Rabbi's Week in Review - June 10, 2025
06/10/2025 06:00:41 PM
Something good to talk about: this past Erev Shabbat we celebrated Pride Month with Pride Shabbat. Ga’avah KC sponsored this wonderful evening with our Congregation Kol Ami family, Beth Torah, and Jewish Experience.
Thanks particularly to Brad Ordo as the Community Chair for Ga’avah. We are so lucky at Kol Ami that he is also our Kehilah Vice-President. Beyond his leadership he is always the first one to engage in any task...Read more...
Rabbi's Week in Review - June 3, 2025
06/03/2025 08:35:55 PM
We had a full house to celebrate Shavuot this past Sunday evening with a traditional dairy meal and wonderful Torah study discussion. Regardless of whatever sadness surrounds us at any given moment, the holidays happen when they happen (in the case of Shavuot on the 6th of Sivan).
This is not to say that we dictate feelings that presumably go with the holidays. Our lives happen as they will regardless when our holidays...Read more...
Rabbi's Week in Review - May 27, 2025
05/27/2025 07:16:32 PM
I am writing in the late afternoon after being together for the funeral of Sarah Milgrim z”l. There is so much I could say about this horrific event, what implications it may (or may not) have for our Jewish community. I think it is way too soon for such a discussion, and I fear that many implications will be drawn that will do a disservice to Sarah’s many accomplishments, and be far from true.
What I can say, albeit with some...Read more...
Rabbi's Week in Review - May 20, 2025
05/20/2025 06:02:43 PM
Many of us seem to be struggling right now to balance challenges on the one hand -- our fearfulness with regard to the state of the world, and our country in it; how we can get involved to change things for the better -- with meeting immediate needs on the other -- allowing ourselves self-care, even moments of joy and celebration.
With a spoiler alert, I don’t have an answer or a tried and true approach to finding that balance. I...Read more...
Guest Blog: Haley Ferguson, Board President
05/13/2025 06:02:39 PM
Dear Kol Ami family,
I hope you all enjoyed a restful Shabbat and that your week is off to an auspicious start. For the last two years, I have had the joy of worshiping alongside you, first as a conversion student
and then as a member of Kol Ami. Now, I am honored to transition into a new role as Board
President....Read more...
Rabbi's Week in Review - May 13, 2025
05/13/2025 12:02:50 PM
This coming Thursday, May 15, at 7 PM, at St. Francis Xavier Church by Rockhurst University, there will be an interfaith service in support of immigrants and immigrant rights. I have been asked to offer my reflections and a prayer.
Two things come to mind in anticipation of the service. One is my own connection to immigrant rights, or really immigrant opportunities. My paternal grandparent came to America in the...Read more...
Rabbi's Week in Review - 5/6/2025
05/06/2025 12:36:36 PM
I have just returned from Italy. Among the places Fay and I toured included the Jewish Museum in Bologna, providing both a comprehensive history of Italian Jewry and the Bologna Jewish community. We also toured the Jewish Ghetto in Venice. Dating back to 1516, the Jewish Ghetto is both a symbol of Jewish persecution, and an example of Jewish persistence against the most difficult circumstances. We always find opportunities to...Read more...
Rabbi's Week in Review - 4/22/2025
04/22/2025 12:15:01 PM
What a wonderful Pesach Seder Kol Ami presented for the broader Jewish community, welcoming many new faces. This week I am leaning into gratitude for all of the amazing volunteers who give so much to Congregation Kol Ami, and beyond.
While there were many who stepped up, and I know I will leave someone(s) out, a profuse thanks goes to Brad Ordo who gave an enormous amount of time, heart, and soul to give over one hundred...Read more...
Rabbi's Week in Review - 4/15/2025
04/14/2025 09:02:08 PM
This week I have been pretty singularly focused on Pesach. If I have a favorite holiday, it is Passover.
For me it brings out two of our most prominent Jewish values. One is the idea of Machloket L’Sheim Shamayim - argument for the sake of heaven. Respectful disagreement is how we learn and how we grow. In our Pesach Seder, we read of the Machloket, the disagreement and debate between Rav and Shmuel. Shmuel speaks of our...Read more...
Rabbi's Week in Review - 4/8/2025
04/08/2025 12:02:47 PM
Pesach is my favorite holiday. Not because it is our holiday of liberation, although as themes go it is a pretty good one. Not because of the food we eat. I know food is a controversial and highly subjective topic. For me, after I have fulfilled the mitzvah of eating matzah that I accomplish at the first two Seders, I have had my fill. After that it is an opportunity to celebrate a low-carb diet.
What I...Read more...
Mon, June 16 2025
20 Sivan 5785
Sign Up For Our Newsletter
Holidays At A Glance