About us
Kehilat Hakerem is a fully egalitarian Masorti (Conservative) congregation, established in Karmiel in 1979.
We belong to the Masorti movement in Israel and, as such, combine Halacha and tradition with an open approach to scholarship, Jewish life, and the ideals and values of our day.
We are a warm and welcoming group of native-born Israelis and immigrants from many countries.
Our services on Friday evenings, Saturdays and Festivals are run by our members who lead the prayers, read from the Torah and give the sermons. We also celebrate Havdala together by Zoom each week.
We are happy to host families to celebrate their family Bar/Bat Mitzvah. These can be held on a Shabbat morning or Shabbat afternoon, on a Monday or Thursday morning, according to the wishes of the family. It is also possible to host a "Hanahat Tefilin".
The Kehila is guided by a committee who meet regularly to decide on all matters pertaining to the community.
We are fortunate to have two rabbis associated with the Kehila who teach study sessions on different topics as part of 'Midreshet Hakerem', Rabbi Dr. Avi Kaddish and Rabba Sigalit Or.
Midreshet Hakerem organizes two semesters per year of 12 sessions - Autumn and Spring - two in Hebrew and one in English.
We welcome you to come along to a service, a study session, or one of our other social activities.
For more information, please contact us:
Kehilat Hakerem, 04-958 2613 keremspitzer@gmail.com
Veronique Hasson, Treasurer – 052-3408692 gizbar@hakerem.net
Don Jacobson, Midreshet Hakerem coordinator - 052-2693758 midrasha@hakerem.net
History
In early 1979, a group of English speakers in Karmiel got together to form a Conservative congregation that resembled a 'shul' in 'the old country' as an alternative to the Orthodox congregations that existed in the area. A small congregation of mainly English-speaking olim held its first services for the High Holydays that year. In June 1980 our first Bat Mitzvah, of Rozi Juster, was celebrated. For many years we were based in Moadon Gil Hazahav on Tzahal Street.
In 1990, Kehilat Hakerem voted to become egalitarian, and since then we have a growing number of women learning to read Torah and Haftarah and lead services. In 1992 Raphi Friedman became our first Rabbi.
In 1997 we finally moved into our own permanent synagogue building, the Spitzer Center on Sheizaf Street, thanks to generous donations from Morris Spitzer from New York and Harry Stern from Philadelphia, and in cooperation with the Karmiel Municipality.
In 2000 Tsvi Landau was our Rabbi followed by Rabbi Reuven Resnik in 2008. He, together with his Russian speaking wife Shula, contributed much in the way of outreach to Russian speakers and the Arab and Druse communities in the area.
In 2010 we received a further donation from Morris Spitzer, enabling us to expand our facilities to include a purpose-built Beit Midrash, a large kitchen, new restrooms, an area for the overflow during our holiday services and a space for kiddushim.
Rabbi Mijael Even-David, an oleh from Chile, joined us in 2011 together with his wife, Raya, an Israeli with family roots in the US, enriching our Kehila with their joint abilities in three languages.
Rabbi Gil Nativ, a native Israeli with experience of Masorti communities across the globe, served as our spiritual leader 2015 - 2017.
From 2019-2021 Keren Fite PhD served as Community Director introducing a weekly blog on the Weekly Portion in addition to her administrative duties.
Twinned Congregations
Kehilat Hakerem has a sister congregation in Pittsburgh "Beth Shalom". We have hosted their members in our Kehila, and we join in their Sunday Talmud class in English lead by their Rabbi.