Kol Kehilla
February
2020
The Newsletter of Kehilla Community Synagogue
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Save the date! And - we need volunteers for this event!
Volunteer
Orientation/Mailing Party:
Wednesday, Feb 5, 6-8pm
,
Buber Room
If you can come to the mailing party, help by making contact with media outlets, distribute posters & postcards around town, and/or volunteer at the 3/28 event (with set up, ushering, ticket sales, etc.),
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Dear Friends,
Welcome to the February issue
of
Kol Kehilla
, our monthly newsletter.
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Executively Speaking:
Following Youth Towards Climate Justice
by Michael Saxe-Taller, Executive Director
For several years now the magnitude of the world-wide climate crisis has been lingering like a dark cloud at the edge of my consciousness. I know that enormous harm is being done to our planet, that millions of people’s lives are already affected in devastating ways and that we have a limited window of time to act before major parts of the damage are irreparable.
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Kehilla’s membership is rapidly approaching 500 households! This change can provide challenges and opportunities. We, the Board, are eager to assure that social connections, lived values, and the web of mutual support this community has always had, are maintained as we go from a small group of folks to a larger and more diverse community.
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May the memory of the righteous be for a blessing.
by Rabbi Burt Jacobson
Allan Solomonow was one of the most remarkable and courageous human beings I have ever met, and he was a personal hero of mine. Allan was one of the very first American Jewish activists to work on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. While there were prominent American Jews who opposed the occupation, it was Allan who initiated the first organizational effort to find a solution to the issue. He advocated for mutual recognition, dialogue between Israel and the PLO, commitment to non-violence, compromise, a two-state solution, and a nuclear-free Middle East.
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Kehilla in the West Bank: The Palpable Reality of Occupation: A Report Back
by Rabbi David J. Cooper
On Monday, February 17, Rabbi David, Jim Haber and Becca Heisler will report about their experiences together this last December and January in the Occupied Territory as part of a delegation of the Center for Jewish NonViolence.
Two years ago, on the 50th anniversary my first trip to Israel/Palestine in 1967...
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by Judith C. Dambowic
At age 58, I was working as a Physical Therapist/Feldenkrais practitioner at a Kaiser pain management clinic when I figured out the swelling in my eye was from a tumor in my right sinus cavity. I received a diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma, an incurable blood cancer. There was so much I didn’t understand as a person thrust into the ‘Cancer Cafe’ for the first time.
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Kehilla’s Art Committee invites you to stop by and enjoy Barry Shapiro’s deeply thoughtful, bold, and uniquely imaginative compositions currently on exhibit in the Fireside Room. This show will run through mid-April.
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SERVICES, EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Israel Palestine – A Conversation with Rabbi Arthur Waskow & Starhawk
Tuesday, February 4, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Join Rabbi Arthur Waskow and Starhawk in a conversation about creating an ethical Jewish response to Israel/Palestine. Rabbi Dev Noily will facilitate this event that is geared towards the Jewish community.
Rabbi Arthur Ocean Waskow, author of “Seasons of Our Joy, The Freedom Seder” and eighteen other books is an 86-year-old environmental and peace activist. He received T’ruah’s first Lifetime Achievement Award as a “Human Rights Hero.” He founded and directs Philadelphia’s Shalom Center for justice, peace and healing of the Earth.
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Jews On Ohlone Land Monthly Meeting
Wednesday, February 5, 6:30-9:30pm
We're organizing to maximize Jewish participation in the Shuumi Land Tax throughout the East Bay. The heart of this project is training and supporting people to offer an interactive workshop that addresses the indigenous history of the East Bay, through the teachings of indigenous leaders, and that explores how we as Jews can live in right relationship to this land, its ancestors, and the indigenous people and communities who live here now.
Learn more here.
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Save the dates! Purim Celebrations
Thursday, March 5th: Kehilla School’s all grade, unforgettable, and extremely creative production of the Purim story!
Sunday, March 8th: The Purim Carnival – all ages welcome!
Join us for games, prizes, hamentashen, a bounce house, and more! Sliding scale $10-$36 per family. Costumes are encouraged. We are also looking for volunteers to help power this amazing carnival- please email Natalie Boskin (
natalie@kehillasynagogue.org
).
