Rabbi's Update 5/15/2026

Dear Friends:

This Shabbat marks the 40th anniversary of my rabbinic ordination according to the Hebrew calendar.  According to the Gregorian calendar it was June 7, 1986 but on the Hebrew calendar it was the same date as tomorrow, 29 Iyar, and we read the same Torah portion, Bamidbar, and the same Haftarah, Machar Chodesh.

While it’s not typical to hold a rabbinic ordination on Shabbat, there is nothing to prohibit it either, and the Cincinnati campus of Hebrew Union College, where I was ordained, had a tradition of holding ordination on Shabbat in the magnificent Plum Street Temple which was built in 1866, right after the Civil War. It’s truly an amazing building and I would encourage you to use the link just above to view it.

The last ordination in Plum Street Temple was held this past Shabbat as HUC is closing all academic programs in Cincinnati. The campus will remain open, sort of, as the home of the American Jewish Archives and the Klau Library, but there will be no students. The Klau Library holds the second largest collection of printed Judaica in the world, exceeded only by the Jewish National Library in Jerusalem. One of the more interesting collections in the Rare Book Room is that of the Jewish community of Kaifeng, China, including a bilingual Hebrew-Mandarin siddur as well as the community’s memorial book containing the names of deceased members in both Mandarin Chinese and Hebrew. 

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The holiday of Shavuot, which marks the revelation at Mt. Sinai, begins on Thursday night, May 21. Our regular 7:45 weekday minchah (afternoon service) will be followed by evening service for the first day of Shavuot. After that service ends at around 8:15 or 8:20, I will be offering a brief study session of Kabbalistic teachings about revelation. All of this will be on Zoom only.

On Friday morning May 22, services for the first day of Shavuot will be on Zoom only, beginning at 9:30.

Evening services for Shabbat and the second day of Shavuot will be Friday night May 22 at 6:30 on Zoom. Morning services with Rabbi Arian and Hazzan Komrad will include the recitation of the Yizkor service and will be in person and on Zoom at 9:30 on Saturday, May 23,

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Last night we began a new Adult Education class called “The Essential Kabbalah.” I was very gratified by the number of people participating, including folks who are not regular participants in the classes I teach.

A video of the class is available here. We started with a brief story from the Talmud which can be found here. We then went on to begin our study of an excerpt of Dr. Daniel C. Matt’s book The Essential Kabbalah. A pdf of the excerpt is here and the book can be purchased here.

As I mentioned above, we are using the book The Essential Kabbalah by Dr. Daniel C. Matt. The Essential Kabbalah is a translated and annotated anthology which offers insightful accounts of the primary aspects of Jewish mysticism, including Ein Sof (the radical transcendence of God), the Sefirot (the ten divine attributes), and the Shekhinah (the feminine aspect of God). Selections of text are rendered with clarity and an eye for the magical. The Essential Kabbalah is a crucial and momentous contribution to the normally esoteric world of Jewish mysticism.

I encourage you to purchase the book from Amazon or other booksellers, but the selections we use will be screenshared during each session.

The course will meet right after minyan Thursday nights with the next session on May 28, then on June 11 and June 25. If there is sufficient interest, the class will continue in the Fall.

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