Kol Nefesh Masorti

What is going on in israel?

Anat Hoffman is arrested for carrying a Sefer Torah at the Kotel,

A conversion bill going through the knesset which is being bitterly opposed by the Israeli Masorti and Reform movements.

Articles & letters below:

Video of Anat's arrest
http://blogs.forward.com/sisterhood-blog/129324/

Rabbi Wittenburg
Letter to PM Netanyahu

Alana Newhouse (New York Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/opinion/16newhouse.html?_r=2&emc=eta1

Fox news (fair & balanced (sic)):
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/07/12/religious-conversion-moves-ahead...

Rabbi Julie Schonfeld:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-julie-schonfeld/israel-conversion-bi...

Hi everybody,

Many thanks to those who have already written pieces for the Rosh Hashana magazine, or have promised to do so. For those who haven't, we'd love to hear your thoughts on any subject that moves you, and on the theme of ritual in particular. You can write about big rituals or small ones -- our many acts of bending and bowing; touching (but not touching!); wearing strange knotted fringes and wrapping ourselves with strips of leather; moving forward, backing up, reaching upward, even jumping or hopping on our toes. (If we're being watched by aliens, what on earth do they think of us?) We're interested in what these (or any) rituals mean to you, but also in what rituals you choose NOT to perform, and why. Are there rituals or practices you find it difficult to relate to? How do you make that jive with your commitment to Jewish life in general?

We will start the discussion about the community here. This was the KNM Purpose Statement that the community developed 10 years ago.

2000 Purpose Statement

Is this still relevant? What would you change? Add? Remove?

You can post comments below,

What makes a hero? אֵיזֶהוּ גִבּוֹר?

This summer at Kol Nefesh, we will be running a series of Seudah Shelishit events on the theme of אֵיזֶהוּ גִבּוֹר? – What makes a hero?

Who are our heroes? What does it mean to be a hero? Who is the hero in your life? A family member? A figure from history? A character in a novel?

The last instalment was on Shabbat June 26th at the home of Andrew and Tzvia Bowman - stay tuned for the next Hero!

Click here for a monthly Jewish calender

Go to the Events calender in the right hand panel to see this weeks Shabbat programme at KNM.
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Jews have been studying the Torah for thousands of years without running out of new insights. A group of us started to meet weekly at our homes in the autumn of 2007 to spend a couple of hours continuing this tradition. Bringing a chumash ot two, maybe some commentaries, we read and discussed the next week's sedrah, trying to understand it from a non-fundamentalist perspective. We had fascinating discussions on the moral, historical and halachic meanings of each week's Torah reading, rarely managing to complete the sedrah before time ran out.

This year we have decided to study Samuel.

Come and join us - no prior knowledge is needed

(the Prophet Samuel by Claude Vignon)

At the Kelly's

This edition is dedicated to the memory of our dear Sue Gordon.

Pesach Magazine

Thanks to everyone who contributed, and especially our editors Liz and Meira.

Marom is a Jewish organisation that facilitates social and educational programs for young adults in local communities and university campuses throughout the UK within the framework of Masorti Judaism. Marom is part of an international movement that strives to combine tradition and change into a meaningful way of living a Jewish life.

Marom February Bulletin

Learning the Art of Shulmanship - June 13th

Art of Shulmanship is the name given to the series of seminars that, as the name implies, provide knowledge on how to get the best out of attending a synagogue, whether as a leader of prayer or a congregant. The inspiration behind the seminars is EAJL, the European Academy for Jewish Liturgy, and its Founder and Director, Cantor Jacky Chernett. She has worked closely with the Masorti Movement Director, Matt Plen, to create a one-day seminar divided into periods of study with light refreshments and some collective davening along the way.