Dear Community,

After a great deal of reflection and discernment, and with a tremendous amount of love for this community, I have let the board know that I will end my employment at Kadima in June 2027, fulfilling what will have been 12 years as Kadima’s Rabbi. During my remaining time, I will support Kadima’s board and staff in figuring out the next era of Kadima rabbinic leadership and a staff structure that sets up our community well to thrive in longevity and joy. I will continue in my role of Rabbi & Acting Director until then. This decision comes not due to strife or worry about Kadima and its future, but due to what will be best for me and my family in the coming years. I believe that Kadima is poised for an era of success and growth ahead and I look forward to supporting that in new and different ways during and after my transition.

I was hired as Kadima’s Rabbi & Education Director right out of rabbinical school and began work at Kadima in July 2015. My position has changed a great deal over the years, evolving with different staffing configurations and responding to community needs. In that time, Kadima has been active in creating a great deal of change. It has also been responsive to immense shifts in the world, Seattle, and the Jewish community as a whole. Serving as Kadima’s rabbi has been a true honor and a growthful challenge. I will cherish the meaningful teachings and remarkable relationships gained along the way. As I share this notice, I feel proud of the work and impact we have had during this era of Kadima’s history and am so grateful to those who first invited me to join in this role more than ten years ago.

There are a variety of individual responses and reactions when a rabbi leaves a congregation. Some may feel sad or upset or frustrated. Some may feel neutral. Some may feel excited for what’s coming next for the community. During this time of rabbinic transition, my hope is that we can honor the range of feelings and emotions present for one another and hold that they are a normal and important part of such a transition. I know we can do this. Sharing our thoughts and feelings and staying present with each other is in Kadima’s DNA.

While I do not know yet exactly what lies ahead for me professionally, I do plan on staying in Seattle and I have asked the board to consider my offer to stay on in the role of Rabbi Emeritus after June 2027. In such a role, I would hope to stay connected, support future rabbinic leadership, and continue to think of Kadima as a Jewish home for myself and my family.

I deeply believe in Kadima and this community’s future. Kadima is a resilient and necessary community that has played an important role in forging a place for Jews on the left, as well as being a constructive force in building the greater Jewish left in Seattle and certainly beyond. This has been true since its founding and remains vital today. Kadima has an important role to play in each of our lives and in the Jewish community at large. Kadima’s leadership, supported by other synagogue and movement leaders, understands the importance of the transition ahead and will be responsive to the community’s needs during this time. Coming together as a community to support one another to collectively create a thriving future will serve us well, continuing to transform this community for the better. This moment presents a ripe opportunity to clarify and rearticulate who we are, what we want, and how to get there. A next rabbi can help achieve a beautiful vision that only this community coming together can create successfully.

I am so grateful to you each, and I regret this not being news I could share with you each individually. But I do welcome the ways we will continue to connect as Kadima discerns its next steps. Read a message from Kadima’s Board of Directors below for more about what happens now.

With such gratitude,
R’ David Basior

________________


Dear Community,

We on the board are feeling emotional in response to Rabbi David’s announcement that he is leaving his staff role in June 2027. We imagine that you might be feeling many emotions as well. All of us have been blessed to learn from and be led by Rabbi David, as he has also learned from and been led by us.

Rabbi David has been with Kadima through a decade of incredible growth, offering pastoral care through periods of joy and grief on a community level and in the world at large. The last few years have not been easy for any of us and we are particularly grateful for R’ David’s fierce and sensitive leadership.

The next year and a half will give us time to express our love and appreciation for Rabbi David, as we also move into our next stage as a community. While this is a sad and tender moment, it is also one of possibility.

In the coming weeks, the Kadima Board will appoint a Rabbinical Hiring Committee. The Board and Rabbi May have agreed to enter a period of mutual discernment throughout February and March 2026 to determine if Rabbi May will serve as Kadima’s next head rabbi. The Rabbinic Hiring Committee will involve as much of Kadima’s membership as possible in that process and then make a recommendation to the Board, which will seek affirmation from the entire membership prior to making a final decision. If either Kadima or Rabbi May decide not to move forward, the committee will then launch a national search in the second half of 2026 toward a successful mid-2027 hire. Should a national search happen, it will involve as much of our community as possible, and will conclude with the Rabbinic Hiring Committee recommending a candidate for the Board of Directors for hire. The Board will then seek affirmation from the entire membership before making an offer to the recommended candidate. We ask for you to make yourself available to participate in this important process with us. With this in mind, we will have a community meeting on January 11th where you can share input about this transition and hear from the Board and Rabbinic Hiring Committee.

These next months will be an important time to direct our energy and resources toward Kadima. Rabbi David’s announcement arrives as we launch a Board-led process, guided by Rabbis May and David, to evaluate and assess our community’s articulated values and vision. This process will allow us to affirm Kadima’s history and help us evolve toward a thriving future. We appreciate that we can do this while Rabbi David is still here to contribute his unique perspectives and wisdom. Similar to the rabbinic hiring process, Kadima staff and community will be central to the shaping of this vision and values work.

While we steward these processes, we will also invite the community to support our End-of-Gregorian-Year fundraising drive, running in December with a $20k goal. Contributing in this season serves as a way of affirming our shared belief in and commitment to Kadima’s sustainability, its place in all of our lives, and our agency in creating a thriving future together. Now is a time for us to invest in what Kadima is and can be.

As the end of 2025 approaches, please take this time to assess how this news is sitting with you, how you can and want to be involved in setting Kadima up for our next era, and how you and yours might be able to financially invest in Kadima to help us get there. In the mix of emotions, we also have a great opportunity to move through this transition collectively, to support each other, and to shape a strong future for Kadima. We are, as always, in this together.

With love and gratitude, 
Kadima Board of Directors
Chelsea, Guy, Hila, Marion, and Michael

The mishnah tells us that every life is an entire universe. As the universe is expansive and unknowably larger than is observable, so too is every human life deeper, richer, more expansive than we could each know. It is arguably infinite, and the Hebrew word olam denotes a concept of endlessness.

So, as we consider for this week's Torah reading Chayei Sarah or “the life of Sarah,” we are poised to consider the limitlessness of life.

In Wednesday's Torah study, we considered the fact that the Hebrew word for life “chayim” is indeed in the plural. That there is no distinction between a single life and all of life.

And yet, we attempt to measure life. In years, in experiences, in impact, in legacy, our human tendency to quantify and qualify life is understandable and can perhaps bring important meaning, comfort, satisfaction, as well as drive and motivation. And yet, a single life is an entire universe. Period.

Let the life of Sarah give us all space to reflect on our own lives, remember the loves of our loved ones and ancestors, and remind us that our impact is unmeasurable. Let us share it as generously as we are able.

Shabbat shalom,
R’ David