The Kavana Cooperative (established June 2006)

Welcome!    

"Kavana" is the Hebrew word for intention and speaks to our desire to empower individuals to create a meaningful, personal and fun Jewish experience for themselves and their families.  As a cooperative, we build an open and intimate Jewish community by drawing on the strengths and interests of each participant.

We invite you to join us in this new and exciting endeavor.

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Exciting News...

Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum is #16 in Newsweek's Top 25 Pulpit Rabbis (even though we don't have a pulpit with Kavana) - read more...

Legacy Heritage grant renewed! Kavana had its first national grant renewed.  This grant goes towards family education and building/supporting innovative programs that engage the whole family. 

Kavana Summer (it can't come soon enough!)

This summer, we have a whole host of programs that will take advantage of, we hope, the Seattle summer.  Set these dates on your calendar now so that you can be sure to join us!  More details will be available closer to the event dates.

Kavana Shabbat in the Park series (at Seattle parks in Wallingford and Magnolia)

• June 27th
• July 25th
• Aug 22nd

NEW! Kavana Camping: Fri Aug 1-Sun Aug 3rd - we'll be doing a Shabbat weekend camping trip about 1.5 hours away on Lake Easton (just over the pass).  There is a lot of hiking in that area - plus the lake is one in which people can swim and play.  Space is filling fast, so please RSVP now so that we know if we need to book additional spots.  We'll determine pricing closer to the time depending on numbers.

NEW! Camp Kavana: Summer Camp for Children grades 1-4

Kavana is offering a summer day camp with Hebrew language and Jewish community for children entering grades 1-4. We plan to run 2 one-week sessions, July 14-18 and July 21-25 from 9:00 am-3:00 pm. Campers can attend machaneh (camp) for one or both weeks. Learn more and register today!

Family Education with Kavana

The education team continues to make big plans for the fall.  In the meantime, be sure to join us on May 10th for our next Kavana's Shabbat Family Education program series.  May 18th  will be our next of our Kavana Prep and Practice event - focusing on Passover. Learn more about the whole Kavana Prep & Practice series. 

IMPORTANT! Help Kavana Match the NATAN Innovation Grant

Continuing our great news - Kavana has just received a very prestigious national award recognizing our start-up nature, our early success, and our innovative approach. The award is a $25,000 matching grant from the Natan Fund, a Jewish venture philanthropy group based in New York City. Specifically, this prestigious national grant is given to those organizations who are small, innovative and, ideally, doing things that are replicable and changing the face of Jewish life today. As a matching grant, they are providing a 1:1 match for all incremental or new contributions at or above $500. Our goal is to raise all of the funds before the end of our fiscal year (June 30, 2008) - with at least half raised by March.  Click here to make your contribution or learn how!

Make a 2008 Resolution to Join Kavana's Carbon Salon!

Kavana's Carbon Salon goal is to help Kavana reduce its overall emissions by 2%. Click here for more information and email us for if you are interested in participating and/or helping with this important area.  See the JTNews Article featuring our Carbon Salon

Come Get Involved!

As stated above, Kavana is a cooperative.  That means that we rely on the time, energy, creativity and passion of the participants to make this community truly sing.  Along those lines, here are Events and Team Meetings coming down the pike.  Come help:

• Team Members Wanted for the Shabbat and Holiday team - come help shape how we think about and approach our Shabbat and Holiday celebrations
• Team Members Wanted for the Social Justice/Tikkun Olam team - help design, decide and execute our Tikkun Olam program. 

* - It won't be Va'ad certified Kosher, but will be made/prepared in a kitchen that has been rigorously prepared for Passover and by someone who does Kosher catering.