בס׳׳ד

February 6, 2024

Keeping Up with Kesher Israel

27 Shevat 5784

Friday is Rosh Chodesh Adar I. Chodesh Tov!

NEW! Class Schedule Change and Rabbi Away, February 12-19

The Rabbi's morning classes will not meet Monday - Wednesday, February 5-7, of this week. Rabbi Shafner will be away at a conference of Rabbis in Israel from February 12-19. His classes will not meet during this time. Abbe Lowell will give the People's Pulpit on the Shabbat of February 17.

NEW! Tales from the Beit Din Helping Agunot

Thursday, February 8, at 7:15 PM

Kesher Israel

Join us on Thursday, February 8th at 7:15pm at Kesher Israel for a talk by Rabbi David Bigman on helping agunot.

Rav David Bigman serves as the av beit din of the International Beit Din. He has been the Rosh HaYeshiva at Yeshivat Ma’ale Gilboa since 1995. He studied at the Skokie Yeshiva, Kerem B’Yavneh, Merkaz Harav and Netzech Yisrael. He received semikha from Mechon Ariel in Haifa. He received his B.A. in economics with honors from Wayne State University. From 1983 – 1988, Rabbi Bigman was Rabbi of Kibbutz Maale Gilboa, and from 1987-92, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat HaKibbutz HaDati Ein Tzurim. Before his work with the IBD, he served on various batei din and has long been active in the issue of Mesuravei Gett. Rabbi Bigman served in the Israeli army.

Save the Date: Scholar-in-Residence Shabbat with Judy Klitsner

Shabbat, March 8-9, at Kesher

We are excited to welcome Dr. Judy Klitsner for a Shabbat of learning on March 8-9. We will have three opportunities to learn from Dr. Klitsner:

• Shabbat Morning Drasha: Your Brother’s Blood is Crying: Biblical Origins of our Fractured Society
• Shabbat Lunch (signup coming soon): Noah and Jonah: Similar Stories With Opposing Perspectives on Human Resilience
• Seudah Shlishit: Five Stages of Post October 7 Grief: Personal and Biblical Reflections

Judy Klitsner is a senior lecturer in Bible at Pardes, where she has empowered a generation of students to seek meaning and relevance in the text through a skills-based method of learning. Many of her students now employ her methods in educating adults and children throughout the Jewish world. In her classes, Judy weaves together traditional exegesis, modern scholarship and her own original interpretations that are informed by close readings of the text. A disciple of the great Bible teacher Nehama Leibowitz, Judy is a popular international speaker whose teaching style is accessible, interactive and text-based, and she is particularly fond of uncovering the intertextual links– the “vibrant conversation” that takes place between the Bible’s parallel stories. Judy has taught Bible to Christian and Muslim religious leaders and she has served as a regular visiting lecturer at the London School of Jewish Studies. Judy is the author of the acclaimed book Subversive Sequels in the Bible: How Biblical Stories Mine and Undermine Each Other, which received a National Jewish book award.

REMINDER! Emergency Mikvah Repair

The National Capital Mikvah experienced a boiler malfunction that flooded the floor and required a costly replacement. Contractors installed a new, efficient boiler, but the emergency repair cost $17,000, a significant burden for the entirely volunteer-run organization. The mikvah serves an important role in Jewish life in D.C., and donations are encouraged to ensure its continued operation and preparedness for future emergencies. We urge the community to make tax-deductible donation to the National Capital Mikvah -- every contribution helps!

Click to donate via Paypal, via Venmo, or visit NCM's website.

Sunday Bagels and Parsha

Sundays, following Shacharit

Come for breakfast...stay for some learning about the upcoming weekly Torah portion.

More information here.

Message from Rabbi Shafner

See Rabbi Shanfer's message regarding his travels in Israel here.

Collecting Names for Tehillim

We are collecting the names of soldiers and other Kesher community members. Please submit names here and see the list of names to have in mind when davening.

Shields of Steel Fundraiser



Hi everyone -- my name is Dylan Redfield. I usually live on Q Street and daven at Kesher, but on October 7th after my IDF reserve unit was called I got on the first plane and have been here in Israel fighting since.

A lot of our gear is worn out and obsolete and as we fight every day we also are trying to get equipped with up to par gear. Right now we are raising money to replace our helmets that are literally from the Vietnam War. This link provides a tax free donation through the organization Shields of Steel that has been doing incredible work equipping units all over the country with helmets and body armor.

Every donation to Team 8103 (our unit number) helps us reach our goal. Please help us defend this land that we all love:

https://givebutter.com/RvKZYL/8103-helmets-against-hezbollah

Israel Crisis Fund

The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington stands in solidarity with Israel and is coordinating with our partners in the region to provide real-time humanitarian assistance, as we have for decades and during every conflict.



We are grateful to our partners on the ground, including The Jewish Agency for Israel, the Israel Trauma Coalition, JDC, World ORT, and more for their lifesaving and life-changing work during this crisis, as well as to the hundreds of Greater Washington community members who have already donated to our Israel Crisis Fund.