November 9, 2021 was the 83rd anniversary of Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass,” in which the Nazis burned Jewish businesses and synagogues in Germany and Austria. Sources indicate that over 1,000 synagogues were burned or destroyed. All within the span of two days, 7,000 Jewish businesses were looted and...
Under the leadership of Cantor Levy and Toby Grubman, our partnership with the Lowell Elementary School is flourishing. COVID presented a challenge for us last year, and this year we are not able to do all of the things we did in the past, but we are committed to helping....
October 1, 2021 Focus Groups are Upcoming as We Await Candidate Applications Dear Friends: Now that the congregation survey is completed and results have been analyzed, the Rabbinic Search Committee has turned its attention to planning the upcoming Focus Groups. Coordinated by Liz Kaufman-Taylor, Marijke Shenkman and Andrew Altman, these...
Shanah Tovah! Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel is preparing for a High Holy Day season unlike any other. We look forward to welcoming you back to our building, while also providing remote options for those who wish to stream. Below, we’ve tried to anticipate your questions, as we plan for a...
Last Sunday the Social Justice Committee distributed $10,000 collected through a Facebook fundraiser to residents of the Regina Rose Apartments, who have been displaced from their homes for two months due to unsafe conditions. Residents were forced into motels or makeshift accommodations with friends and family, incurring unexpected expenses while...
Part of this week’s Torah portion, Re’eh, from Deuteronomy 13 contains an extensive discussion of false prophets. Determining true and false prophecy is just as much modern as it was an ancient problem. Prophecy, is not just a matter of predicting the future, indeed even from a Biblical perspective, clairvoyance...
Jewish Relief Agency (JRA) is seeking volunteers to assist with packing and delivering boxes of food and critical household goods to families in need in our community ahead of the upcoming Rosh Hashanah holiday. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, JRA re-engineered our program model to allow individuals and families to volunteer...
Dear members of Keneseth Israel, My name is Viveka Hall-Holt, and I currently serve as a summer intern for Interfaith Philadelphia and am a rising senior at St. Olaf College. I am reaching out to you about a research study that I am doing which includes a short, 20 minute anonymous...
Dear fellow congregants, I hope this finds you happy and healthy. I am looking forward to spending August developing plans for this year’s Inclusion Committee. I do hope you have followed the experiences of Inclusion at KI during the past months: the LGBT+ Pride Shabbat, the ADD Shabbat, the panels on COVID,...
Artist, Rochelle Dinkin, KI member and member of the TJM Artists’ Collaborative invites the KI community to a celebration event, September 9th from 4:30 to 7:00pm for her current one person exhibition at PAFA. Details below. The PAFA Alumni Gallery is pleased to present “The Mystical Heroine Revisited”, an exhibition of...
