Janice Dec 14 @ KSS

Thoughts on Hanukkah

Photo couresty of Mark Klinchin

A deepening of the candle lighting ritual from Ritualwell.org:

As you light the Shamash:
For the blessing of well-being and transformation that flows through the Shekinah, the Source of Healing Wisdom and Inner Light.

With thanks to Rabbi Malka Drucker, whose Hanukkah teaching can be found at malkadrucker.com.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful Hanukkah!

Our Hanukkah Celebration

Reminder: Hanukkah Fair

Sunday, December 2nd
10:30am - 12:30pm

(PS  Auditions are that day, too!  KSKP Production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and we're welcoming adults this year.  See you there!) 

Our Annual Hannukah Fair!

A Planter's Story

The view of our shul at 58 Goose Hill Rd

While walking along a road, a sage saw a man planting a carob tree. He asked him: "How long will it take for this tree to bear fruit?" "Seventy years," replied the man. The sage then asked: "Are you so healthy a man that you expect to live that length of time and eat its fruit?" The man answered: "I found a fruitful world, because my ancestors planted it for me. Likewise I am planting for my children."

(Babylonian Talmud Ta'anit 23a)

Kehillath Shalom in October

Our beautiful shul on a glorious Autumn day

Senior Seminar - how cool is this?!

HARRY POTTER AND PIRKE AVOT : SENIOR SEMINAR

Pirke Avot, written around 200 CE, is often mistakenly called the Chapter of the Fathers.  A better translation would be The Book of Principles. It’s a concise treasury of ethics and wisdom similar to the Analects of Confucius or the Manual of Epictetus.

The Book of Principles weaves together spiritual values, ideas of right conduct, and respect for others. The sages who are quoted sought to identify principles which would imbue lives and relationships with a sense of purpose and meaning.

As a backdrop to our discussions about values, we will be exploring some of the stories and events in the  Harry Potter series.  Some of the topics will be: the soul; good and evil; friendship; the  hero;  and the role of  teachers and study.  In addition to handouts from Pirke Avot we shall reading selections from When a Jew Seeks Wisdom by Seymour Rossel.

By making the teachings of Pirke Avot accessible we hope that our students can later apply its wisdom to their own life decisions.

Missing Voices Forum

A great big thank you goes out to Karen Taylor of L.I. GLBT Services Network for a wonderful Friday Night Forum.  And for reminding us that it's important not only to BE a welcoming community but to keep saying it again and again and again.

A prayer from this evening:

In All the Ways We Love

(Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, Straight)

May the One who blessed those who came before us, Naomi and Ruth, Isaac and Rebecca, Jonathan and David, bless us in all the ways we love.  May our journeys together be meaningful and our relationships grow and deepen.  May we support each other and share our times of difficulty as well as our celebrations and joys.  And may we always see the Divine spark implanted in each of us at the time of Creation as a sacred validation of whom we love.  May our bonds and passions be a true blessing in our lives and pleasing in God's eyes.  

And let us say, Amen.

Adapted from Siddur Sha'ar Zahav, Congregation Sha'ar Zahav, San Francisco, CA

Thank you to Karen and all our guest panelists!

A Musical Shabbat...

...with Janet London and Milton Block!

And...desert will be served!

See you there:

Friday, October 11th, 2012
7:30pm
Kehillath Shalom Synagogue

October 11th is National Coming Out Day

Today is National Coming Out Day.  

You can read about it here and here.

Later in the month we'll be having a special guest speaker at our Friday Night Services.  This event is open to the public:

Our synagogue’s Social Action Committee cordially invites you to attend a significant and timely Friday Night Forum:

Missing Voices: Engaging and embracing GLBT youth and adults in our Jewish community.

The celebrated inclusiveness of Long Island in this 21st century often does not reach our Jewish GLBT community, especially GLBT youth, who are daily subject to discrimination, ostracism, and worse in their social, community and employment endeavors.

