Dear community,

We come to you in a spirit of care, candor and passion to share with you some difficult news: Kadima is in a financial crisis. We ask that you read this entire bulletin to ensure you receive the full and complete context of our current situation.

What does this mean?

We have made the gut-wrenching decision to temporarily reduce our staff’s working hours to the bare minimum. We have not raised enough money to meet our current budget, and because payroll is 80% of our budget, the reductions in expenditures come mainly at the expense of our workers, and the work they do. We took a hard look at the budget and came to the conclusion that minimizing staffing Kadima is the only way of getting through this. With deep regret, the board made the difficult decision to lay off of our Associate Rabbi and Director of Member Development, Rabbi May. We thank Rabbi May for her leadership and service to our community.

These are extremely difficult decisions that we do not take lightly, but still take due to our solemn responsibility to steward our communal resources and ensure we are spending them well.

Kadima School will continue to operate as normal. We have elected to prioritize the school in order to cause the least disruption to our community members who may be the most impacted, and safeguard our young people’s space for Jewish learning and growth. Sarah and the office staff are working the bare minimum hours to keep the school functioning, and our teachers and madrichimot (tutors) will remain at their usual hours. We know that education and caring for the next generation is a core Kadima value, and as such, will remain our top priority.

Rabbi David has been placed on furlough through the month of February, with a few exceptions: previously scheduled weddings and young people’s B’Mitzvah in the 5785-86 cohort, and all related planning meetings for them, will continue as scheduled. All meetings unrelated to upcoming lifecycle events, all adult b'mitzvah classes, and all Weekly Torah Study will be canceled in February.

Unfortunately, this means that the majority of Kadima’s other regular programming will be suspended until further notice. The rabbinical search, values revision process, disability justice consultancy with Leah, and the new website are also being put on hold.

We need your help. To ensure we can restore staff hours, bring Rabbi David off of furlough, and resume programming, we need to raise $22,000 before March 1. To secure our staff’s hours and Kadima programming through the end of June 2026, we need to raise $50,000 in addition to the already pledged Nadiv Lev contributions. To increase or start Nadiv Lev, please email [email protected].

This is a lot to take in, and we apologize for all the anguish this has caused to our staff and community. We pledge to rebuild the trust and connection this financial situation may break, especially with staff. As a board, we are committed to reforming our membership model to ensure predictable revenue so our workers never have to worry if they will receive their next paycheck, and so our community never worry about losing their spiritual home.

At our January community meeting, members understandably expressed frustration, trepidation, and uncertainty. Members  also shared excitement for Kadima’s future, interest in more programming and services, and expressed love and care for this community for which we all share responsibility. We need everyone who has the means to step up and do it now.

If you are financially secure and solvent, we need you to support Kadima to become the same. Do you have fundraising or grant writing experience and have capacity to support Kadima in this time with sweat equity in this way? Email the board at [email protected], This is a moment for us to pull together and recommit to each other and the gift of community that Kadima has given us for decades.

Please contribute here now.

We know this news may feel jarring, especially given that our school has been running smoother than it has in years, and our programming (both religious and secular) has been at a higher caliber. This is because our staff, volunteer committees, and community have built a lot of momentum towards Kadima’s future. We need your help to maintain that momentum, and to build more, and we need funding to do it.
Kadima has been in similar financial situations before, but we cannot be here again after today — both for our staff’s sake and the sake of this beloved community, it is time for us all to step up and see Kadima be a true place of financial stability.


In community,
Chelsea, Hila, Michael, Marion, and Guy
Kadima Board of Directors

I write this from ICE occupied Minneapolis. I have been here since Wednesday evening answering a call made to clergy to show up, witness, learn, and act. I am grateful to all who made my presence here possible, including family, friends, Kadima coworkers and board members, and community as a whole. 

The organizers in Minneapolis are amazing. As many of them have called themselves, the “ordinary people” of Minneapolis are doing everything they can to keep their neighbors and themselves safe. All in a context they describe as: “Minneapolis is not safe - for anyone. Agents are smashing windows, breaking doors, and stealing humans without verifying whether they are undocumented or even whether they are immigrants.” The mix of pain, trauma, fear, community, solidarity, joy-making, and exhaustion is potent.

Thursday was a day of learning and connection for the near 1000 clergy who have come to heed this call, including over 40 Rabbis for Ceasefire who understand the interconnections between the repression in Palestine and the repression in the United States, and over 40 members of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association who understand that Kaplan's theology of “the Power that makes for [Liberation]” must be roused in each of us. We are here to amplify and support, and we are also here because we know this can, and likely will happen where we live too.

And today is a day of action. Surely you will see in the news and on social media the stories of resistance and joy and fighting back here, refusing to comply as this occupation continues. If you have not yet, please seek the stories of today's actions out. And, do your part from afar by amplifying their calls for 1) ICE out of MN, 2) legal accountability for the murderer of Renee Good, 3) no more Federal funding for ICE, and 4) companies in MN and across the land to not cooperate with ICE in any way.

We keep us safe.

The Reverend Jim Bear taught us how to conclude correspondence in the Lakota language, the first human language of the land now called Minneapolis: Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ – we are all related. May we act like it.

Shabbat shalom – and ICE out of MN and out of Seattle too,
R’ David
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A correction: I want to apologize for hastily misspelling the last names of both Fannie Lou Hamer and Frederick Douglass in my post last week. This haste is an example of anti-Black racism for which I apologize and commit to being more precise in the future.
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MINNEAPOLIS ACTION DAY UPDATE FROM R’DAVID:
“I'm at MSP airport as clergy are being arrested for praying for ice out, humanity to prevail, families staying together, worker justice, and an end to ice funding.

“Every city every town, ice out shut it down”
--the chant of hundreds at the airport as local clergy led us and was arrested in the dozens at the airport.”

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

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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