Happy New Year! As always, we mark our new fiscal year with our newly souped up Annual Membership Meeting and a lay leadership slate. I asked; you answered! At the Annual Membership Meeting on June 29th, amidst the rousing music and interactive presentations, members wrote their answers to two questions:...
This week at KI, our new kitchen floor is starting to be installed! It has been very exciting to see the process of the old becoming new again. Sometime this month, our kitchen floor will be gorgeous, bright, and new. We will begin creating new memories and moments in this space,...
On Sunday, I had the honor of joining with many KI members to take part in a public reading of Frederick Douglass’ iconic essay, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” We joined with neighboring faith communities and, in the shade of a pavilion at Wall Park, read...
The Israelites Begin the March to the Promised Land, and Our Children and Grandchildren Begin their March to Summer Camps As we begin B’haalot’cha, the third portion of B’Midbar/Numbers, the Israelites are camped at the foot of Mount Sinai for a full year after G-d Almighty had given the Torah...
This week we celebrate the holiday of Shavuot. Shavuot, meaning “weeks” in Hebrew, marks the culmination of a seven-week journey that begins with our liberation on Passover and commemorates the gift of the Torah at Mount Sinai. The meaning of Shavuot as “weeks” reminds us that meaningful experiences often require...
I wanted to share with you the remarks I was honored to deliver as the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism launched its nonpartisan Every Voice, Every Vote campaign this week. The campaign is committed to getting minority voices to the ballot box to ensure that all peoples are represented...
We are in the midst of the Counting of the Omer, the forty-nine days that take us from the second day of Passover to Shavuot. We refer to this period as ‘the counting of the Omer.’ It is a literal counting during which, each day, we ourselves grow one day...
Recently the Archives has received an increased number of requests for family history information. In most cases we can find the relevant material to respond. In other cases, we utilize Ancestry.com databases to focus or confirm that we are indeed looking at the records of the right person. Generally, a...
In the fall of 1955, Rabbi Bertram Korn stood up at Rosh HaShanah services to deliver an extensive sermon on the state of KI. He spoke of the synagogue expanding its space, a full and active membership, the great impact KI was having on its surrounding community. The congregation was...
Public Reading of Megilat Haatzmaut-Israel’s Declaration of Independence This Shabbat, we read the Torah Portion of EMOR, the eighth portion in the book of Vayikra/Leviticus, 21:1–24:23. The Israelites are in the middle of their wandering in the Sinai Desert on their 40-year journey to the Promised Land. The second section...
