| The Jewish Renewal Community of the Monterey Peninsula |
| Our Mission |
Mission Statement
Kavanat HaLev (Way of the Heart) is an open and participatory Jewish Renewal community
serving the Monterey Bay area. We honor Jewish heritage, traditions, and Torah in
celebration of Shabbat, holidays and life-cycle events. Through teaching, meditation, prayer,
music, chanting, dance, and study, we seek to build a deeply meaningful Jewish connection to
the Divine that is relevant and joyful, that contains an all-embracing awareness of spiritual
practices, and that promotes egalitarian respect, freedom, and caring for all.
Our Values:
Kavanat HaLev is a Jewish Renewal religious community that welcomes everyone regardless
of religious background, age, family, lifestyle, or level of Jewish education. We are egalitarian
in liturgy and leadership. Women and men are full and equal partners in every aspect of
community life and worship. Our concept of the Eternal is not exclusively male or female.
To attain meaning and relevance, we explore diverse religious experiences and practices,
make traditional Jewish practice new, and create new practices. We respect and learn from
other spiritual paths. Our services and activities are accessible to everyone regardless of their
knowledge of Judaism or Hebrew. We experiment with a mixture of old and new practices
designed to create an opportunity for connection with the Source of all. We assert that the
spiritual quest can be exciting and enthusiastic with an additional goal of helping individuals
recognize, explore, and live out their authentic selves.
We are aware that the world in which we live is in need of repair, and that our mission is to
practice Tikkun Olam, a healing of the earth and of society. We urge compassion, justice,
respect, healing, and fair treatment of all that lives, and support and practice ecologically
sound actions that are gentle to the earth.
We believe that Judaism and Torah are living and evolving. We study and teach our texts,
wrestle with their content and meaning, and use these to inform the design of our personal
practices.
We support Jewish education. Our teaching is neither authoritarian nor dogmatic; everyone is
free to question, challenge, or accept what s/he will without judgment from others.
Our vision for the future:
• Kavanat HaLev has a warm and inspiring spiritual leader.
• Kavanat HaLev strives to grow an active membership that acts in partnership
with the rabbi in creating a united spiritual community.
• Members of Kavanat HaLev and our community-at-large will provide sufficient
financial resources to support our goals and objectives.
• Kavanat HaLev has a democratic and cooperative form of governance that
supports our values, where every member can have a voice and be as active
as he or she chooses to be.
• Kavanat HaLev remains egalitarian and inclusive, celebrating and supporting
our diversity.
• Kavanat HaLev seeks a growing membership including those who have felt
alienated from traditional Judaism, or religion in general, and those who seek
a deeper, more meaningful spiritual life.
• Kavanat HaLev seeks to be an active participant in Tikkun Olam and in
challenging social inequities, beginning with our immediate community,
expanding to the neighborhood, and continuing to the world at large.
• Kavanat HaLev is committed to applying all of these values and principles to
the renewal and revitalization of our spiritual practices and our community
decision-making and actions.
Kavanat HaLev
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