Community Calendar

Upcoming Events

Kol Haskalah March Discussion Group and Bagel Brunch

Date: March 8, 2025, from 10:00 – 11:30 am

Location: Schecter Community Hall, Jewish for Good, Levin JCC (1937 West Cornwallis Road, Durham)

RSVP here

Topic: Freedom of Speech; The Jewish Partnership for Democracy

Reading:

Refreshments: Lox, Bagels and Juice will be provided

Future meeting dates: 5/3/2026, 7/19/2026

Raleigh Event – Refugee Oneg Shabbat

Date: March 14, 2026

Time: 2:00 – 3:30 pm

Place: Marcia Gumpertz’ home in west Raleigh (address will be sent after you RSVP)

RSVP Here

Bring: Your favorite cookies or afternoon snacks

Come celebrate a Humanistic shabbat with us. We will have some discussion about Passover and immigration. March14 is “Refugee Shabbat,” an annual event organized by HIAS  to learn about and affirm support for refugees, asylum seekers, and other forcibly displaced people. More than 300 communities around the world observed Refugee Shabbat last year.

Reading: The Righteous Among the Egyptians

Future Kol Haskalah Events

Kol Haskalah Potluck Community Seder: April 4, 2026

Discussion Group and Bagel Brunch Meeting Dates: 5/3/2026, 7/19/2026

Kol Haskalah Members’ General Meeting: June 21, 2026

Past Kol Haskalah Events

February 8, 2026.Kol Haskalah Discussion Group and Bagel Brunch

January 18, 2026. Kol Haskalah Discussion Group and Bagel Brunch

Topic: Separation of Church and State

Presidential Message on Christmas: “The First Lady and I send our warmest wishes to all Americans as we share in the joy of Christmas Day and celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

Reading:

Additional resources

December 20, 2025. Kol Haskalah Chanukah Potluck

We celebrated Chanukah with great food and conversation and Humanistic blessings over the candles. Friends from the Ethical Humanist Society of the Triangle joined us.

December 6, 2025. Kol Haskalah booth at Historic Hillsborough Jingle and Joy holiday fair.

November 23, 2025. Kol Haskalah Discussion Group and Bagel Brunch

Topic: What this moment means for the future: Continuation of Ezra Klein discussion

Readings:

October 26, 2025. Kol Haskalah October Discussion Group and Bagel Brunch

Topic: Ezra Klein’s Essay: Why American Jews no Longer Understand One Another.

Kol Haskalah High Holiday Services and Events

Rosh Hashanah Eve: Monday, September 22, 2025, 7:30 pm

Yom Kippur

  • Erev Yom Kippur, Wednesday, October 1, 2025, 7:30 pm
  • Yom Kippur Discussion, Thursday, October 2, 2025, 4:00 – 5:00 pm
  • Niskor Service, Thursday, October 2, 2025, 5:00 – 5:30 pm
  • Break the Fast Potluck, Thursday, October 2, 2025, 6:00 – 8:00 pm

Kol Haskalah High Holidays Food Drive

In honor of celebrating the Jewish New Year, Kol Haskalah will be donating non-perishable items to the food pantry at Jewish For Good  which serves the local community. Special needs are proteins (cans of tuna or chicken), cans of beans, rice, peanut butter, and other non-perishables as well as hygiene items. Please bring your donations to our services and we will deliver them for you.

September 7, 2025 Book Discussion: High Holidays without the Holy

Webinar: We explore what it means to be secular, humanistic and Jewish around the High Holidays. Can we be good without God? Can we embrace both Jewish and secular values? Rabbi Adam Chalom of Kol Hadash and Rabbi Jodi Kornfeld of Beth Chaverim join us via Zoom to lead this discussion based on their new book, Contemporary Humanistic Judaism. 

July 20, 2025 Discussion Group and Bagel Brunch

Topic: Book: Contemporary Humanistic Judaism: Beliefs, Values, Practices

Readings:  Excerpt from Contemporary Humanistic Judaism: Beliefs, Values, Practices

June 29, 2025. Discussion Group and Bagel Brunch

Topic: To what extent does the congregation want to get involved in anti-semitism or other controversial political topics or advocacy? How will any particular activity reflect on what we are or fit into our mission?

