Welcome to Kolot Mayim

grandfather with granddaughter
grandfather with granddaughter

Kolot Mayim – “Voices of the Water” is Victoria’s Reform Congregation. Our shul was founded in 1998 by a few dedicated families who met monthly in each other’s living rooms. Since then we have grown into an inclusive, warm and welcoming congregation.

Kolot Mayim is a diverse congregation made up of individuals from secular, religious, Ashkenazic and Sephardic backgrounds. We have members who are Jewish by choice and others who were previously unaffiliated.

Our membership reflects all educational, socio-economic, political, and cultural backgrounds. We have many interfaith couples, LGBTQ individuals and families, members with varying abilities, and an age span from 3 to 90+. The essence of Kolot Mayim is enriched by its dedication to Jewish continuity. Our congregation and its leadership have a strong focus on learning about, practicing, and celebrating Jewish life. To this end Kolot Mayim is making a healthy contribution to a thriving Jewish Community in Victoria.

Reform Judaism

  • Affirms the central tenets of Judaism- God, Torah and Israel
  • Members come from a variety of Jewish backgrounds
  • Children are Jewish if one parent is Jewish and the children are raised as Jews 
  • Committed to full equality of men and women in all areas of synagogue leadership and religious life
  • Was the first denomination to ordain female Rabbis, today approximately half of Reform Rabbis are women, as is our own rabbi, Rabbi Lynn Greenhough 
  • Welcomes Jewish people and their families from the LGBTQ community 
  • Supports interfaith couples and families and most Reform Rabbis will perform interfaith marriages

 

Jewish star, kippa and Hebrew text
Jewish star, kippa and Hebrew text

Kolot Mayim Reform Temple provides a spiritual home for Jews to worship, study Torah, and observe Jewish sacred times together.

Kolot Mayim Values: Kolot Mayim seeks to build community through spiritual practice and social justice; we embrace Jews by birth and by choice and we welcome individuals, couples and families of diverse backgrounds and abilities. Our members are believers, seekers and doubters.We encourage living true to progressive Jewish values and to the full scope of one’s own Jewish practice.