KoREH News

 

I have often been asked what it means to work as a rabbi. Most often, I think that outside of leading holidays, lifecycles, and religious ritual ceremonies, the work of being a rabbi is creating the connective tissue between people that builds and strengthens a community. Or, as the brilliant statesman, Robert F. Kennedy, once explained, “We must attempt to bring people back to the warmth of community, to the worth of individual effort and responsibility, and of individuals working together as a community, to better their lives and their children’s future.”

 

If I could sum up the work we do together as a Jewish community, it would be all of those things. We work to bring people in by reaching out to them, building relationships, and helping them meet their interpersonal, spiritual, creative, intellectual, and cultural needs. We try to foster and develop leaders who can use their own individual skills and talents to not only help our community, but grow in their own unique capacities. And most importantly, we try to create a better world, one where we, and the generations to come after us, can flourish and thrive.

 

As we look to start our spring semester of KoREH, it is incredible to be able to reflect on how far we have come this year. Our enrollment is the highest it has ever been, with two thirds of our classes at capacity. We have been able to carve out new avenues for creative learning and expression for students from all backgrounds, learning styles, and abilities, and help them find their place within our Jewish community. We have helped students find their voice, and safe spaces to understand and build their identities, both as Jews and as wonderfully diverse human beings. And we have been able to do all of these things because of the relationships we have built between students, parents, family members, teachers, and our larger community.

 

We are so excited for everything we have in store for the rest of this school year! Take a look and see all of the amazing things we’ve been up to.