Reading:

May 17, 2025. Kol Haskalah 2025 General Meeting

At this meeting we discussed the congregation’s wishes for programming for the coming year. The meeting was open to all; Kol Haskalah members voted on officers and board members for the 2025-26 year.

April 13, 2025. Kol Haskalah Community Potluck Seder

Kol Haskalah’s Humanistic Jewish Congregation celebrates Passover with a Humanistic Seder. Everyone is welcome – bring family and friends!

March 23, 2025 Discussion Group and Bagel Brunch

Topic: Believe: Why Everyone Should be Religious

Resources:  

February 16, 2025 Discussion Group and Bagel Brunch

Topic: Join or Die

Readings:

January 19, 2025, Discussion Group and Bagel Brunch

Topic: Finding Strength in Times of Uncertainty

Readings:

Kol Haskalah Chanukah Party. December 22, 2024

Kol Haskalah’s Humanistic Chanukah celebration, potluck dinner, menorah display, and a program for children. Please bring a dish to share (should serve about 8 people) and bring your menorah to include in the display of menorahs.

November 17, 2024, Discussion Group and Bagel Brunch

Topic: Judaism and Medical/Health Ethics

Readings:  

Kol Haskakah High Holiday Services:

  • Rosh Hashanah Eve Service. Wednesday, October 2, 2024, 7:00 pm.
  • Yom Kippur Eve Service, Friday, October 11, 2024, 7:00 pm.
  • Yom Kippur, Saturday, October 12, 2024
    • Yom Kippur Discussion, 4:00 – 5:00 pm
    • Niskor Service, 5:00-5:30 pm
    • Set up for Break Fast, 5:30-6:00 pm
    • Break Fast potluck, 6:00-8:00 pm

September 29, 2024. KH Discussion Group and Bagel Brunch

Topic: A Conversation with the Cary Divan Center: Similarities and Differences between Islam and Judaism (and Humanistic Judaism)

Readings:

August 18, 2024. KH Discussion Group and Bagel Brunch

Topic: Given the recent Louisiana ruling, reflect on the universality/versions of the Ten Commandments among world religions

Readings:

July 21, 2024. KH Discussion Group and Bagel Brunch

Topic: What are Jewish values? To what extent do we live up to them (or not) in our personal lives? Political lives?

Reading: We Asked 21 Rabbis: Is There Such A Thing As Jewish Values? : https://forward.com/opinion/388394/we-asked-21-rabbis-is-there-such-a-thing-as-jewish-values/

June 23, 2024. KH Discussion Group and Bagel Brunch

Topic: Why is Judaism important to us and how do we express our Judaism? What brings Jews together?

From the book The Jew in the Lotus:

I can very well understand people who say I’d rather cash in my chips, drop my Jewishness, and assimilate with society at large. The danger is, if we don’t transmit to people the utter joy and transcendence the tradition offers, if we transmit to them only that you should be on guard all the time, then we are going to lose them. The danger is failing to transmit the beauty, the joy, the profundity. If we fail to do that, that’s what the Dalai Lama told us, then we’re not going to survive.

Then that was the secret he gave back to us? I asked him.

Yes. To me that was the moment. If you have nothing to offer them, there’s no sense holding on to them. And if you have something to offer them, there’s no reason for them to leave. Boy, does every Jew in the world need to hear that.

A short reading: When Moment Magazine asked me: “Are there any beliefs or opinions that can disqualify someone from being Jewish?”

June 15, 2024. Kol Haskalah Annual Meeting and Presentation on Jewish Cuba

Presentation: Having recently returned from the Aleph Jewish Mission tour to Cuba, Tovah Wax and Lucjan Mordzak will offer a presentation of their encounters with the Jewish community in Cuba, given the current historical and cultural context–altogether a complexly interesting and sobering experience.

The presentation will be followed by a short business meeting to discuss the congregation’s wishes for programming for the coming year. This is the annual meeting of members. Anyone who wants to participate is considered a member this current year.

