In the News

News & Observer, Chapel Hill News, August 7, 2016

Consider Kol Haskalah

Are you ethical but non-theistic and seeking a Jewish alternative in contemporary life? Are you part of an inter-cultural family?

Consider Kol Haskalah, A Humanistic Judaism Congregation, at our Open House Sunday, August 28, from 10 a.m. to noon in Murphy Hall on the UNC campus.

We explore the full range of Jewish experience to choose what is relevant and meaningful, with belief in our power and responsibility to shape our own lives. Jewish ethics serve human needs and foster freedom and dignity for all humans.

Our pre-K through B’nai Mitzvah Sunday School enhances self-respect and responsible behavior in an engaging program grounded in the ethics and culture of Judaism. Teachers will be present August 28 to discuss their classes and our music component, learned Sundays along with congregant families. David Sennett is our education dDirector.

Rosh Hashanah will occur early October 2016, when the shofar will call us to a celebration of reflection and renewal of self and action in the community.

An ongoing activity is providing and serving a dinner one Sunday a month at Urban Ministries of Durham.

A related Humanistic Judaism Book Group meets every other month, alternating fiction and nonfiction books to discuss.

Kol Haskalah is part of the Society for Humanistic Judaism begun in 1963 by Rabbi Sherwin Wine. We share a deep connection to the future of the Jewish people, ethics, and culture, acknowledging human courage and independence as the path to human dignity for all people.

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Chapel Hill News, Wednesday, September 2, 2015 

Mitzvah project

A recent open house for Kol Haskalah, a Jewish community that meets in Murphey Hall on the UNC campus and focuses on Jewish history, holidays and ethics, featured a Kick-a-Thon that was the mitzvah project of Sylvia Gordon, who completed Kol Haskalah’s Sunday School and Mitzvah Program in May.

Kim’s White Tiger Championship Demo Team performed during the open house to benefit Shot@Life, an organization that educates Americans to champion vaccines as one of the most cost-effective ways to save the lives of children in developing countries.

Sylvia is a second-degree black belt in Taekwondo and a member of the White Tiger team.

She will celebrate her Bat Mitzvah with her twin sister, Sara Gordon, in November.

Humanistic Jews value their Jewish identity and the aspects of Jewish culture that offer a genuine expression of their contemporary way of life.

Kol Haskalah’s Sunday School meets at 10 a.m. twice a month. During the sessions adults and post-Mitzvah students meet for Jewish themed films and discussion, educational discussions on Humanistic Judaism and related topics, social action events and a social time for coffee and informal talk.

The holidays celebrated by the Kol Haskalah community include Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Hannukah, Tu Bishvat, Purim and Passover.

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