Monday, March 9, 6-10:30pm:
Erev Purim @ Urban Adamah
Put on your costume, and join Kehilla with our friends from Chochmat HaLev and Urban Adamah at the UA Farm for our annual Purim Megillah and blowout. Programming for all ages, from Jen Miriam and Alon’s musical puppet show, to a full Megillah reading with radical, creative interpretations, to a dance party with live music!
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Tot Shabbat
Saturdays, February 8 and 22, 10:30-11:15am
Join us for Tot Shabbat with Jen Miriam and Alon Altman with their Puppet Friends. Geared towards babies and children up to age 5 with their grownups! Join us for songs, prayers, friends, puppets, and stories and end with challah and grape juice. Bring a snack to share if you’d like.
Learn more here.
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Tu B’Shvat in the Forest with Wilderness Torah
February 9
Special guest teachers Starhawk and Rabbis Arthur Waskow & Phyllis Berman will be joining us as part of JeWitch Camp’s Tu B’Shvat Retreat (camp price includes free admission to Wilderness Torah’s TuB’Shvat in the Forest). To sign up for JeWitch Camp, visit: www.jewitchcamp.org.
Learn more here
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Book Discussion Group:
Monday, February 10, 7-9pm
Book:
Bethlehem Road Murder
by Batya Gur
Note the room change: we will meet in the Back Classroom
All Kehilla members are welcome to join us for our customary meetings on the second Monday of the month at 7pm.
Learn more here
. For more information about the Book Group, contact Terry at mcglynnmandel@gmail.com.
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Tuesday,
February 11, 7-9pm
A presentation of “Electrify Everything” at Kehilla. For urban dwellers the main sources of greenhouse gases are the gas we use to heat our homes and water, our transportation and the electricity we use for power in our homes. This presentation by volunteers from 350 Bay Area will address these areas and what we can do personally (beyond LEDs and recycling) to make a real difference.
Learn more here.
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Save the date!
Day-long Workshop!
Tikkun HaNefesh (THN):
Repairing the Soul, Untangling White Privilege
Sunday, April 26, 2020 10am – 5pm, at Kehilla
This day-long workshop is a chance for white folks to expand our skillfulness as friends, allies, activists, loved ones, and community members with people of color. Participants engage in body, mind, and spirit to do this necessary and often difficult work in a safe and challenging setting. Open to anyone 18 or older who identifies as having white privilege, regardless of whether or not you have attended other
Tikkun HaNefesh
groups.
Learn more and register here.
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FIA East Bay Endorses Measure C
Faith in Action East Bay (formerly OCO) is recommending that the members of its supporting congregations, including Kehilla Community Synagogue, vote yes on March 3rd for Measure C, the Children's Health and Child Care Initiative for Alameda County. This half cent sales tax is critical for the children of our county who need access to high quality health and child care. Learn more at
care4ourkids.org
.
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Sanctuary and Shelter Volunteer Training
Sunday, February 9th, 4-5pm OR
Wednesday, March 4th 7-8pm
We are now ready to welcome sanctuary or shelter guests at Kehilla! Volunteers must attend a one-hour training to learn about important details and logistics.RSVP to sanctuary@kehillasynagogue.org. Please come scent-free! And thank you! In the Fireside Room at Kehilla.
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Liturgically Traditional, Radically Inclusive Kabbalat Shabbat
Friday, February 14, 6-7:30pm
A more traditional davenning style of Kabbalat Shabbat and Ma’ariv, the Shabbat evening service: songful and in Hebrew, following the full liturgy. Please bring veggie finger food to share. Cosponsored by Kehilla and Glitter Kehilla.
Learn more here.
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Please Donate Children's Books!
We are seeking gently used books for children, pre-Kindergarten up through fifth grade levels. You can put book drive donations in a canvas bag decorated with pink elephants, located outside the sanctuary. We will deliver and donate the books to nearby schools in East and West Oakland. Right now many Oakland children live in houses with no books. Help build our community by sharing the books your child is no longer using, boosting the literacy and chances for success for other children. Questions? Contact
Jeanne Finberg
.
