- Congregation Beth El–Keser Israel
85 Harrison Street, New Haven, CT 06515-1724 | P: 203.389.2108 | office@beki.org
85 Harrison Street, New Haven, CT 06515-1724 | P: 203.389.2108 | office@beki.org
…30s Havura, thanks to the initiative of Miriam Benson and the support of a number of program participants such as Eva Landau. It’s a nice way to bring people together and to help people locate their cohorts in the sea of members. The number of formal members does not tell the whole story. There are many families or individuals who identify BEKI as “their” synagogue, even though they are not formally members. For at least some purposes, we should t…
…they have to say, you may have a deeper appreciation of your own heritage. Open discussion is an important part of our religious culture. We are allowed to question. The alternatives to open discussion and truth-seeking are fundamentalism, obscurantism, totalitarianism, mechanical obedience to dogma. Certainty and overconfidence about anything produces bad results; open discussion is better as long as people are constructive and not whining. As a…
…hei HaBesht (Tel Aviv: Devir) 5707/1947, 5735/1975, p. 35. A table of tale numbers and the corresponding page numbers in other editions is given at the back of the book by Ben-Amos and Mintz. 2. Violence is neither advocated nor condoned in these tales to any significant extent, whereas many tales strongly advocate the efficacy and advantages of nonviolence. The main exception to this generalization are a few of the first fifteen tales (pp. 39-51…
…ion.34 The individuals discussed in this article chose to take principled, open, conscientious stands against some forms of military service or against participation in the military at all, and paid whatever price the government, their employers, and their friends, neighbors and families wished to exact.35 Similarly, an unknown number accepted induction but made private arrangements with the administration whereby they could avoid actual combat or…
…ve thought they were describing different demonstrations. For example, the number of demonstrators was 1,500, or 2,000, or 3,000, or 5,000, depending on which report was being broadcast. The surprising element of the story is that all four reports were consecutive broadcasts of the same radio station, Qol Yisrael, in Hebrew, English, Arabic and French. Similarly, compare the portrayal of the Indian Salt Strike in the film Gandhi with actual foot…
…e have now. Do we expect to lose seating capacity? We expect to reduce the number of seats on a typical Shabbat — which is not the same as losing seating capacity. A major goal of the redesign is to make the sanctuary feel more intimate. Our current capacity is 332 fixed seats — perhaps one-third of which were typically filled, pre-Covid. The sketches show roughly 200 seats. Since they are all movable, we can expand capacity when needed. What happ…
…s tell us Is that 14,700 people died In this sudden plague. It’s a precise number. And it invites immediate comparison To the number we heard just a few verses earlier: Why did only 250 die From Korach’s active rebellion, But 14,700 die For a single line of passive complaint: “You two have brought death on the L-rd’s people.” This single line of lament, Of blame and complaint, May not seem so surprising, or egregious. They had seen Moses tell the…
…panded lobby. The Claire Goodwin Youth Room was renovated and relocated to open to the courtyard; a new George G. Posener Daily Chapel and Rosenkrantz Family Library together serve as the beit midrash. Irma (z”l) and Oscar (z”l) Hamburger In May 2013, the lower level men’s washroom and women’s washroom and women’s lounge were updated to be fully accessible. The project included widening the doorways and installation of new fixtures. The project wa…
…ghboring island known for its glassmaking. High Holy Day Messages from Our Spiritual Leaders, jewishnewhaven.org, August 29,2023 Recently, Shalom New Haven asked our local clergy for their spiritual thoughts and guidance on the upcoming High Holy Day. Here is what several clergy had to say. Jewish Art for the High Holy Days, jewishnewhaven.org, August 29,2023 “Off Our Walls” is the name of the fall show in the galleries at Beth El – Keser Israel […
…to speak the most English today! In other words, a free will offering. The spirit of Shavuot is also one of renewal of commitment, the taking on of the Torah. It was in that spirit that we’ve carried on and come before you today. Additionally, we read in the notes for the text that in many congregations, Shavuot is the time when children are initiated into the formal study of Jewish religion and Hebrew language. Some temples give children their fi…
