We are moving to our new offices on Friday July 3 and Monday July 6. Please be patient as we set up our new phones and computers. (See our new contact details here.) We may not be able to receive/return emails or phone calls for a few days.
TICKETS FOR HIGH HOLY DAYS
Now available for purchase.
Ticket form and more information.
A letter from Rabbi Goldstein regarding 2009-2010...
Dear friends,
Yehuda Halevi wrote, "My heart is in the East, but I am at the ends of the West..." I’ve often felt that I wanted to be in two places at once— Jerusalem and Toronto—and I don’t think the Diaspora is vapid and meaningless and the only place to live a full Jewish life is Israel. After all, the Talmud we use as authoritative was written in Babylonia, and our own vibrant Jewish community is a centre of Jewish life no less than any other Diaspora community has been for two thousand years, producing Jewish poetry, art, music, food, culture and identity. No amount of “you should make aliyah” guilt will inspire those who feel most at home here, who believe in the imperative to make that home an example of the best Judaism can offer: with synagogues, day schools, community centres, adult education institutes, Jewish film festivals, walks for Israel, charitable fundraising, and more. Bravo to those who keep the mitzvah to live in Eretz Yisrael, and bravo to those who build and sustain Jewish life here, and bravo to those who live somewhere in the middle.
So, let's think about aliyah in different terms. I was truly excited to hear of a new idea from my colleague Rabbi Stanley Davids, who coined the term aliyat hanefesh, or spiritual aliyah. Rabbi Paul Kipnes writes about this concept in the most recent Reform Rabbis' newsletter and calls it “...a soul driven aliyah that places love for Israel near the centre of our lives. Aliyat hanefesh could be expressed by visits for study and for vacations, by making certain that our children and grandchildren have extensive personal experiences of Israel, by becoming informed advocates for Israel and by personally making certain to celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut as a religious holiday each May.” This notion of spiritual aliyah makes our frequent or even infrequent visits to Israel that much more meaningful. We aren’t just tourists, we are spiritual pilgrims. It conceptualizes and frames every letter to the editor, a trip to the wine store to counter-protest, the choice of Israel for winter break over Cancun, dancing with an Israeli flag at a rally, supporting a candidate for a Birthright trip. Each act is a soul driven aliyah that may or may not lead to settling in the land, but it is a “going up” all the same.
There are many texts in Rabbinic sources that point toward making physical aliyah. The Rabbis could never have imagined, though, the kind of flowering, safe diaspora we live in here in North America. So perhaps, for us, "spiritual aliyah" is a way of acknowledging that we have two children without having to choose which one we love better.
Thus I share with you the news that I will be taking a year's leave of absence for an aliyat hanefesh in Israel, together with my husband and our 3 sons, from July 2009 to July 2010. We will be studying, teaching, writing, volunteering, and experiencing. In my absence Kolel will be fully functioning with its signature courses and events under the guidance of Sharoni Sibony at the exciting new Prosserman JCC- Gales Family Pavilion. Sharoni comes with a wealth of educational programming experience from Limmud, and enthusiasm from having been a Kolel student herself. I will be returning to Toronto in September to lead Kolel’s High Holy Day services both Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. I will keep in touch via a monthly blog at www.kolel.org. I will still be writing a monthly column for the CJN. I will be leading two Kolel Israel educational expeditions: Women’s Inward Bound Nov. 15-23, 2009 and Hidden Gems of Israel April 18-27, 2010. I will be back in September 2010 in time to lead High Holy Day services once again and to continue to sustain this community.
If you are inspired to make an aliyat hanefesh in the coming year please be in touch with me through Kolel's administrator Karen at kolel@prossermanjcc.com. In the meantime— I know your good thoughts and blessings will accompany us to Israel!
Introducing our new Interim Director, Sharoni Sibony
"I'm very excited to be leading Kolel during Rabbi Goldstein's sabbatical year and to be working with the team at the new Prosserman JCC. My own commitment to pluralistic, transformative Jewish education finds a remarkable home in the organization and programs that Rabbi Goldstein has created in Toronto. Kolel offers people an opportunity to grow in an open-minded context, to assert their Jewish identity in whatever form they desire, and to explore new facets of their relationship to Jewish texts, culture, and community. As interim managing director, and having myself been a student at Kolel, I look forward to upholding the standard of excellence Rabbi Goldstein has established.
For four-and-a-half years, I studied and taught in Indiana, pursuing a PhD in American Jewish literature. Since my return to Toronto a little over a year ago, I have immersed myself in the Jewish life of this city, working as Outreach and Volunteer Coordinator for the Ashkenaz Foundation, volunteering as Festival Chair of Limmud Toronto, and teaching adult education courses at the Florence Melton program and Temple Emanu-El. I look forward to working with the community in this new capacity."
Summertime... and the learning is easy!
Kolel Summer Ulpan
What better way to spend your summer than by learning to speak Hebrew in just 8 intensive classes. Summer Ulpan now taking registrations,
Instructor: Naomi Nemerov
Room: TBA
Dates: Tuesdays & Thursdays Aug 4, 6, 11, 13, 18, 20, 25, 27
Time: 7:30pm - 9:30pm
Price: Regular: $130 plus GST Student/senior: $80 plus GST
Summer Ulpan now taking registrations, 416-636-1880 ext 235.
