April 29th, 2015 
 9 Iyar

Calendar  


Thursday, 
April 30th, 2015
7:00 PM
Game Night at Triangle Square

Thursday, 
April 30th, 2015
7:00 PM
Intro to Judaism with Rabbi Sabine Meyer

Thursday,
April 30th, 2015
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Kalsman Institute's Jewish Wisdom and Wellness event: Queer Bodies, Queer Text and Rockin' LGBTQ Identities 

Friday, 
May 1st, 2015
6:45 PM
Shabbat Refuah: a service of healing and hope with Jeremy Gimbel

Sunday, 
May 3rd, 2015
9:00 AM
Last Day of Religious School in session at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills

Sunday,
May 3rd, 2015
7:30 PM
Free Screening of the film, LETTER TO ANITA with director Andrea Meyerson here for in person Q&A

Tuesday, 
May 5th, 2015
7:00 PM
Pillar 1 Meeting
Engaged Community Interwoven with Each Other

Thursday, 
May 7th, 2015
7:00 PM
Intro to Judaism with Rabbi Sabine Meyer

Friday, 
May 8th, 2015
8:00 PM
Shabbat Services with Guest Speaker Rabbi Gilad Kariv, the Executive Director of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism.

Saturday, 
May 9th, 2015
10:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Torah Study at Kol Ami

Saturday, 
May 9th, 2015
12:15 PM
HIV+ Shabbat Lunch

Saturday,
May 9th, 2015
3:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Kol Ami's 1st Book Club Meeting at The Coffee Fix

Sunday, 
May 10th, 2015
8:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Kol Ami Volunteering at SOVA

Thursday, 
May 14th, 2015
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Refuah Schlemah
 
Please keep the following people in your prayers: 
 
Marilyn Ader
Marlene Bram
Brian Garfield
Margie Haber
Jeannette Kaufman
Jack Levin
Tom Royer
Lowell Selvin
Edie Siteman 
Bob Weiner
Religious School will be meeting for its last day of the year on May 3rd at 9 AM at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills. 
You too, can easily volunteer at SOVA! 

Kol Ami meets at SOVA the 2nd Sunday of 

each month.

Our next meeting is: 

May 10th

 8:30 AM - 12 PM at 1140 N. La Brea

 

Please email 
Ed Casson at:
if you are interested in volunteering.  
Thank you, and remember, SOVA is here to serve you if you are in need. Visit their website atjfsla.org/sova.
If you are unable to make it to Services and would still like to join us for worship, you can. 
 
for Friday night services, and enjoy the spiritual experience of Kol Ami at home.   
The Kol  Ami Mitzvah  Corps is available to visit you at home or in the hospital, bring a hot meal or run an errand.  Call the office at 323-606-0996 and you'll be contacted with-in 48 hours by one of our Corps members. 

 

If you are interested in joining the Mitzvah Corps please contact Kelsi at [email protected] or 323-606-0996. 

Rabbi Eger Online 
 
Wordpress logoHave you visited Rabbi Eger's blog recently? There are new posts regularly, so be sure to visit often.  
  
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You can also follow Rabbi Eger on Twitter @deniseeger 

Or follow Kol Ami on Twitter @KolAmiLA 
 
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 And like her page on Facebook

For two and half hours on Tuesday, April 28th, 2015, the legality of same-sex marriage bans in Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee was argued in front of the Supreme Court. The day's proceedings were divided into two parts. The first covered the question of whether states must allow same-sex marriage and the second dealt with whether states must recognize another state's legalized same-sex union. 

We are so thrilled, proud and, quite frankly, envious of Rabbi Eger who was able to be in Washington D.C. this past Tuesday, on the steps of the Supreme Court, representing Kol Ami and Reform Judaism during such a momentous event!
 

Kol Ami honors Jeffrey A. Seymour for his long-time charitable work, his support of the Jewish community, especially the Hebrew Union College, his service on a number of public and private boards and committees and his impressive professional achievements. Seymour co-founded the California Coalition for Public Higher Education and West Hollywood Library Foundation's Board of Directors. He has also founded Seymour Consulting Group (SCG), a governmental relations firm specializing in areas of planning, zoning and land use consulting as well as public policy analysis and ordinance studies. 

 

We are so proud to honor Tobi Rosen and Tara Eisner for their decades of service and dedication to Kol Ami and the larger Jewish community as well as for their beautiful example of family. Tara has devoted her career to nobly caring for hundreds of seniors ensuring their personal welfare and has served on numerous boards in the Jewish community. Tobi has served on the Kol Ami Board for eight years. During that tenure, she has chaired our Professional Practices Committee, worked on many of our galas and silent auctions and has been a regular in our annual Purim Schpiels. They are devoted mothers and grandmothers and long-time members of our congregation.

