Rabbi's Week in Review Blog

While there is no way I would describe a pandemic in positive terms, I have learned a couple of things the last two-plus years that we can take with us going forward. 

While Zoom is not a fully satisfying substitute for gathering in person, the Zoom world helped keep our local community connected during lockdown. It also allowed us to reach out beyond our congregation to find former congregants who have moved away, and family and friends who live out of town.

Within the Kansas City Kol Ami community, our weekday Shaharit/morning service on Zoom has given us the opportunity to pray together on a regular basis, engage in a little bit of study every morning and stay connected. Having any expectation of gathering in person on a weekday morning — with or without Covid — is unrealistic, so to have the Zoom option has opened up a whole new opportunity for Kol Ami.

This coming Shabbat, we have the opportunity to connect with former congregants via livestream with the bar mitzvah of Aiden Yampolsky. His family moved away a number of years ago, now residing in Madison, Wisconsin. What a wonderful opportunity to stay connected and continue to be a part of Aiden’s life, along with brother Seth and mom Dia Austine Roney.

When one of ours, one who is a part of the Kol Ami community, becomes a bar or bat mitzvah — part of our adult Jewish community — it is important that we welcome them into the community by being present on their important day. If you can, please join us on the livestream from Temple Beth El in Madison.