DO NOT MISS this forum for dialogue, learning and action, featuring dynamic speaker Karen Taylor, Director of Jewish Outreach, L.I. GLBT Services Network, and a panel of congregation members and friends.

DATE: Friday, October 19, 2012

TIME: Forum is at 8:15 p.m. Please join us for Friday night services at 7:30 p.m.

LOCATION: Kehillath Shalom Synagogue 58 Goose Hill Road, Cold Spring Harbor, NY

Open to the entire concerned community.

All are welcome!

Nassau County Museum of Art - Chagall Exhibit

For Kol Nidre

“When we worship in public we know our life is part of a larger life, a wave in the ocean of being – the first-hand experience of that larger life which is God.”

A Kavanah from Mordecai M. Kaplan from Kol Haneshamah: Mahzor Leyamim Nora’im – Prayerbook for the Days of Awe

May you have an easy and meaningful fast.

Bring the Spirit of Tishri/Elul Holidays to Life

From Dalia Rosenthal (our Hebrew School Director):

The High Holidays are a time

of introspection and reflection. As

the leaves begin to turn and the

days grow shorter, our thoughts

turn to the year that is ending, the

lessons we have learned, and how

we can begin anew and make our

lives better. Building a sense of

connection to our community and

becoming more familiar and more

comfortable with the symbols and

rituals can personalize the High

Holidays and make them so much

more meaningful.

When I was a child growing

up in Israel, we could feel the

holidays approaching. The atmosphere

changed. Preparations began

at home; the street markets

abounded with honey and new

fresh fruits, Lulavim and Etrogim.

Sukkot were erected on the roofs,

and the hustle and bustle of the

pre-holiday preparations made us

all “get the feeling” and get into

the holiday mood. We were one

community, one people looking

forward to that sweet taste, hoping

it would linger forever.

Let us all welcome and enjoy

our holiday season. Marv and I

wish you a healthy, happy sweet

year.

Shanah Tova Umetukah!

From Erev Rosh Hashanah

A quote from Kol Haneshamah: Mahzor Leyamim Nora'im - Prayerbook for the Days of Awe

Our noisy year has now descended with the sun beyond our sight, and in the silence of this praying place, we close the door upon the hectic joys and fears, the accomplishments and anguish, of the year that we have left behind.  What was but moments ago the substance of our life has now become its memory, and what we did must now be woven into what we are.  On this day we shall not do, but be;…

We are here on Rosh Hashanah Eve, poised somewhere between what we have been and what we wish to be.  We are here at this season of teshuvah, of turning, of returning to the self we have covered up behind the roles and masks with which we have learned to protect ourselves.  We are here in celebration and in search, in judgment and embrace, ready to confront ourselves and the world in which we find ourselves this night.  We seek to open wide the windows behind which we have hidden, and to send forth hand and heart to learn where we have come, what we have become, and what we hope to be.

By Richard N. Levy

L'Shana Tovah!  May you be inscribed in the Book of Life...

Registration and High Holiday Tickets Are Just a Call Away

Our nice new sign! 

Announcing something special for Sukkot

Now's the time...

...to request your High Holiday tickets!

Kehillath Shalom Synagogue offers adult and absolutely fabulous children's services.  Call our office today to request tickets! (631)367-4589  We make it simple and easy.

High Holidays are right around the corner - Rosh Hashanah begins the night of Sunday, September 16th.  Join us at Kehillath Shalom Synagogue for a most memorable High Holiday experience.

Here's what new members are saying about us...

"Want to find a community that is inclusive, kind, accepting and friendly? This is the place! Open to all: interfaith, GLBT, people all abilities. As someone who grew up with no Jewish training, this is a place I feel comfortable in. My Catholic husband is never excluded, and never feels awkward or like an outsider. My disabled child feels loved, respected and cherished there. Check it out for yourselves."

 

-Hillary from Huntington