- 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
…vely small financial contribution is reasonable, since anyone can pray for free on the High Holy Days (just not at our shul), and that anyone can come to BEKI “for free” the rest of the year. (If a reader would like to make that case, we’ll print it.) But the old formulas for synagogue financing are not working well enough, and the level of community participation in synagogues is radically lower than it was generations ago. The world has changed,…
…authorization from the synagogue office and our rabbi. Peanut-free and nut-free snacks are provided for all children’s and youth programs. Peanuts and nuts are generally not permitted in the building for public or school functions. Kiddush presentations for the general congregation and sukkah meals should not contain peanuts or nuts. However, BEKI does not guarantee the facility to be nut-free. Those carrying items such as candy and snacks for per…
…a distinct movement in its own right. It was not until the 1990’s that the United Synagogue took the name United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. My great-grandparents followed in the footsteps of their parents in living as observant traditional Jews. They were not Orthodox. They were not Hippies. They were by definition Conservative Jews. I am proud to be a Conservative Jew like my great-grandparents. May God grant that I be blessed with great-…
Kadima (grades 6-8) and United Synagogue Youth (BEKI–BJ USY) (grades 9-12) enable youth to plan and hold educational, public service, worship and social events with adult guidance and supervision locally, regionally and nationally. BEKI youth share a chapter with neighboring Congregation B’nai Jacob in Woodbridge. The Kadima and USY chapters have won numerous awards in recent years. Youth preparing pies to be sold as a benefit for local and inter…
…th El–Keser Israel has been determined to be an exempt organization by the United States Department of Treasury Internal Revenue Service as described in section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code; see our Letter of Determination from the IRS. Donate Online – To make a donation online by credit card, complete this form. Contributions of any amount are appreciated. Bill My Account – Donate now and have our office bill you. Members and Supporters…
…i’s admonition against crossing a picket line to buy food for the Feast of Freedom. His basket was empty. There David stood amid walls of macaroons, white fish, and grape juice in Aisle 13 of the Amity Stop & Shop, pondering the fifth question added to this year’s traditional Passover four questions: To buy? Or not to buy? Jews face having to find Passover foods without Stop & Shop, www.newhavenindependent.org, April 12, 2019 The Stop & Shop at 11…
…the Torah and perform their aliya properly. If there were no limit on the number of people who may go up for an aliya at once, then what if a Bar- or Bat-Mitzva family were to want to send up a group of five or ten at once? And what if two groups of ten are called up in succession? The result might violate even our minimal demands of decorum. If we were to limit joint aliya to two people per aliya, then on the one hand we would run into some fami…
…th lists start with a broad thing to give up and then narrow it down: list number one — go from your land, your birthplace, your father’s house. List number two — take your son, your only son, the one you love, Isaac. This similarity led me to still others. One of the first, and most obvious, comparisons between the two instances of lekh lekha was that in both, God is sending Abraham on a journey. In the first lekh lekha, God is starting Abraham o…
…of all the people. Imagine if the parshah has told us, tribe by tribe, the number of people in each tribe, and separately, the number of males, 20 and up, who were fit for service. Would that kind of census send a different message to us, a message saying, “everyone counts”, including all the women? The second census, what I’ll call the redemption census, I find a strange one. It requires counting of all the male Levites who were at least a month…
For today’s services, a number of congregants have added touches of beauty to the synagogue and the services. In my Devar Torah, I would like examine the place of beauty and art in the Sanctuary. The sanctuary is a place where we pray together, where we venerate the wisdom of the Torah, where we tell stories that celebrate our shared past. It is also a place where our spirits and our community can be invigorated, nourished, and rested. It is a sa…
