Celebrating Hanukkah:A historical & how-to guide
11/30/2023 08:28:20 AM
What is Hanukkah?
Hannukah, also known as the "Festival of Lights," is a commemorative holiday marking the victory of the Maccabees over the forces of the Seleucid King Antiochus and the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem on Kislev 25, 164 BCE. According to...Read more...
Year-End Giving
11/27/2023 12:46:37 PM
Your year-end tax-deductible gift enables the LJCC to continue our engaging programming; to keep our members safe and connected; and to fulfill our mission of providing a pluralistic, egalitarian, and inclusive space for the Jewish people of Lawrence to worship, socialize, and learn.
You can support the LJCC while maximizing the tax-implications of your gift by using your IRA or by initiating gifts of stock or other securities....Read more...
Parashat Chayei Sara 5784November 11⎮27 Cheshvan
11/10/2023 09:01:08 AM
In Chayei Sarah (“The Life of Sarah”), Sarah dies at the age of 127. Searching for an appropriate place for her burial, Abraham purchases the Cave of Machpelah. There she is laid to rest. Abraham searches as well for a wife for Isaac, his son. He sends a servant. Eliezer, to fulfill this task. The servant encounters Rebecca at a well and Rebecca gives water to the servant and his camels. Eliezer returns with Rebecca and she and...Read more...
reflections during the days of awe
09/19/2023 04:10:23 PM
"Where do we find ourselves? In a series of which we do not know the extremes, and believe that it has none. We wake and find ourselves on a stair; there are stairs below us, which we seem to have ascended; there are stairs above us, many a one, which go upward and out of sight. But the Genius which, according to the old belief, stands at the door by which we enter, and gives us the lethe to drink that we may tell no tales, mixed the cup...Read more...
Letter from the President:Strategic Planning Notice & Survey Invite
09/18/2023 12:54:05 PM
Dear Community,
At our recent meeting, the LJCC Board agreed to undertake a strategic visioning process to help us look forward and plan a thriving future for our congregation.
There will be a number of opportunities for everyone to participate in this process and to provide substantial input. We are starting with a survey and then will conduct some small group community conversations. For folks...Read more...
After Shavuot 5783: Two pathways through the Torah
06/20/2023 10:36:07 AM
Earlier this month, we had the pleasure of hosting Rabbi Doug Alpert of Kol Ami, KC for our Shabbat services. Amid his discussion of the possible pathways upon which a modern shul might thrive, R'Alpert also addressed what has been (for me) since Shavuot, a major source of befuddlement: "what parsha are we meant to be reading this week??" If, for instance, you were to have visited hebcal on June 14 in preparation for Shabbat, then you...Read more...
Highlights from the 2023 Annual Meeting
06/16/2023 10:39:51 AM
Message from the Treasurer
06/16/2023 10:23:05 AM
First, I want to thank everyone who attended the annual meeting for not throwing tomatoes at me, and for your forbearance as we worked through the complicated financial status of the LJCC. Passing the budget that we did – a clear investment in the future of the LJCC, admittedly using banked resources at first – is a remarkable testament to how far this congregation has come in the past few years. As a brief reminder here are...Read more...