- 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
…me to my final thought: We took out a third scroll this morning because today is the first day of Adar Bet, the month that gives us Purim (quoting Ina: “Purim Baskets!”). Mi-she-nicknas Adar, marbin be-simha once Adar starts, celebration increases (Eruvin 29a). Tonight’s auction will be a great kick-off to the month ahead. I hope to see every one of you here, with friends, beginning at 7:30. Bring your credit cards and some cash, too, for the raf…
…but for the tree of knowing good and bad you must not eat, because on the day you eat from it you will surely die. No blessing. A promise of fruit instead of fruitfulness. But a prohibition too: eat some fruit, lots of fruit, but not all fruit. And more than a prohibition. A dark promise: on the day you eat from it, you will surely die. * * * This is a very different vision of the relationship between God and people. In the distant story, the fir…
…, a very complex distribution network. The way it operates is by a certain number of power plants producing energy, usually by burning fossil fuels, and then feeding it into the massive grid of electrical power lines. I think this is quite similar to the societal structure of the monkeys and the medieval Jewish court system, in that the majority of interactions, or in this case, power transmissions, are local, but the network is able to transmit p…
…k to Darryl or Bryna. These qiddushim have become a great way to mark birthdays and other occasions. We honored our founders for the first time last fall with a lovely qiddush. Jessey Palumbo – who makes every visitor feel welcome – is organizing a qiddush to honor those who joined BEKI this past year. Come on June 11 and get to know our newer members. There used to be Friday night dinners at BEKI – I don’t know why they stopped or when. Bryna too…
…st offensive. That is why we observe the Fast of Esther, Taanit Ester, the day before Purim. (When Purim occurs on Sunday, the Fast is observed the previous Thursday.) From the morning until afternoon or evening, we observe a half-day fast, just as Esther observed a fast when the fate of her people hung in the balance. When we observe the Fast of Esther we solemnly commit ourselves to making a world where genocide is unknown, where all people enjo…
…mourn the destruction of the Second Temple: (JTA) – As the Tisha B’Av holy day began Monday evening, fervently Orthodox men began trying to shout over the prayers of about 200 men and women worshipping together in a specially designated area at the entrance to the Western Wall plaza, a couple of hundred yard from the Wall itself. Anxious to avoid a confrontation with the thousands of fervently Orthodox men milling about the plaza, [Israeli] police…
…er for one or more nights Help with logistics, equipment and set-up (moving around furniture, TVs, provide power strips, computers, etc.) DONATE funds to help defray additional costs We’ll be organizing a “GIVING TREE” in the BEKI Lobby for specific directed clothes donations AND a ONE-DAY TOILETRIES DRIVE on Sunday, February 9th. Please bring in what you can and leave in the bins provided in the BEKI lobby. For more information about this and oth…
…lies. Interfaith Day of Service BEKI participates in the annual Interfaith Day of Service in August. On that day, volunteers from the Greater New Haven community gather on the New Haven Green to learn about community needs and head in various directions to complete projects, including preparing food for the hungry, stuffing personal care bags, restoring a Jewish cemetery, or cleaning up a shoreline. Collections Food drives are arranged at High Hol…
…tury, including most of those on Mount Carmel and in the area of what is today Afula. Virtually the entire Arab and all of the Jewish population of Gaza were expelled by the Turks during World War I, although 80 percent later returned. During Israel’s War of Independence (1946-48), some 750,000 Arab and Bedouin residents fled or were expelled (official U.N. figure: 711,000), some by the urging of local Arab leaders, some by foreign Arab leaders, a…
…lieve that the book of Isaiah was written during the Babylonian exile by a number of people in addition to Isaiah. Isaiah himself was a prophet of the nation of Judah and was one of the first to leave a written record of his prophecies, or proclamations. The book of Isaiah is one of the longest in the Bible, containing sixty chapters. The sayings of Isaiah are contained in the first 39 chapters. Most of the rest, written around 550 BCE, were poems…