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Clergy Appointments
To make appointments with Rabbi Dev, please contact Dee at
dee@kehillasynagogue.org
, and Dee will help you schedule time with them!
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Essentials of Judaism
In February on the SECOND Tuesday - 2/11, 7-9pm
(Usually third Tuesdays of the month)
Join Rabbi Dev for a deep dive into some of the juiciest parts of Jewish practice and life. This monthly class is required for Conversion and Adult B’nei Mitzvah Students and is open to all.
Learn more here.
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Morning Meditation Sit
Wednesdays at 7:50am
With Rabbi Dev. In the Fireside Room (Enter through the Patio entrance on Fairview). Doors open at 7:50 a.m., short teaching at 7:55 a.m., silent sit from 8:00 – 8:30, mourner’s kaddish and announcements at 8:30.
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Kehilla Sings!
Upcoming dates:
(taking a break in January)
Wednesday, March 25
Wednesday, April 22
A monthly gathering with Hazzan Shulamit to circle round and sing together! We’ll nourish our bodies, minds, and spirits with nigunuim (wordless melodies), new tunes for ancient prayers, and songs to take out into the streets. Join us for a delicious time of tuning into our souls and to one another. Everyone’s welcome! Donations accepted at the door $5-15 (for gatherings at Kehilla).
Follow this link
for posted music for shabbat, protests, and more!
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Interfaith Poetry Workshop: Finding Our Way To Hope In Spring
Sunday, February 23, 2-4pm
We live in interesting times, where finding one’s balance can be difficult. Reading and writing poetry offers many consolations, and at times helps us find a more optimistic perspective. Poetry also helps readers and writers develop empathy to see each other across cultures. In this writing workshop participants will read poems of hope by writers from diverse cultures including Saadi Shirazi, Naomi Shihab Nye, Kazim Ali, Chana Bloch, Adrienne Rich, Ross Gay, and William Carlos Williams. Participants will also have the opportunity to explore writing their own poems...
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Board of Trustees Meeting
Tuesday, February 25, 6:15 pm - 9:00 pm
All members are welcome. Back Classroom (main floor, straight down the hall).
Dinner at 6:15.
All events at Kehilla are fragrance-free.
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SAVE THE DATE! A Cantor’s Head
Sunday, March 1, 5:50pm
Cantor Jacob Ben-Zion Mendelson has been in the vanguard and at the epicenter of that evolving tradition since graduating from Hebrew Union College in 1970. As a performing artist and cantor, and a teacher at HUC, the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Academy of Jewish Religion, his Brooklyn-born chops, dynamism and humor have inculcated and inspired legions of cantors across the U.S. and world. At Vogue Theatre, 3290 Sacramento Street, San Francisco.
For more info
.
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Norah Needs You
Norah is an expert joke-teller, modern-dancer, ice cream-licker, and loving big sister. She's been diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder called Fanconi Anemia (FA), and will need a bone marrow transplant - none of Norah's family members are a match for her. Joining the registry is simple and could save Norah’s life.
Join the registry!
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Teens and Adults, let’s do this, one aliyah at a time 🙂 Join us for Shabbat morning services and share your skills and love of leynen with our community. If you’re interested but have never chanted torah before, or if it’s been a long time and you expect to need significant support, please contact Hazzan Shulamit first–
shulamit@kehillasynagogue.org
.
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If you are experiencing abuse in an intimate relationship,
please be in touch with one of our clergy members (Rabbi Dev, Hazzan Shulamit, Rabbi Gray, Rabbi David or Rabbi Burt), or with one of these organizations:
or (510) 845-SAFE
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Donate Supplies to Help
People Experiencing Homelessness
Please help Tayla Husbands-Hankin support our homeless population by donating tents, blankets, tarps & socks! A large box is located by the sanctuary door at Kehilla.
Please fill it with listed items only.
Talya will pick up the items periodically and deliver them to people who need them.Questions? Contact Jeanne Finberg, jeanne.finberg@gmail.com. Thank you!
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Thank You for Your Generosity
So many of you give to Kehilla - you give money, you give time, you give love and community in a wide variety of ways.
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