Leading your own synagogue Shabbat hike is incredibly easy. In just 10 steps – simple but effective – you can embark on a moving spiritual experience. And, as we discovered on Congregation Or Ami’s own Shabbat hikes, the journey is inspiring and refreshing.
Or Ami organizes and facilitates a series of Mitzvah Days so that Jews and Jewish families can easily overcome compassion fatigue. Currently we run three per year (and dream of creating a total of six).
Jewish pundits love to predict the eventual demise of the synagogue, decrying its dearth of deep ideas, shortage of spiritual inspiration, and absence of meaning. They say Jews are opting instead for DIY Judaism, where one can rent-a-rabbi or start their own
On the bimah during his confirmation, twelfth grader Sean Cooper recounted his coming out experience:
When I came out as a homosexual, I posted a picture to Facebook with my father, with the caption “….”. While some may have previously inferred my sexual orientation, that post was my first official public coming out. The next day, I came to my temple, Congregation Or Ami in Calabasas, CA, for a meeting of our youth group. I was greeted at the door by Cantor Doug Cotler, the man I have known my whole life, with a warm hug and friendly “I’m proud of you,” and by Rabbi Julia Weisz with a smile and great warmth. Rabbi Paul Kipnes was even more accepting than anyone. His kind and heartfelt acceptance expressed not only his embracing personal views, but also the wide-open arms of the Jewish community.