Friday, October 2 at Kol Ami One of the things I love about being Jewish in the Pacific Northwest is that Judaism keeps asking me to pay attention to where I am. I grew up in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, on the Indigenous homeland of the Kalapuya people. Salmon, cedar trees, mountains, rivers and stories connected to this land were part of the world around me. And alongside that was my Jewish world. I belonged to an ancient people too, with our own stories, foods, calendar, language and...

Dear Kol Ami community, Sukkot begins Friday evening, September 25. After the intensity of the High Holidays, our tradition sends us outside. We build a shelter with branches for a roof. We gather around a table, share food, look up at the sky, and call this season z’man simchateinu, the season of our joy. I have been thinking about an old Hasidic story. Reb Uri saved all year to buy a beautiful etrog for Sukkot. On his way to the market, he met a wagon driver whose horse had died. Without...

As we prepare to welcome 5787, I am looking forward to gathering with you for Erev Rosh Hashanah and beginning a year devoted to honoring 250 years of Jewish life in America. Throughout the High Holy Days, our sermons, music, learning, and storytelling will explore the many ways Jews have shaped America—and the ways America has shaped us. We will celebrate the courage, creativity, resilience, and diversity of our Jewish American community while also asking what our tradition calls us to build...