First, a technical note--we have switched our e-mail system. If you have recently started to receive e-mails from Kol Rinah, that’s why. If you’d prefer not to receive e-mails from us, you may click on the link at the bottom of the e-mail where it says “unsubscribe” and you can edit your e-mail preferences. But I hope you’ll continue to receive e-mails from us to know what’s going on in the community!
Things are starting to get busy around Kol Rinah! If you’ve driven by the new building recently, you can see the steel girders going up for the roof of our new sanctuary. Very exciting!
Tonight, we’ll gather at Villa Park in Olivette at 5:30pm to hang out and then begin at 6pm with an abbreviated Kabbalat Shabbat and Ma’ariv (evening) service. Following services we’ll provide grape juice and challah, and you can bring your own dinner to eat picnic-style. Tonight we’ll also be saying farewell to Toby Loewenstein, our Young Families Program Coordinator and Youth Advisor. Toby will be moving to Boston later this month to begin graduate school. We’ll miss her very much.
We will be at the park regardless of weather *unless* it is raining at the park at 6pm. Candle lighting is at 7:53pm.
Please note that there will not be services at 829 N. Hanley Rd. tonight, except in the case of rain.
Tomorrow morning, services will be in the lower auditorium at 9am. Rabbi Shafrin will be leading Torah Talk at 10:10am and I’ll be giving the sermon, focused on the addendum in Numbers 36 to the story of the daughters of Tzelofchad.
Services Saturday night will be at 6:55pm and Shabbat ends at 8:54pm.
Today is Rosh Chodesh Av, the beginning of the new Hebrew month of Av, and the beginning of the period known as “The Nine Days,” the nine days leading up to the 9th of Av, which commemorates the destruction of both the first and second temples. During this period, except for on Shabbat, it’s customary to refrain from drinking wine (other kinds of alcohol are permitted) and eating meat, getting haircuts, or buying or wearing new clothes.
Tisha b’Av—the 9th of Av, is next Saturday, but the fast and observance will be put off until Sunday, August 10. More details to come next week about Tisha b’Av.
Beginning August 20, Rabbi Shafrin and I will be teaching an Introduction to Judaism class. We’re really excited to bring this opportunity to the congregation and community. Details and dates are here and you can sign up on our website. The class is appropriate for people who are Jewish, people interested in conversion, and people are just interested in learning more about Judaism.
There was a beautiful article in St. Louis Magazine recently about Rabbi Scott Shafrin, who, as of August 1st, is Kol Rinah’s Associate Rabbi. The article focuses on his Limmud and Lattes, being at Kaldi’s in Clayton most Thursday mornings.
Rabbi Shafrin was in Oklahoma (or in transit there—it was a ten-hour bus ride each way) Wednesday and Thursday as part of a group called Heartland for Human Justice that included many clergy leaders from across the St. Louis area. Some of the coverage is here and here.
MISSION: Create a welcoming community that embraces Torah, meaningful worship, lifelong learning, music, Israel, and tikkun olam, guided by the tenets of Conservative Judaism.
Phone: 314-727-1747