Kol HaEmek
About Us
Mendocino and Lake Counties are large geographical areas, featuring rivers, streams, mountain alluvial valleys, and ranges, located about 100 miles from San Francisco, with low population density and the cleanest air in California. We are grateful to live and worship amidst such beauty.
We invite you to participate in our vibrant and meaningful classes, services and social gatherings. All of these will help you learn about Judaism and add depth to your life as well as enrich the lives of those you love. At Kol HaEmek, you will have a chance to engage in tikkun olam (repairing the world), working together on vital causes within and beyond Mendocino County. Your children will enjoy participating in creative and fun educational programs where they will make new friends and develop their Jewish knowledge and identity.
Our Mission
Our Purpose is to create an environment in which Jewish culture, religion and spiritual life can flourish; to perpetuate and renew our Jewish connections with ourselves and our homes, within our community and the world.
Our Mission is to express and support Judaism in the following ways:
To provide a space for religious study and prayer
To share life cycle events through meaningful traditions
To offer and sponsor Jewish education for all ages
To be inclusive of all partnerships and family configurations
To include interfaith families and Jews-by-choice
To network with other Jewish communities
To educate and share our culture with other Mendocino County residents
To be a foundation for tikkun olam (healing of the world) as a community
Our History
The Mendocino County Jewish Communities, a non-profit organization, began its journey in 1982 in Ukiah, bringing together a group of dedicated individuals committed to fostering Jewish life in the area. Early leaders included Carol Rosenberg, Harvey Frankle, Helen Sizemore, and Bill Ray, with Norman Rosen providing legal counsel. Pioneering members such as Barry Vogel, Helene Epstein, Lucy Bayer, Clarissa Shaefer, Ellen Saxe, Carol Goodman, Gary Relin, and Johanina Wikoff played vital roles in shaping our community.
Recognizing the unique needs of the region, the Mendocino County Jewish Communities soon evolved into two distinct groups: Mendocino Coastal and Mendocino Inland. By 1983, the Inland community had grown significantly, boasting 75 individuals on the mailing list and 30 families with paid memberships. Our children's education program flourished, with bi-weekly classes attended by over two dozen young learners.
Rabbi Hanon Sills, residing in Albion, became an integral part of our community, especially during holiday celebrations. His charismatic presence and support from the Jewish Community Endowment made him our first High Holiday leader in 1982, leading a memorable service at Helen's home. A notable moment from this period was when a neighbor, Harvey Baumoel, paused his lawnmower upon learning of our gathering, joined our minyan, and became an active member.
Rabbi Sills' vibrant storytelling, singing, and dancing enriched our celebrations for many years until he moved to Eugene in 1989 to lead the Hillel at the University of Oregon. Meanwhile, the Coast community sought a resident rabbi, inviting leaders like Rabbi David Wolfe-Blank and Rabbi Margaret Holub to guide their High Holiday services. Rabbi Holub eventually became a half-time resident rabbi, splitting her time between the Coast and Inland communities, and significantly contributing to our first group of B'nei Mitzvah.
During the years of visiting rabbi contracts, we were blessed with inspiring leaders like Rabbi David Wolfe-Blank and maggid (storyteller) Daniel Lev, each serving for two years. Our community thrived under the mentorship of Rabbi Shefa Gold, who led our High Holiday services for a decade and nurtured our spiritual growth.
At Rabbi Gold's recommendation, Rabbi Shoshanah Devorah joined us from Seattle, serving as our beloved leader for thirteen years before retiring to Israel. Today, we continue our tradition of scheduled prayer leaders, currently benefiting from the wisdom and guidance of four exceptional Jewish teachers and rabbinical students who inspire and lead our congregation.
The Story of Our Torah
Pisek was a small town in Southern Bohemia (Czechoslovakia) , home to 16,000 people and beautifully situated among hills and forests with the River Otava flowing through it. In the summer, it became a resort town. The synagogue was old, baroque, and well-preserved, but we didn’t have a rabbi—only borrowing one occasionally. Pisek had about 300 Jews. After the war, only 3 came back.
On May 5, 1945, the 12th unit of the United States Army liberated Pisek. After the Allied forces liberated Czechoslovakia, the Torahs sat for nearly 20 years in a warehouse in Prague and became badly deteriorated.
In 1964, a London antique dealer convinced the Czech government to sell the Torahs. So, all 1,564 Czech Torahs were shipped to Westminster Synagogue in London. The process of repairing them took place over the next 30 years. Almost all showed evidence of the Holocaust—they were blood-stained, charred by fire, and water-damaged. Many still had the labels placed on them by the Nazis, and some contained slips of paper with disparaging remarks.
As the Torahs were repaired, they were sent out to schools, hospitals, old age homes, and newly formed Jewish communities.
In 1990, Westminster Czech Memorial Torah #393, the Pisek Torah, was given on permanent loan to a small Jewish community in Northern California. This community of 200-300 people lived in and around a town of 15,000-16,000, located in a beautiful valley surrounded by hills and forests with the Russian River flowing through it. A community like Pisek, which didn’t have a rabbi but borrowed one on occasion.
Once again, the Torah was turned—first on the dining room table of Karen and Norm Rosen’s home, and for over 30 years now, on many occasions: for the Sabbath, High Holidays, and for rites of passage of our young people into adulthood—bar and bat mitzvahs.
The people of Pisek are remembered each year during our Yiskor services, the memorial service where the names of our deceased loved ones are read, and they are remembered when the Kaddish, the mourner's prayer, is said.
In one hand, we hold the joy and gratitude of having the Pisek Torah in our community—a Torah around which we can wrap our fine traditions. In the other hand, we hold the horror and pain of the Holocaust and the tragic deaths of the people of Pisek who perished.
May they always be remembered.
On October 8, 2017, news broke about the Redwood Complex Fire on West Road in Redwood Valley. Dan Hibshman, listening to the news, realized that our Shul might be in the fire’s path. Inside our Shul was the Pisek Torah—a Torah that still had stains from the destruction of its original home. He called families in Redwood Valley, but there was no answer—they had been evacuated. Rather than try to find someone else, Dan, a non-practicing, very non-observant, and very questioning Jew, realized he was the one to rescue the Torah.
Dan, Leslie (his wife), and their dog Sam climbed into Dan’s truck, stopping briefly for a key, and drove to Redwood Valley. They met a roadblock on West Road; no one was allowed to pass. They could see the Shul just beyond where they stood but couldn’t get any closer.
They tried to explain the Torah’s importance and history; one of the men guarding the road heard their story and quietly whispered, "One might walk in driveways and open spaces." They looked at each other, slipped out of the truck, and, with Leslie holding the dog, took a path to School Way, slipped into a driveway, and came to the back of the Shul. Dan entered the building and took the Torah from the Ark. He carried the Torah like a baby, and they boldly walked past the guards down the road to their truck.
Their informant winked and gave them a small wave. They carefully wrapped the Torah in a tarp, placed it in the truck, and drove back to a friend’s house in Ukiah. They returned her key and gently handed her the Torah.
The Torah spent the next five days wrapped in a blanket on the sofa. That was until Simchat Torah, when the community came to its temporary home, chanted the most heartfelt Shehecheyanu for this congregation, and carefully rolled the cherished Torah on the dining room table, reading the end of Devarim and the beginning of Bereshit.
