Kolot Chayeinu / Voices of Our Lives

Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives is a Jewish congregation in Brooklyn, where doubt can be an act of faith and all hands are needed to build our community. We are creative, serious seekers who pray joyfully, wrestle with tradition, pursue justice and refuse to be satisfied with the world as it is. We share a commitment to ending structural racism and becoming an antiracist congregation. And, as individuals of varying sexual orientations, gender identities, races, family arrangements, and Jewish identities and backgrounds, we search for meaningful and just expressions of our Judaism in today's uncertain world.

As such, we are committed to working to support and improve the Jewish world and Judaism, engaging in dialogue and debate about issues and ideas that have an impact on Jews and Judaism and about visions for the Jewish future.

Diversity is a hallmark of the Kolot Chayeinu community. We continue and grow as we began, with profound respect for individuality, believing in and striving for broad inclusivity, sharing meals, conversation and camaraderie. Our experience has taught us that a wide range of Jewish background, practice and understanding is necessary to a vibrant community, as is the active presence of non-Jewish members, loved ones, and friends. We are proud to be a community comprising individuals of varying Jewish traditions, sexual orientations, races, and family arrangements.

Our community's greatest strength and most precious resource is its members. We honor the range and variety of the talents and experiences our members bring to the community, and appreciate and rely on the support they give to the congregation through participation and financial contributions.

The work of the community is the community's work. This congregation is committed to participatory governance. The elected board, active committees, working groups, the rabbi, and staff are responsible for conducting the business and enabling the work of the congregation. We support frequent and open means of communication. We highly value the skilled professionals, led by our Rabbi, who provide us with leadership, learning, support, and wisdom of many kinds. Our commitment is to personnel policies and practices that reflect Jewish values of fairness, respect and the promotion of dignity in the workplace.

We are an American Jewish congregation and we value America's freedoms that have benefited Jews and Judaism, while upholding Jewish values that spur us to protest American policies and actions we see as wrong. Kolot Chayeinu is a congregation in Brooklyn, New York, and it is committed to act for the welfare of this great borough.