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Kol Tzedek

@koltzedek

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Building inclusive Jewish community through prayer, education, spirituality, and activism within and beyond West Philly.
@synagoguesrising

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Avi and @rebbe.mac will be playing Di rayze aheym in NYC, Philly, and Baltimore November 13-15.

Nov 13 - NYC: S Williamsburg loft show (worth it for the views alone)
Nov 14 - Philly: Workshop and House concert with Kol Tzedek Community
Nov 15 - Baltimore: Workshop and Concert hosted by The Baltimorim at Hinenu

Links in bio, and hope to see you soon!

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🕯️ 🍂 Here on the east coast, Tishrei leaves are falling and an early Hanukkah is fast approaching!

✏️ CALL FOR VENDORS DUE 10/20

📍WeMA 11.22 @33hawley
📍NYC 12.6 @3dollarbillbk
📍Philly 12.10 @koltzedek

Pushcart is excited to be scheming up 3 Hanukkah markets this year!
A special honor to partner with @koltzedek Philly for their Annual Hanukkah Party!

🖇️ to app in bio

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We're excited to once again co-host SOULFUL JEWISH LIVING with our fellow Synagogues Rising communities (listed below)

If you're looking for a values-aligned, online "Intro to Judaism" course to prepare you for conversion, adult b'mitzvah, or just learning lishmah (for its own sake) – this course is for you!

@hinenubaltimore
@kadima_seattle
@kehillasynagogue
@kolotchayeinu
@koltzedek
Nehar Shalom Community Synagogue
@newsynagogueproject
@orshalomsf
@shirtikvahmn
@tchiyah

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📢 Never Again Action is partnering with Kol Tzedek in West Philly for Sukkot!

🍂 We’re entering 5787 amidst an ongoing attack on our immigrant neighbors. Whether we’re directly impacted by the violence, onlookers to it, or a combination of both, we’re feeling it: the pain, grief, and fear of this moment is palpable. Where better to feel it than in the sukkah with our community?

What does Sukkot teach us about immigration and the things we owe each other?

Join Never Again Action Philly in the Kol Tzedek sukkah for ritual, discussion, and action-planning under the stars.

🔗 Registration isn't required, but welcome:
bit.ly/PhillySukkot

Immigrant Justice Sukkot: Collective Grief, Collective Action
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
6:30pm - 8:00pm
📍 Kol Tzedek Sukkah
5300 Whitby Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19143

We hope you’ll join us for:
🕯️ Ritual
📚 Learning & discussion
📢 Action planning
🥨 Snacks

Come as you are. Let’s gather in the sukkah, learn together, and build collective action.

@koltzedek
#CommunityEvent #NeverAgainAction #NeverAgainParaNadie #NeverAgainIsNow
#AnotherWorldIsPossible #ImmigrantJustice #Sukkot5787 #Sukkot2026 Flyer for sukkot event has yellow banner at top with black text saying Immigrant Justice Sukkot Collective Grief Collective Action with a photo of the Kol Tzedek sukkah and event details.

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A special Message of high holiday gratitude from JLP organizer Amy Shir @amosrocks

Hello everyone and Happy New Year. It was lovely seeing many of you at our event in Cherokee Park last Sunday. A special thank you to Siera Rayne Hanks for orchestrating and providing such creative activities for the event. You wouldn’t know she is also working hard as a second-year law student at UofL!!

I gotta tell you — ever since October 7th 2023, my entire Jewish identity and beliefs about Israel have been shattered. And I have gone through some really dark times in my personal life. But over the past year, I’ve been healing and flowing in service and community, particularly with Jewish Louisvillians for Peace.

And fortunately, I did something differently this year for the High Holidays. I streamed the services of a queer reconstructionist shul in West Philadelphia that Michael Rady had attended — Kol Tzedek. His friend there, a past president of the congregation, had married him and his husband Andrew. He, Barry, Amy and I participated in Rosh Hashanah, I streamed Kol Nidre by myself, and we both attended Yom Kippur services together.

I was AMAZED at how much these services excited me! The joy and music and dancing and inclusivity! The youthful energy! And, I lost it listening to the Rabbis’ Divrei Torah. While all of this negative energy has been swirling around Stuart’s relatively mild, short speech on RH at KI (he did not use the G word), the Rabbis spoke about the horrors of genocide in Gaza, as well as the wars in Lebanon and Iran, at length!

Honestly, everything about these services spoke directly to my neshamah — my soul. The Divrei Torah are now live and if you are yearning to hear Jewish clergy share authentically, painfully about their truths, give them a listen. I’d start with Rabbi Mo’s sermon on Anachnu Chatanu (WE have transgressed) on Yom Kippur. Second, I’d listen to the deeply moving sermon on T’shuvah by Rabbi Ari Lev.