April 20, 2024. Kol Haskalah Community Potluck Seder

Kol Haskalah’s Humanistic Jewish Congregation celebrates Passover with a Humanistic Seder. Everyone is welcome – bring family and friends!

March 17, 2024. KH Discussion Group and Bagel Brunch

Topic: Interfaith marriage, mixed families

Resource: Intermarriage Optimism and the Future of Judaism Presented by Paul Golin, Society for Humanistic Judaism Executive Director

Paul made a compelling case for the benefits of intermarriage supported by interesting data from the Pew Study and his own astute analysis of the data. “Intermarriage is good, period, no strings attached,” says Paul Golin of the Society for Humanistic Judaism, who has two decades of experience working on the issues around Jewish intermarriage and who is himself one of the few intermarried executive directors of a Jewish communal organization. A conversation about what the future of Judaism looks like as Jewish households become more diverse and intermarriage helps grow (yes, grow!) the Jewish population. How do intercultural/interfaith families find meaning in their heritages? How can we as a community better celebrate all forms of love and diversity? And what are the challenges we face in doing so?

February 18, 2024. KH Discussion Group and Bagel Brunch

Topic: Finding commonality, understanding our biases, and how do we approach spirituality?

In this world which appears to be encouraging diversity but in doing so is at times contributing to emphasizing differences rather than commonalities, are we doing the same? Should we not re-examine some of our own dogmas and consider whether our intellectualism about a deity is almost arrogant, exclusive, or elitist? Is there a spirituality which could be a commonality and regardless of prior biases find a meeting place?

Readings:

January 21, 2024. KH Discussion Group and Bagel Brunch

The topic for discussion this month is Exploring and Embracing your Jewish Identity in Contemporary Society.  A related question is How does or should more traditional Judaism inform Secular Humanistic Judaism?

December 17, 2023. KH Discussion Group and Bagel Brunch

Topic: Humanistic Judaism

  • What makes something a religion?
  • Belief in God – yes, no, don’t know, and why or why not?
  • Are there values that are unique to Judaism?

Resources:

December 9, 2023. 5-7 pm. Chanukah Potluck Party

Join Kol Haskalah, the NC Triangle’s Secular Humanistic Jewish community, for a warm and joyous Chanukah celebration and potluck. Activities include a secular, humanistic menorah lighting, cookie decorating, and time to eat and schmooze with new friends and old.

October 29, 2023 KH Discussion Group and Bagel Brunch

Topic: Antisemitism in America: What can we do?

Reading matter:
Anti-Semitism: 90 Ways you can respond
As antisemitism grows, so does its dangers to everyone. Here’s how you can fight against it
The first national strategy for fighting antisemitism is finally here. What’s in it?

October 1, 2023. Ethical Exploration: A Joint Venture

Panel Discussion on the Questions

  • What do you consider to be the most salient (1 or 2) ethical issues in today’s world?
  • What would you consider to be the most helpful individual or collective actions to address these?

Co-Sponsored by Kol Haskalah and the Ethical Humanist Society of the Triangle

High Holidays

Rosh Hashanah Eve Service: Friday, September 15, 2023, 7:00 pm. Fellowship Hall, Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.

Tashlich: Sunday, September 17, 2023. 11:00 am. Location in Chapel Hill. RSVP required for location information.

Yom Kippur Eve Service: Sunday, September 24, 2023, 7:00 pm. Fellowship Hall, Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.

August 20, 2023. Discussion Group and Bagel Brunch

Topic for Discussion: Antisemitism in America Today
Reading: May 29, 2023 Letter from an American – Richardson on Fascism

June 14, 2023. Religious Privilege and the Freedom to Oppress

with Kate Cohen, Author and Washington Post Contributing Columnist, in conversation with Paul Golin, Executive Director, Society for Humanistic Judaism/ Jews for a Secular Democracy. Stream the program here.

June 2, 2023. What is Humanistic Judaism?

Presented by Cathy Moore, President, Kol Haskalah, A Humanistic Jewish Congregation.

Curious about Humanistic Judaism? View the slides here for a nice overview of the history, philosophy and the need for Humanistic Judaism.