue of immigration and what is to come of immigrant populations in the near future — in a conversation with the policy director at the most recent meeting of the Rabbinical Association of Greater Kansas City; a congregant who wanted to talk with me about what I see as the landscape for immigrants; a conversation regarding the fear of families — parents and children being split up; and, on the day I write this, an article in The New Yorker ... Click here to read the rest of Rabbi Doug's blog post.
This Week's Torah Portion Parashat Naso (Bamidbar/Numbers 4:21-7:89)
With this week’s Torah portion, we complete this year’s reading of the Book of Bereishit/Genesis. We finish with the conclusion of Jacob’s life and of Joseph. It has been a long narrative about a single family, a family grounded in love and caring, and a family with all of its challenges and dysfunction.
It is this family that is a foundation upon which we have built K’lal Yisrael, our Jewish community. At Kol Ami, we understand family in its broadest sense. That family is created in love and loyalty, unbounded by narrow gender categorization or institutional stereotype.
Sports News
Jewish Athletes — Winter Edition By Stan Stern
College quarterback Jake Retzlaff, who led his Brigham Young University Cougars to a big victory over the Colorado Buffalos December 28, recently signed a sponsorship deal with Manischewitz, the company's first partnership with an athlete.
Anthony Firkser, a reserve tight end for the Chiefs, is waiting to see if he’ll be on the playoff roster. He last played against Houston December 21.
Sandy Koufax celebrated his 89th birthday December 30, two days before the birthday of Hank Greenberg z”l, who would have been 114. The two Hall of Famers are probably the two greatest Jewish baseball players of all time.
We should also remember Agnes Keleti, who died January 2, one week before her 104th birthday. After surviving the Holocaust in Hungary, she competed in the 1952 Olympics, where she won 10 medals in gymnastics, the most ever for Hungary and the third most medals by a Jewish Olympian behind swimmers Mark Spitz and Dara Torres.*
*The Jewish Telegraph Agency's The Jewish Sport Report newsletter, jta.org
Our mailing address is: Congregation Kol Ami 4501 Walnut Street ℅ All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church Kansas City, MO 64111
