Dear KI Congregants, “How Does Being a Synagogue Member Make My Life Better?” is the title of an article that I read a number of years ago in a URJ publication. I tucked it away to share on a day such as this. Rabbi Paul Kipnes, a rabbi of a...
Both the Torah Portion (Pinchas, Numbers 25:10) and the Haftarah (I Kings 18:46) include expressions of extreme (religious) violence. In the former, Pinchas, a grandson of Aaron, publicly slays a mixed couple. In the latter, the prophet Elijah, some four centuries later, slays the priests of Baal and then dismembers...
Throughout the Torah, we receive communications from God in many different forms. Last week, I shared with you that God stayed with us as the presence of clouds. This week God communicates to us through a variety of animals. In the Torah portion, Chukat, God sends serpents to attack the...
Despite the fact that the Constitution of the new State of North Carolina required that the holding of public office required both a belief in the “truth of the Protestant religion” and the “divine authority” of the New Testament, Jacob Henry (1775-1847), a Jew, was elected to the North Carolina...
An Inclusion Committee, chaired by Ellen Green Sklaroff, has been formed at Keneseth Israel to ensure that all congregants have access to enriching cultural and religious experiences. These congregants may have physical and developmental differences, social and emotional issues. The inter-faith, multi-racial and LGBTQ+ communities are also an important part...
Rabbi, I thank you for your blessings on this Installation Shabbat. It is also a blessing for us to be guardians of this historic congregation. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the families who attended our Annual Meeting and KI-Kindness Celebration and approved our new slate...
“I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day, when it’s cold outside, I’ve got the month of May…” begins one of our favorite songs by the Temptations, “My Girl.” Such a sweet song, reminds us that sunshine always lingers behind the darkest clouds, especially when we feel love in our hearts. In...
Dear KI Congregants, Our Annual Congregational Meeting this year was part business meeting and part musical production. We took the time to celebrate the KIndness of our KI Community and we also approved our newest slate of officers, directors, and trustees. Rabbi Sussman brought along Torah Turtle and opened the...
At this moment of extreme racial tension in the United States, it is important to reopen the books and recall an almost entirely unknown story involving the emergence of the Ku Klux Klan in 1868 in Tennessee. The Civil War had ended just three years earlier but smoldering racial resentments...
This year a focus of KI is on Social Justice. At Rosh Hashanah Rabbi Rigler delivered an impassioned speech on Social Justice. She mentioned many suggested books to read. As she spoke, I thought to myself that these titles are in our collection. It is interesting to note that while...
