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Kehilat Hakerem Karmiel

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Kehilat Hakerem Karmiel

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    1. Kehilat Hakerem Karmiel Spitzer Community Center for Masorti Judaism in the Galilee

    2. 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.

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

    4. Who we are These four distinct communities come together at the Spitzer Center for prayer, study and social activities.

    5. 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.

    6. 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

    7. 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.

    8. Rabbi Reuven Resnick 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.

    9. 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.

    10. Robert Sasportas – Bar Mitzvah Teacher 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.

    11. Synagogue observance 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.

    12. Jewish Studies 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.

    13. Midreshet 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.

    14. Our new relationship with the Schechter Institute will enable us to expand our reach with more and higher quality courses and activities. Midreshet Hakerem - Outreach and Learning

    15. Midreshet Hakerem 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.

    16. Community Outreach & Youth

    17. 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.

    18. 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.

    19. 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.

    20. 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.

    21. 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.

    22. Contact

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