Tobi Rosen and Tara Eisner and Jeffrey Seymour will be honored at our 
"A Supreme Evening" Gala. 
Featuring Mary Wilson of The Supremes
May 31st, 2015
6:30 PM to 10:30 PM
At the Edison in Downtown Los Angeles 
108 W 2nd St #101, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Individual tickets ($350), sponsorship opportunities and Tribute Journal ads are now available online.  Please contact us with any questions at 323-606-0996.

Kol Ami is excited to have Rabbi Gilad Kariv with us on May 8th speaking on the state of the Reform Movement in Israel. 

As we all have been voting for Religious Equality, Gender Equality and Pluralism in the World Zionist Congress elections, we can now hear, first-hand from Rabbi Kariv, how these values are received behind the doors of the Knesset and in the streets of Israel. This very special Shabbat service will give us the opportunity to connect to our counterparts in Reform congregations of Israel. How can we best help? What can we hope for in the next year and in the next fifty years? 

As the Executive Director of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism, Rabbi Kariv has worked to expand the Movement, advance its stance among the Israeli public, establish new Reform congregations throughout Israel, and obtain Israeli government recognition of the Movement's activities. His experience and insight should be heard by everyone who cares about a more liberal Israel. 

As part of Kalsman Institute's annual Jewish Wisdom and Wellness Festival, Kol Ami is hosting a free event: Queer Bodies, Queer Text and Rockin' LGBTQ Identities

 

Taught by Merissa Nathan Gerson, Queer Bodies, Queer Text and Rockin' LGBTQ Identities will explore wellness practices that emerge from classic Jewish texts and speak directly to the LGBTQ way of being in this world. 

 

See how Jewish wisdom affirms queer gender expression and sexual orientation through poetry, prayer, and practice. We will help the Torah leave the closet behind! Wellness practices from classic Jewish sources for the LGBTQ & Ally Jewish community. This exciting event is a collaboration between JQ International and Congregation Kol Ami. Bring your whole self, your curiosity, comfy clothes and get playful. 

 

RSVP to Kelsi at [email protected] or call 323-606-0996.

 

Join us Sunday, May 3rd at 7:30 PM for a free screening of LETTER TO ANITA followed by a Q&A with filmmaker, Andrea Meyerson. 
 

Anita Bryant, a former Miss America pageant contestant, was the spokeswoman for the Florida Citrus Commission in the late 1970s when she began a highly visible anti-gay campaign disingenuously called "Save Our Children." 

Ronni Sanlo, a married mother of two, had denied her true self for years. When she finally acknowledged that she was a lesbian and asked her husband for a divorce, he responded by taking advantage of anti-gay laws and denying Ronni custody of their son and daughter -an injustice that propelled Ronni into a life of LGBT activism.

In this heart-wrenching documentary, award-winning filmmaker Andrea Meyerson explores the painful legacy of singer Anita Bryant's infamous anti-gay campaign of the late 1970s. Narrated by Emmy-nominated actress Meredith Baxter, LETTER TO ANITA is a fascinating look at a tumultuous period in American society. The film reveals what ultimately happened to Ronni's children, to Anita Bryant's own family, and to Ronni herself. With jaw-dropping archival footage, interviews with Ronni and her son, and the first on-camera interview with Anita Bryant's son Robert Green, LETTER TO ANITA paints a riveting portrait of what anti-gay discrimination can do to families-and how its destructive power can ultimately backfire on itself.

Check out the film's website for more information.  RSVP online or call 323-606-0996.

"Impressive . . . Soffer's style is natural and assured." -Meg Wolitzer, All Things Considered, NPR

 

Lorca spends her life poring over cookbooks to earn the love of her distracted mother, a chef, who is now packing her off to boarding school. Desperate to prove herself, Lorca resolves to track down the recipe for her mother's ideal meal. She signs up for cooking lessons from Victoria, an Iraqi-Jewish immigrant profoundly shaken by her husband's death. Soon these two women develop a deeper bond while their concoctions- cardamom pistachio cookies, baklava, and masgouf-bake in Victoria's kitchen. But their individual endeavors force a reckoning with the past, the future, and the truth-whatever it might be.

 

In Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots, we see how food sustains not just our bodies, but our hopes as well. "Bukra fil mish mish," the Arabic saying goes, "Tomorrow, apricots may bloom."


As part of the Kalsman Institute's Jewish Wisdom and Wellness Festival, Kol Ami is holding a special Refuah Shabbat Service on May 8th, 2015 at 6:45 PM. Jeremy Gimbel will lead us in this incredible musical service that centers on Moses' prayer of healing for his sister, Miriam. We invite you to come together to create a sacred space of communal healing. 
TOMORROW IS THE LAST DAY TO VOTE!

ARZA: Representing Reform Judaism urgently needs your vote! Voting closes on April 30th, 2015. 


Don't miss your chance to help Israel when Israel needs us most. ARZA believes in religious equality. ARZA believes in pluralism. ARZA believes in peace through a two-state solution.  Help shape the immediate future of Israel today!