Not surprisingly, the Jewish Federation of Philadelphia did not publish Kol Tikveh or the other reconstructionist shul in their directory of synagogues with High holiday worship services (read the rest on our Facebook page)

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Lilith x @heebmedia x @rabbinicfitcheck is delighted to present the 5787 High Holiday Lookbook! We asked your favorite Jewish feminist rabbis what they were planning to wear for the High Holidays—and how they made their choices.

Rabbi Mónica Gomery’s top three considerations when dressing for the High Holidays are:

💫 Consistency: I wear the same thing for each day of the Yamim Noraim— white slacks, a white kittel-like shirt, white non-leather shoes and my tallit. I really like having a uniform and not having to make choices day-to-day or year-to-year. Personally, it lets me focus on other things— music and nusach, details I’m keeping in my head, kavanah as I lead and pray.

💫 Differentiation: These clothes are reserved all year just for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, including my high holidays tallit. It helps me feel that I’m stepping into something sacred and utterly distinct.

💫 Team unity: It’s so important to me to feel synched up with the team I’m co-creating high holidays leadership with! Following an ancestral custom shared across both Sephardic and Ashkenazi diasporas, we all carry a clove of garlic for protection in our pockets during services that come from the same bulb. Pictured here with our garlic are Aly Halpert, Rachel Chang, Rabbi Ari Lev Fornari, and me, who together hold down the bimah in the main services at Kol Tzedek in Philly.

Thank you for joining us through the Days of Awe for this series! Same time next year? 😉

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Join the Education, Philosophy, & Religion Dept at Parkway Central for this special series on Judaism.

West Philly synagogue @koltzedek will be teaching a special three-part series on the practices and spirituality of Judaism! The rabbis of Kol Tzedek will teach participants this introductory course, with a focus on Shabbat, Jewish Holidays, and the Divine. All are welcome!

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I’m honored to come back to @letmypeoplesing along with @adamah_ny im in their #QueerJudaica #Market along with other #QueerJews with proceeds going to #disability #mutualaid!

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On Tisha B’Av, the Jewish day of mourning commemorating tragedies that befell Jewish communities across centuries, Jewish community members gathered in seven U.S. cities - Boston, Chicago, Denver, Durham, Kansas City, Philadelphia, and Seattle - to open our hearts to grief for Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, and horrific state violence that imperils the sanctity of human life.

This year, our communal mourning of the destruction of Jerusalem this Tisha B’Av is the same week that Israeli settlers attacked a mosque in Masafer Yatta, setting it on fire along with Palestinian homes.

Inspired by the invitation of our tradition to commemorate Jewish communal losses, our hearts turned to contemporary tragedies about which we have communal grief and accountability. We know that our grief is incomplete if it does not include the loss of Palestinian life and livelihood, and Palestinian sacred spaces.

These coordinated gatherings brought Tisha B’Av rituals into the streets with traditional expressions of grief: fasting, chanting Eicha (Lamentations), and kinnot (mournful liturgical lamentations), as public expressions of mourning and solidarity.
Tisha B’Av reminds us of the inviolable dignity of all human life. Through public ritual, participants connected Jewish history with present-day calls to protect human life. We grieved and built our collective courage to organize to end state violence in Gaza and the West Bank, and to pursue a future rooted in justice and dignity for all people.

Our grief must inspire us to take urgent action. We rose in solidarity with Palestinians facing harrowing violence at the hands of the Israeli military with pivotal support from the U.S. government.

We called upon our political leaders to stop U.S. support for Israel’s widespread violence by passing Block the Bombs legislation. We reinvigorated our commitments to fighting for Palestinian freedom and a thriving future for all.

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Join the West Philly synagogue @koltzedek for a special three-part series on the fundamentals of Judaism! The rabbis of Kol Tzedek will teach participants about Judaism, with a focus on Shabbat, Jewish Holidays, and the Divine. All are welcome!

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THY WILL BE DONE📝
Tomorrow, join us for our Thy Will Be Done event, hosted by the Conquerors CDC in partnership with Kol Tzedek. Learn about wills, estate planning and leave with information you can share with family and friends!

📅 Saturday, June 27th
⏰ 12pm-2pm
📍Victory Christian Center, 5220 Whitby Ave., Phila, PA 19143

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This Saturday, come out to our Thy Will Be Done event, hosted by the Conquerors CDC in partnership with Kol Tzedek.

We will be joined by Councilmember O'Rourke's office, The Comfort Giver, Community Legal Services, and Conquerors Community Development Corporation.

Join us for a conversation of wills, getting your house in order, and leave with action steps toward protecting your estate and generational wealth in your family.

📅 Saturday, June 27th
⏰ 12pm-2pm
📍 Victory Christian Center, 5220 Whitby Ave., Phila, PA 19143

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