About Kol AM
 

 

We Worship & Celebrate

Kol Am celebrates Shabbat as a congregation every week. We offer a variety of Shabbat experiences including Friday night services, Saturday morning learner’s minyans, monthly Friday night “bring your own picnic-style” Shabbat dinners, Havdalah adult education programs, healing services, and more. At Kol Am, whether we are observing Shabbat, sharing a congregational Passover Seder, or staging a raucous Purim spiel, our worship and celebrations are vibrant—filled with spirit, music, and warmth.

 

We Learn Together

The goal of Jewish education at Kol Am is simple—to instill a love of Judaism and a positive Jewish identity in each learner, child and adult. Judaism teaches that we should pursue learning throughout our lives. At Kol Am we believe in intergenerational learning. As adults and parents, what better example can we set than to engage in Jewish learning alongside our children? Our religious school opens each Sunday session with a “bagel nosh” for the entire family. Classes and special programs often include parents and are open to all adults within the congregation.  Hebrew instruction is incorporated into the religious school program.  In addition, Kol Am offers a Family Hebrew School sponsored by the Central Agency for Jewish Education where children and adults meet one night a week to learn Hebrew together. After Confirmation, many of our young adults participate in high school and Youth Group Jewish education programs and serve as religious school teachers.  At Kol Am we also engage in learning through discussion groups, Torah study with the Rabbi, and other programs and activities offered throughout the year.

 

We Have Fun Together

Kol Am members are active in many ways. While other congregations have a Brotherhood and Sisterhood, we have a Familyhood that sponsors social activities and programs for the entire congregation including an annual miniature golf tournament, adult Bunko parties, an annual summer swim party, an annual family picnic, holiday dinners, cultural outings, and Israel Independence Day festivities. In addition to our Familyhood, Kol Am has an active Youth Group that participates in a variety of congregational, local and regional activities. Sunday mornings throughout the summer bring Kol Am softball. Adults and children alike meet at a local high school field to engage in a lively, though not always skillful game of pick-up softball.

 

TikKun OL   AM

It is a part of who we are!

 

Kol Am is committed to social action, taking to heart the message of Tikkun Olam (repair of the world). We annually co-sponsor a Super Bowl party for the homeless and regularly participate in many other programs including building homes for Habitat for Humanity, making weatherization kits for Energy Care, collecting food for the Jewish Food Pantry, planting trees in Forest Park’s Kennedy Forest, and “adopting” families served by the Jewish Family and Children’s Service. Our families visit local nursing homes to celebrate Shabbat and other Jewish holidays with residents. Kol Am also recently held the first of what we hope will be an annual Tzedakah Walk to benefit the Jewish Fund for Human Needs.