Our KONA BETH SHALOM, congregation is eclectic and unaffiliated. Our services reflect customs from Reform, Conservative, and Renewal movements. Our Shabbat services are usually led by members of the congregation and occasionally by visiting rabbis and cantors. Our tradition is to invite a special guest rabbi to lead us for High Holy Days.
OUR TORAH
Our congregation was given the privilege and honor to use a unique and beautiful Holocaust-rescued Torah from Polna in the former Czechoslovakia. Subsequent to a post-war restoration at the Westminster Synagogue in London, the Torah was again restored in 2006 by Rabbi Moshe Druin and rededicated at a ceremony that included Gov. Linda Lingle and other state, Hawaiian and community leaders. A remarkable and beautiful scroll, its calligraphy is most unique, combining Ashkenazic, Sephardic, and Kabbalistic styles.
VARIETIES OF JEWISH EXPERIENCE SERIES
This program presents rabbis, cantors, speakers, teachers and entertainers who may be visiting Kona and wish to share their talents with the local community. In 2008 Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Eve Ilsen visited Kona to conduct a Grand Shabbaton as part of our “Varieties of Jewish Experience” series.