Kol Hai first met on December 12, 2014, when our founder Shir Yaakov Feit wanted a place to pray. Over sixty people showed up to sing, celebrate, and inaugurate that first Shabbat.

Monthly meetings quickly became bi-monthly offerings followed potlucks. Less than a year old, the community unified to offer High Holiday services. A family-friendly Saturday morning service now meets once a month in an assisted living facility; this “Generations Shabbat” is joyously attended by newborns and 98 year-olds. We have held weekday morning minyanim, supported baby namings and funerals, hosted a sold-out, 150-person Passover seder, and have initiated plans to collaborate with the wider local Jewish, multifaith, and LGBTQ communities.

This September we launched the Soul School, a Jewish afterschool program.

Our Impact

“If I had known a Judaism like this when I was younger, my whole life would be different.”
–83 year-old Generations Shabbat participant

• We started from nothing; 60 people attended our very first Shabbat. Many members of our community haven’t attended services in a long time, if ever; now, they can’t imagine their spiritual and communal life without Kol Hai
• 455 people have joined our email list; including Facebook Likes and Twitter followers, our prospect list is currently over 730 individuals
• 139 individual donors from 15 states
• 32 monthly sustaining members
• We’ve hosted over 40 events 40-60 people attend our Saturday morning Generations Shabbat, inspiring our youngest members and providing a deeply loving service to an underserved, aging population
• All this growth by word-of-mouth; $0 spent on advertising