Jacob de Wit painting from 1737, commissioned for the Amsterdam town hall. It depicts Moshe appointing the seventy judges. Our parsha today is Devarim, the first Torah portion in Deuteronomy. Moshe delivers a speech, or sermon, to the Israelites, knowing that he will die soon. When we first meet Moshe, he is a man of Read More
Blog
What does it mean to defund the police? by Debra Seltzer
What does it mean to defund the police? Paisha Thomas from Faith in Public Life opened her comments by asking us to consider the city budget as a moral document, and the fact that one-third of our city’s budget is allocated to policing. Other cities have begun the process of diverting some of those funds Read More
Passover and Liberation, Now and In Our Time by Debra Seltzer
In her recent workshop with our kehila, Rabbi Dr. Tirzah Firestone shared these words from the poet Rumi: “Moses and Pharaoh are both within you. You need to look for these two adversaries within yourself.”. As we approach Passover, I call on all of us to wrestle deeply with what it means to have both Moses Read More
A Passover Journey with Rabbi Dr. Tirzah Firestone
Tonight we’ll sleep beneath the full Snow Moon. True to its name, the first weeks of this lunar cycle were our snowiest this year. With hope in my heart and my mind on early spring planting at Over the Fence Urban Farm, I pray the next few weeks will be more mild. When the new Read More
Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month (JDAIM)
Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha’olam, m’shaneh habriyot .בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם מְשַנֶּה הַבְּרִיּוֹת February is Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month (JDAIM), and here is a prayer, which like all like all things about JDAIM, is perfect for the whole year. This is one of my very favorite Jewish prayers, and one Read More
Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month –
From the Columbus Jewish News: “Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month, known as JDAIM, will be observed in Columbus this February with a pair of virtual events hosted by a group of Jewish congregations coming together to bring about better knowledge and acceptance for those with disabilities. On Feb. 7, families can come together to Read More
BONUS Shabbat Shabbaton!
Shabbat may be the greatest gift the Jews gave to the world. Without it (and union activists) would we even have a week-end?! This January, when we are all in search of healing — from the traumas of 2020 and the tumultuous start of 2021 — the calendar has given us an BONUS Shabbat. And Read More
January Events at KSS
Following are just a few highlights for January to get you started! And as always, if you have programming ideas you want to share or are feeling inspired to lead, please reach out. The KSS Board looks forward to hearing from you! Jodi Jewish, Grassroots, and Local: Organizing for Justice with Carolina Jews for JusticeSunday Jan Read More
Thoughts for a Happy Secular-Jewish New Year
This weekend, I finally picked up Jonathan Safran Foer’s We Are the Weather which was included in my swag bag from the Jewish Farmer Network Gathering last winter. His writing in the nearly 70 page introduction is at once informative and prophetic; a call for action to mitigate the climate crisis and an analysis of the cultural Read More
Thoughts on Chanukah and Wobbles from Cheryl
This year, while placing candles in my Chanukah menorah, I dropped a couple, and they broke. I could still use them, but they were a bit wobbly. My menorah has one or two candle holders which are slightly larger than the rest, and any candles I place in them are also a little wobbly. But Read More