Kehilat Hakerem Karmiel

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Kehilat Hakerem Karmiel

• Spitzer Community Center
• for Masorti Judaism in the Galilee

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Who we are

• Kehilat Hakerem is the Masorti (Conservative)
  Synagogue of Karmiel.
• We are fully egalitarian, with women and men
  participating as full partners in all aspects of
  synagogue and community life.

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Who we are

• Originally established by a group of
  English-speaking olim (from North America,
  England, Scotland, South Africa and others),
  Kehilat Hakerems membership now includes native
  Israelis and olim from other countries, primarily
  Argentina and the former Soviet Union.

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Who we are

• These four distinct communities come together at
  the Spitzer Center for prayer, study and social
  activities.

Purim at Kehilat Hakerem
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Where we are

• The Spitzer Center is located in the City of
  Karmiel in the central Galilee about 40 minutes
  from the port city of Haifa.

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Where we are

• Karmiel today has a population of about 44,000.
  About 55 are native Israeli and veteran olim and
  about 45 are recent immigrants, of whom about
  17,000 are from the former Soviet Union.
• http//www.webscope.com/karmiel/homepage.html

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How we started

• We began as a small minyan in the early 1980s in
  a municipal shelter. Later, with the support of
  the city government, we moved into the basement
  of a senior citizens center, and finally into
  our permanent home at the Spitzer Community
  Center in 1997.

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Rabbi Reuven Resnick
Our professional staff

• In August 2008, we welcomed our new rabbi and his
  family.
• American-born Reuven Resnick, his Latvian-born
  wife Shula (a professional singer) and their
  three sons have become quickly integrated into
  the life of our community.

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Rabbi Reuven Resnick

• Reuven brings rich experience as a rabbi both in
  Israel and abroad.
• His Russian language skills are helping our
  community reach out to the large unaffiliated
  community of Russian olim in Karmiel.

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Robert Sasportas Bar Mitzvah Teacher
Our professional staff

• Our Bar Mitzvah teacher is Robert Sasportas, who
  has been working with great success for the past
  8 years with kids from Karmiel and surrounding
  towns.
• His outreach work helps bring many nominally
  secular families into contact with Kehilat
  Hakerem and Masorti Judaism, often for the first
  time.

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Synagogue observance
What we do

• Kehilat Hakerem operates a full Shabbat and
  Holiday schedule throughout the year.
• Our services are fully egalitarian. Women
  participate in all aspects of tefila.
• Our members perform most synagogue functions on a
  voluntary basis. We encourage members to
  participate and we hold regular courses to train
  baalei tefila and all other functions in the
  synagogue.
• Our Bar/Bat Mitzvah program serves families
  throughout the city and region, including those
  with special needs.

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Jewish Studies
What we do

• We also recognize that people have different
  interests and needs for their spiritual
  development.
• Therefore, in addition to a regular synagogue
  schedule, we also provide opportunities for study
  through our Beit Midrash.
• In this framework, Kehilat Hakerem has been
  offering regular classes in Torah studies, Bar
  Mitzvah, Jewish learning and language studies for
  adults in Hebrew, English, Russian and Spanish
  for over ten years.

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Midreshet Hakerem
Dr. Yair Paz of the Schechter Institute and Rabbi
Reuven Resnick of Kehilat Hakerem

• To improve this offering, we recently began a
  partnership with the Schechter Institute of
  Jerusalem, becoming the first location in Israel
  to serve as a learning extension center with this
  top academic institution.

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Midreshet Hakerem - Outreach and Learning
Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin, President of the
Schechter Institute

• Our new relationship with the Schechter Institute
  will enable us to expand our reach with more and
  higher quality courses and activities.

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Midreshet Hakerem
Author Yochi Brandes giving a feminist
perspective on the Book of Ruth

• We held our first study event in May 2009.
• The first course offerings in our joint venture
  with the Schechter Institute will begin in the
  fall of 2009.

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Community Outreach Youth
Kehilat Hakerem is also involved extensively in
the local community

• Our rabbi works with local schools in the TALI
  network, a Masorti program for instilling Jewish
  values and learning in secular schools.
• Kehilat Hakerem youth participate in the NOAM
  youth movement, run by soldiers from a visiting
  Masorti Nahal unit.
• We hold regular activities with Akim a center
  for adults with learning, functional and adaptive
  disabilities.

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Networking with American communities

• We also greatly value our role in reaching out to
  congregations outside of Israel and have
  partnered with several American synagogues. We
  frequently host missions, congregational tours
  and youth groups and encourage them to experience
  our unique community.

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Answering needs

• As a result of all these activities, Kehilat
  Hakerem is becoming a center for Masorti Judaism
  in our city and region, serving other localities
  and synagogues in Misgav and other parts of the
  central Galilee.

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Spitzer Community Center

• Our combined synagogue and community events
  facility has thus become too small to for all its
  holiday observance, life cycle and other
  community and after-school activities.

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Kehilat Hakerem Spitzer Community Center
Expansion

• To meet these demands, we recently completed a
  two-year process of defining needs and planning
  for the expansion of our facility, the Spitzer
  Community Center.
• Execution of the first stage of this expansion,
  funded primarily by the Spitzer Family, is now
  underway.

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Kehilat Hakerem Spitzer Community Center
Expansion

• This 2000 sq. ft. addition is now in
  construction.
• We expect to be able to begin to use the
  facility, though unfinished, in September 2009.

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Contact
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT KEHILAT HAKEREM AND
HOW YOU CAN HELP...
Please contact Don Jacobson, President 561-400-32
59 (US) 011-972-4-9802075 Website
www.hakerem.net Email gungadin_at_netvision.net.il k
eremspitzer_at_gmail.com