Welcome to the Jewish Community of Louisville
Shalom! Welcome to your comprehensive web resource for information about Louisville’s Jewish community and thank you for choosing jewishlouisville.org.
There’s plenty to see—with more added regularly.
- Listings for most of Louisville’s Jewish agencies, organizations, synagogues and temples, along with links to their websites.
- The latest news and information about upcoming events, activities and classes throughout the Jewish community, in town and around the country.
- A local community calendar, where each of Louisville’s Jewish groups can post up-to-date information about their activities—with a simple search feature to make finding what you’re looking for much easier.
We at the Jewish Community of Louisville are committed to making this site a valuable and practical resource for everyone in our area. Please feel free to contact us if you have questions, comments, or if there’s something you’d like to see on our site. Thanks for visiting!
The 2012 Federation Campaign
Needs in the Jewish community have increased greatly. For example, over a seven-year period ending in 2010 (the latest year for which we have economic data), Jewish Family and Career Services increased support to individuals by 70 percent. During that same time, the value of the dollar contributed in 2003 has been reduced by 30 percent due to inflation and other factors limiting the amount of donations nonprofits can apply directly to programs. That means that in order to achieve the same level of effect, for each dollar contributed in 2003, two dollars is needed now. That’s a big change. It’s also reality.
We know economic times are difficult for many of us, but the needs for Jews here and all over the world is real and urgent. If you have not yet pledged to the 2012 Federation Campaign click here to pledge. If you have already pledged and would like to increase your contribution, please click here today.
65 Teens, Middle Schoolers Participate in 2012 J-Serve
[by Sadie Cohen]
The Jewish Community of Louisville hosted the annual J-Serve event on April 15. This year, 65 6th-12th graders painted the Jewish Community Center’s gaga pit and halfway house, planted in the JCC’s garden, folded Kroger bags for Dare To Care, and cut and knotted blankets for the victims of the tornado in Henryville.
Many of the kids had a blast, not only helping the community, but also making new friends with other Jewish teens in Louisville.
Teen helper Max Strull said, “I had fun being with friends while doing community work to help those in need of it.”
J-Serve is an annual eve nt that brings together Jewish teens from all youth groups in Louisville for a common project, and the organizers hope to increase the teen involvement in helping our community. Be on the lookout for more JCL events to come!
Editor’s Note: The JCL received an $1,800 grant from BBYO for the J-Serve project, which allowed teens to participate in a variety of options during the event.
The event was carefully planned by a group of teens with the guidance from youth group advisors and parents. The teen committee – Rebecca Waller, Sadie Cohen, Natania Lipp and Jacob Spielberg – planned the activities, created the marketing pieces, designed the t-shirt and helped recruit other Jewish teens to come to the event.
Read more: 65 Teens, Middle Schoolers Participate in 2012 J-Serve
Maccabeats Rock the Hall, Delight the Crowd
[by Shiela Steinman Wallace]
With a sold-out house, the JCC’s Linker Auditorium was packed on Sunday, April 22, when the Maccabeats took the stage, and when the seven young men filled the room with their amazing sound, not a single person was sitting still.
This a cappella group from Yeshiva University rocked the hall. With tight harmonies, that plumbed the bass depths of the human voice in places and soared clearly to the envy of many a soprano in others, the Maccabeats presented a series of pieces that were clearly Jewish in content, and designed to appeal to the young and the young at heart.
One of their members, Meyer Shapiro, provided such a wide variety of vocal percussion you’d think the group had a drum set hidden somewhere. He was by no means the sole source of faux instrumentation, but he certainly predominated, sometimes even moving back and forth from traditional vocals to percussion.
The group started their set with a Chanukah song, Al HaNisim, setting the bar high for the entire show; then they moved into L’cha Dodi, presented as a lyrical waltz with a 1950’s doo-wop feel. Shapiro managed to produce a sound that resembled wire brushes gently stroking a cymbal to accompany his companions.
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