Doings & Events
Shaloha Shabbos - High Holidays - Passover Seder - Other Holidays
Varieties of Jewish Experience -
Board Meetings - WaKoBeS Meetings- AlteKaKoBeS Meetings - Annual Membership Meeting -
Thanksgiving Interfaith Service
Last Updated: June 25, 2008
Friday June 27, 2008 6:30pm
This Friday evening, we will celebrate Shabbat in Ballroom 3 at the Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort. We will begin promptly at 6:30. The service will be led by Cantor Kenneth Cohen. Afterwards there will be a Kiddush followed by a potluck supper (no pork or shellfish, please).
Saturday June 28, 2008 10:00am
Services will be held in Ballroom 2 of the Keauhou Beach Resort. Cantor Kenneth Cohen will lead the service. Shari Berman, Richard Chamberlin and Ken Cohen will read from the Torah portion Korach, Numbers 16:1-18:32. Korach, a Levite, incites an uprising, where he challenges Moshe's leadership and Aaron's rights to the kehunah (priesthood). Korach and coconspirators, Datan and Aviram, are joined by 250 distinguished community members who offer ketoret (incense) to prove they are worthy of the priesthood. The earth opens up and swallows the chief offenders and fire consumes those who offer ketoret. Subsequently, Aaron offers ketoret to stave off a plague. Aaron further proves that his designation as High Priest is divinely decreed by miraculously causing branches to blossom and bring forth almonds. Aaron performs all this at great speed. Accordingly, the Hebrew word for "almond," shaked, literally means "speed," as well. The parsha also gives the details of tithing and providing crops and other gifts to the Kohanim, as g-d commands. A Kiddush will follow.HEBREW CLASSES
We plan to participate in the National Jewish Outreach Program and have free Hebrew Classes through the Read Hebrew America Program. We have received preliminary material, but we still need to sign up and get our books from them. This year, we will have an advanced beginner group, as well as a beginner class meeting at the home of Shari Berman and Alice Bratton in Holualoa. We had a great group last year and this really helps people learn how to read the prayers in the siddur.
We did not get folks at the orientation meeting, even though some of you have signed up by e-mail. Please get this information to me as soon as possible: your name(s), street address, telephone number and preferred e-mail account and I will add you to our roster.
In addition to the prayerbook reading class, we will be adding a Modern Hebrew Conversation class taught by Trina Yerlick. There will be a modest charge for this. We will meet on non-KBS service Saturdays.
Advanced Beginner Hebrew Reading: 12:30-2:00pm
Modern Hebrew Conversation: 2:15-3:15pm
Beginner Hebrew Reading : 3:30-5:00pm
Please RSVP to Shari at this e-mail address or call 322-1638.
We conduct Shabbat Services at the Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort, 78-6740 Alii Drive, Kailua-Kona (telephone 808 322-3441). Announcements appear in the religious section of the Friday editions of “West Hawaii Today” (Kona’s newspaper). Friday evening services begin with candle lighting at around sunset in the Kalanikai Pavilion at the ocean’s edge. After the short service there is a kiddush, followed by a potluck supper (no pork or shell-fish please) sometimes followed by a Jewish educational program that includes musical performance, learning Hebrew, appreciating Jewish humor and other topics.
On Saturday mornings the Shabbat service begins at 10 am either in the “Secret Garden,” a secluded area surrounded by palms on the south side of the circular driveway at the hotel entrance or in a hotel ballroom. For the Torah Service, the Congregation uses a beautiful scroll rescued after the Holocaust. Over 180 years old, it is from Polna, Czechoslovakia. The service ends shortly after noon and is followed by a kiddush.
Members of the congregation conduct Shabbat services. Our siddur is “The Gates of Prayer.” Congregational members, volunteers, including occasional visitors, read the Torah. Different members offer their drush on the parsha of the week and Joel Gimpel and Yehudah Plaut provide violin and guitar accompaniments to many of the prayers. Vigorous group collaboration keeps the services interesting and successful.
High Holiday Observance Services, led by a rabbi invited from the mainland for the High Holidays, are held on the evening before Rosh Hashana, on the first day of Rosh Hashana, on Shabbat Tshuvah (Friday evening and Saturday morning), for Kol Nidre, and all day for Yom Kippur. Over the years we have had the pleasure of being led by Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and Renewal rabbis. In 2000 and 2001 and 2002 Rabbi Mark Shapiro (Reform) from Chicago led us, in 2003 Rabbi Sue Levy (Reconstructionist) from Texas. In 2004, services were led by Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan. The last two years services were led by Rabbi Yossi Caron. This year services were conducted by Rabbi Daniel Lev.
Each year the Congregation conducts a Community Seder at one of the hotels on the first evening of Passover. Although the meal is not technically kosher, we make every effort to follow traditional practice, sometimes a little more Ashkenazic, sometimes a little more Sephardic (i.e., rice). The Seder is mostly in English, but many of the prayers and the Four Questions are sung in Hebrew, English and Yiddish and sometimes in French, Spanish and Italian. We even have a translation in Hawaiian (click to see). When possible, musicians play and accompany the singing. For the past several years, the Seder has been at the Keauhou Beach Hotel, outdoors in the Kalanikai Pavilion. As the time grows closer, details for the upcoming Seder will be posted on the Upcoming Events section of this web site.
Kona Beth Shalom celebrates many other Jewish Holidays during the year. Notable among these is our Chanukah Party, often attracting over 100 people and featuring the Traveling Jewish Wedding Band. We also often celebrate the following holidays (Kona Beth Shalom’s plans to be announced in the Upcoming Events section of this web site):
SIMCHAT TORAH (right)
TU B’SHVAT
PURIM
YOM HASHOAH
YOM HA’ATZMAUT
LAG B’OMER
SHAVUOT
TISHA B’AV
The Varieties of Jewish Experience
Shabbaton with Reb Zalman and Eve Ilsen
See other photos taken by event photographer Ben Plaut
Programs in our series entitled “The Varieties of Jewish Experience” are offered from time to time to present rabbis, cantors, speakers, teachers and entertainers who may be visiting Kona and who wish to share their talents with the local community. Programs this year have included a discussion about the current political situation in Israel, a concert of Israeli, Yiddish and Russian folk songs, and a talk on a Nepalese trek. The congregation is open to hearing from persons interested in presenting a program here. Call Shari Berman at 322-0659 with information.
Our Board of Directors, opinions not lacking, meets once a month, usually at President Shari Berman's house, with all members welcome. KBS business is taken care of and KBS events are planned at these meetings.
The WaKoBeS, or Wahinis (Hawaiian for women) of Kona Beth Shalom, a group of over thirty women, meet periodically at one of their houses. Call Una Greenaway, at (808) 328-8888
The AlteKaKoBeS, or the Elder Kanes (Hawaiian for men) of Kona Beth Shalom, the men's group, meets quarterly at one of their houses.
Call Joel Gimpel at 325-4991
KBS has an annual membership meeting. The meeting includes voting for Board Members, a barbecue potluck meal and music and singing.
Thanksgiving Interfaith Services
On the evening before Thanksgiving day, KBS participates in a Thanksgiving Interfaith Service that includes our Jewish congregation and many local Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, Bahai and New Thought congregations.
Click on this section to go to Annual Newsletters.
