Rabbi’s Update 2/27/2026

Dear Friends:

The holiday of Purim is this coming Monday night and Tuesday. Hazzan Komrad and I will be leading our service and celebration in the Sanctuary beginning at 7 pm. The service will be on Zoom as well but of course if you can make it in person you are encouraged to do so. Please enter via the wooden Sanctuary doors rather than the glass doors by the office. Security will be present so please either bring your blue laminated Kehilat Shalom member card or remember the phrase which is the motto of our community. After services there will be light oneg and hamentashen will be on sale for the benefit of our Sisterhood.

If you are attending on Zoom, the Book of Esther in Hebrew and English is available at this link: 

Megillat Esther.pdf

The English translation is not the same one as the booklets which we will be using at the shul but it is close enough that you should be able to follow along, and the Hebrew text is the same.

Besides reading the Megillah, there are two other main mitzvot of Purim: mishloach manot and matanot la-evyonim.  Both of these are explicitly mentioned in the Book of Esther, 9:22: יְמֵי֙ מִשְׁתֶּ֣ה וְשִׂמְחָ֔ה וּמִשְׁלֹ֤חַ מָנוֹת֙ אִ֣ישׁ לְרֵעֵ֔הוּ וּמַתָּנ֖וֹת לָֽאֶבְיֹנִֽים׃

an occasion for sending gifts to one another (mishloach manot)  and presents to the poor (matanot la-evyonim.) This means sending gifts of food to at least two people as well as charitable contributions to at least two people.

Maimonides in his Code says that if one is faced with the need to prioritize, it is more important to be generous in giving to the poor rather than in sending food to our friends or family. “For there is no more wondrous joy than to gladden the hearts of the poor, widows, orphans, and immigrants . . . for one who gladdens the hearts of those who are downtrodden is similar to the Divine Providence.” 

Last year our Purim celebrations were diminished when shortly before Purim we learned that Shiri Bibas and her two young children Ariel and Kfir had been murdered by their Hamas captors. While this year Israel is far from peace, at least the active fighting is over. Sadly, it is precisely at this time that right-wing and Haredi parties in Israel have introduced legislation which would turn the entire Kotel or Western Wall officially into an Orthodox synagogue under the authority of the Chief Rabbinate. Among other things, this would eliminate the egalitarian section and make mixed prayer or women wearing tefillin or reading from a Torah scroll theoretically punishable by seven years in prison. This law has already passed in its first reading although to become law, a bill must be passed by the Knesset in three readings. To head off this divisive measure which criminalizes our fellow Masorti Jews in Israel and drives yet another wedge between Israel and the Diaspora, please sign this petition.

If you or someone you know is in need because of having been laid off, or has  lost benefits of some type and needs immediate help, please let me know. I can access limited funds through the Jewish Federation almost immediately. For longer-term help, the Hebrew Free Loan Society will loan up to $18,000 interest-free and the Jewish Federation has set up a hotline to  access assistance at 703-JCARING.

As a reminder, I am having drop-in hours on Thursday afternoons from 2 to 4 at the shul. For my drop-in hours, you do not need to make an appointment -- that would negate the whole point of drop-in hours -- but I’d urge you to check and make sure I am there regardless as sometimes there are unavoidable pastoral or other emergencies which might take me away from the building. 

As always, if I can do anything for you or you need to talk, please contact me at rabbi@kehilatshalom.org 

rather than through the synagogue office. I am happy to meet you at the synagogue by appointment; if you want to speak with me it’s best to make an appointment rather than assuming I will be there when you stop by. 

Additionally, if you know of a Kehilat Shalom congregant or another member of our Jewish community who could use a phone call, please let me know.

L’shalom,

Rabbi Charles L. Arian