HEBREW SCHOOL

We seek to promote in our children an ethical, moral, Jewish identity and to instill pride so they may find comfort and delight in being Jewish.

We encourage critical thinking and participation in the worship service, and hope to develop a commitment to social justice and a desire to become lifelong Jewish learners.

Our Hebrew school teachers, along  with our rabbi and cantor, work to provide our children with many positive and enjoyable learning experiences. This multi-talented team guides the students in a wide and interesting variety of thought-provoking discussions about Jewish history and ritual, life cycles and celebrations, midrash and Torah.

Our kids learn Hebrew in preparation for bar or bat mitzvah but not necessarily because of it. A number of them have returned to the bimah after b’nai mitzvah to read from the Torah and chant Haftorah portions at the High Holidays. This, to the utter delight of our congregation, is truly l’dor v’dor.

Solomon Ibn Gabirol wrote, “Learning in old age is like writing on sand; learning in youth is like engraving on stone.”

COMMITTEES

To truly become part of a caring community, one should consider getting involved in a committee that holds your interest. It does not take a tremendous amount of time, but instead a commitment to furthering the goals of Kehillath Shalom... and at the same time fulfilling your own desire to bring a positive energy and change to your life and the lives of those around you.

Adult Education - Chairperson Rabbi Arthur Schwartz

Our purpose is to establish programs, educational and/or enjoyable, that will add to the Jewish experience of Kehillath Shalom members. We are a new committee so we're experimenting with different kinds of programs. So far, this year we had a wonderful pre-High Holy Days Shabbaton, yoga, dancercise, Israeli dance and Yiddish classes taught by congregants. In addition, Dalia Rosenthal, the Director of our school, is teaching the adult Crash Hebrew course again and Rabbi Schwartz is teaching "Torah and Tefillah" for b'nai mitzvah and other interested students.

Besides our "in-house" programs, we have recently had a visit from Norman Berman, President of the Jewish Geneology Society of L.I. who spoke to us about geneological research. In January, Eileen Bohrer of UJA/Connections will treat us to a video and discussion on "Jewish Identity". We are working with Senda Newman of FEGs to develop a series, "Being Jewish in the 21st Century". We have organized a group called Knit Wits to spread the joy of knitting, crocheting and shmoozing.  We are planning to have some crafts classes. We are also looking for someone to teach challah baking. We would love to hear any ideas/needs for adult classes or from anyone who'd like to teach something.

Social Action

Social Action at Kehillath Shalom: Past, Present and Future

As a Reconstructionist synagogue whose name, Kehillath Shalom, means Community of  Peace, we have always had a strong commitment to working towards social justice – the basic prerequite to peace. As individuals and as a community, we are dedicated to social action as a way of putting our Jewish spirituality into practice.

Our members, both as part of the Social Action committee and on their own, have, over the years, been involved in projects devoted to anti-war, civil rights, gay rights, helping the hungry and homeless in our own community and in other parts of the country and the world, gun control, Russian Jewry, Ethiopian Jewry, anti-semitism, interfaith activities, the environment and Israel. This is only a partial list of what we have worked on. 

Specifically, in the past we were actively involved with the Huntington Coalition for the Homeless and helped raise money for and erected a playground at Haven House, the local shelter for homeless families. Both adults and kids from Kehillath Shalom worked with the coalition to collect food and pack Thanksgiving baskets each November. For several years, we also gathered at Temple Beth El in Huntington on Sunday mornings, working with their members to cook and then deliver hot meals to families who, in those days, were living at some of the welfare motels in our community. We donated furniture and various household goods to help a Russian Jewish émigré family establish themselves here on Long Island. We took part in a number of interfaith gatherings with members of the Christian and Muslim communities. In addition, we educated ourselves by inviting representatives of different Jewish social action organizations to speak at our synagogue. Between marching, picketing, writing letters, making phone calls, attending forums and shlepping here and there, we were a very busy group.

More recently, a number of our congregants have been involved in HIHI, the interfaith program to provide shelter for homeless individuals during the cold winter months and several of our members are active participants in the Huntington Coalition for Affordable Housing. Our synagogue is also a member of MICAH – the Mobilized Interfaith Coalition Against Hunger and our congregants provide ongoing support to the food pantry at St. Hugh’s Church in Huntington Station. Many Kehillath Shalom kids are part of the Peanut Butter and Jelly Club which makes sandwiches for those in need. We  continue to participate in various interfaith activities which we view as essential to furthering the cause of peace in our community and the world.

At this time, our goal is for social action to remain at the heart of our synagogue and we want to include more and more of our members in social action projects. We hope that each of you will think about ways in which you can help fulfill the mitzvah of tikkun olam. As Rabbi Tarfon said, in Pirke Avot, “Yours is not to complete the task, but neither can you desist from it.” We look forward to hearing from you and working with you. 

Deborah Globus, the Chairperson of the Social Action committee, may be reached at:

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 631-935-2777.

Israeli Connections - Chairperson Judith Davis

A Little About the Israel Connections/Ki Va Moed Committee

 

The Israel Connections Committee is an apolitical committee whose mission is to create a caring connection with the Israeli people and to educate our members about Israel Other synagogue’s Israel committees often involve a lot of fund raising. Our emphasis is on education about Israeli culture and social action on behalf of Israel.

