Keddem Congregation - the Mid-Peninsula's Reconstructionist Congregation

26 Iyyar 5772
Parashat Bechukotai
41st day of the Omer
Candle lighting 7:55pm
Caveat on reading

Kaplan Quote of the Week

Weekly Quote from Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, z"l (1881-1983)
The study of religion, however, helps us to understand why Judaism becomes defunct wherever Jews are prevented from living in aggregates. It has made clear that a religion is primarily a group consciousness.

From Communings of the Spirit, Vol. I, page 112, Sunday, February 4, 1917; used with permission.

Keddem Congregation is a community-led, Reconstructionist Jewish congregation, passionately committed to infusing tradition with new meaning. Keddem is based in Palo Alto, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula.

Worship, study, community and governance at Keddem are based on the following values: Keddem Congregation is inclusive, egalitarian, participatory, inquiring, innovative, and compassionate.

Women's Torah Events

Have you heard about the Women's Torah? A truly remarkable achievement, this is one of the most beautiful Torah scrolls scribed in recent years. This particular scroll is made all the more special because it was scribed solely by soferot—scribes who are women.

The Women's Torah was in the Bay Area during February, with events ranging from Cotati to Palo Alto and from Stanford to Berkeley, with involvement by all four Bay Area Reconstructionist communities—Or Shalom in San Francisco, Ner Shalom in Cotati, Or Zarua in Berkeley, and Keddem.

Keddem Hosted!

Keddem hosted Shabbat Mincha and Havdalah services on Saturday, February 25. For more info on the Women's Torah Project in general, and the scroll's visit to the Bay Area, see the press release, this Web page from JRF, and the Women's Torah Project Facebook event.

The Women's Torah was commissioned by the Kadima Reconstructionist Jewish Community in Seattle, starting in 2000, with the writing itself beginning in 2004.

Join us at one of the several Bay Area events!

(Photo courtesy Bob Zimmerman.)

Support Keddem

A community like Keddem needs support: your support. We need your support in three ways:

Come to events. Having an event, whether they are ritual observances, classes, parties, lectures, celebrations, or something else, are awfully boring without a good group of people there!
Volunteer and join. A community is about involvement. Help us as we continue creating the community that is Keddem.
Donate. Many of the things we do really do cost money. We need your financial support.

Donate to Keddem

You can donate to Keddem online or, well, offline. Please send checks to our post office box, below.

Online donation is fast, easy, and secure with your credit card, debit card, or PayPal account.

And, thank you!

Help Keddem While You Shop!

Did you know that you can painlessly help Keddem while you shop for your everyday purchases? Learn how!

JRF's Kaplan Corner

Mordecai Kaplan's biographer, Dr. Mel Scult, has given us the opportunity to "look over his shoulder" as he works on his next volume of Communings of the Spirit, selections from Kaplan's prodigious diary. Every month, Dr. Scult will send JRF two or three journal entries for publication on the JRF web site. In addition, he is sending JRF audio recordings of conversations he had with Rabbi Kaplan in 1972; these, along with photos and more, will also be available online.

JRF has also created a listserv called "kaplan-corner"; its sole purpose is to inform subscribers that the site has been updated with new journal entries from Dr. Scult.

Check out JRF's Kaplan Corner!

Keddem's Email Lists

Keddem maintains four email lists for announcements and discussion: The Members List, the Interest List, the NewsWire List, and the Discussion List.

For a description of each list and information on how to join a list, update your email address, remove yourself from a list, or post to a list, click here. (As mentioned there, archives are available for all of these lists.)

We are one of over 100 congregations and havurot affiliated with the Reconstructionist movement. Liberal in outlook, yet respecting tradition, Reconstructionism is the newest of the four movements of organized American Judaism. To learn more, click here.

Shabbat services, lifelong Jewish learning,
social and holiday events,
and administrative office:
Kehillah Jewish High School
3900 Fabian Way
Palo Alto, California

Phone: (650) 494-6400

Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 50758
Palo Alto, California 94303

See the calendar for our office hours.

Keddem is located in Palo Alto, California, the heart of Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area. We're but 30 miles from San Francisco and 17 miles from San José, in the "mid-peninsula" or "south peninsula" area.

If you're looking for Kedem Congregation in Melbourne, Australia, you'll find them here!

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This page last updated Tuesday, May 1, 2012 2:42 AM CDT.

Visit JRF's Kaplan Corner! More info here.