We believe direct involvement is the best education.  Through a special program sponsored by SAJES/UJAFederation, Ki Va Moed (The Time is Now), we have taken two unforgettable trips to Israel, visiting our Israeli friends at home and, in return, two delegations of Israelis have stayed with members of our community.

 

One of our joint projects with our Israeli friends was to write personal letters of encouragement to families in Sderot. When our Israeli partners visited us, we gave them 130 letters to bring home to Israel and deliver to families in Sderot.

 

Our synagogue-wide current project, Operation Sheba, was awarded by the Legacy Heritage Innovation Project Israel Engagement Fund. We are proud to be one of only seven synagogues in the country to receive this award.

 

Fundraising

Help us raise needed funds to benefit the Synagogue and Hebrew School and have fun while you do it!  Meet once a month to help plan and participate in the fundraisers.  This year, we had a Community Garage Sale, several Family Nights At the Movies, a children’s production of the play “Annie,” a pre-Mother’s Day Plant Sale, plus our BIG fundraiser, “Oscar Comes to Cold Spring Harbor,” in which we presented our own Long Island tribute to the Academy Awards. 

School-Chairpersons Bernice Lukin & Sheila Leiber

The Education Committee provides a forum for parents to be involved with the Hebrew School.  Here they can express their interests/concerns for their children’s education, create special programs reflecting Jewish values and feel a part of the Kehillath Shalom community.  The Chairpersons and School Director work together as a team in supporting and facilitating the Hebrew School mission.  They also act as liaison to the Board of Trustees.

Ritual - Chairperson Rita Fenderson

The Ritual Committee works closely with the Rabbi, Cantor and Hebrew School to organize and design worship services, festivals and celebrations (i.e., Shabbat dinners, Tu B’shvat and Passover seders); to promote and preserve Jewish ritual and customs; and to encourage active, joyful and knowledgeable participation in services

Bagels and Books-Chairperson Harriet Koppal

bagels & books

celebrating our 20^th anniversary!

Bagels & Books is Kehillath Shalom’s book group. We meet on Sunday mornings, usually the third Sunday of the month, from October to June. Our meetings take place at members’ homes (on Sunday mornings our building is filled with Hebrew School classes), where we enjoy bagels, lox, coffee and other treats, as well as schmoozing, before settling down to a discussion of the monthly selection.

One of the most successful programs KS has ever had, Bagels & Books is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year.

We started in the Fall of 1989, with our first selection, Lovingkindness, by Anne Roiphe; since then we have read nearly 200 books  – fiction and non-fiction (history, political science, sociology, philosophy, biographies and more), by authors both well-known and obscure, books set in every period from the Biblical era to the Middle Ages to the Holocaust to the present day. Our books have taken us around the world: Eastern Europe, Western Europe, the Middle East, the Far East, India, Latin America, and, of course, the US and the very familiar milieu of New York Jews. We have read books we loved and books we had to force ourselves to finish, as well as books we never would have read but for the group, but somehow we always have managed to wring interesting discussions out of them. Must be the bagels, lox, and coffee stimulating the brain cells on Sunday mornings!

Our guiding principle has always been to find books “by Jewish authors or of Jewish interest.” A steering committee, open to anyone, meets over the summer and develops the list for the coming year, based on recommendations, reviews, and books spotted on bookstore and library shelves. Our avid readers are looking forward to the next twenty years and would love to have more people join us.

For 2009-2010, dates and books are:

October 18 – The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit, by Lucette [Matalon] Lagnado

November 15 – All Other Nights, by Dara Horn

December 20 – The Mascot, by Mark Kurzem

January 17 – Panther in the Basement, by Amos Oz

February 14 – My Father's Paradise, by Ariel Sabar

March 14 – The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon, by Richard Zimler

April 18 – The Faith Club, by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner

May 16 – Come With Me to Babylon, by Paul M. Levitt

June 13 – Living a Year of Kaddish, by Ari Goldman

A flyer goes out each September, with the dates and titles for the coming year and a summary of each book, as well as monthly flyers with the location of and directions to each session and RSVP information. Newcomers to the synagogue and group are very welcome. Coming for just one book that is of special interest to you is fine; some of our best sessions have resulted from the combination of a particular book with a particular reader.

If you are thinking of joining KS and would like to try out Bagels & Books, please call the office for the location of the next meeting and RSVP to the host.

Membership

         The Membership Committee works to recruit new members and retain present members.  The Committee interfaces with all other synagogue committees and is responsible for planning activities such as open houses.

Unless notified otherwise, the Kehillath Shalom Membership Committee meets monthly on the 2nd Thursday of the month. The meetings are from 6:00-7:00PM at the Synagogue. We're always happy to have new people attend.

House-Chairperson - Ralph Fenderson

The House Committee takes care of the physical well-being of the Synagogue, both inside and out.  If you are handy and love to maintain your own home, why not help maintain our home away from home.

Communications

The communications committee works with a number of the other committees to create messaging and tactical elements on behalf of the synagogue. This could be an advertisement for Hebrew School, additions to the website, creation of brochures, flyers and collaterals for membership or other committee activity within the community. The committee is also responsible for creating the proper positioning of Kehillath Shalom so that our community can distinguish itself as both an alternative to, and a part of the Long Island Jewish community.

This committee does not meet on a regular basis but does has specific times during the year during which its activities are required, as well as serving Kehillath Shalom whenever the need arises.