- 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
…gives to the first people, the blessing of fruitfulness or the blessing of time, of the seventh day. * * * The first time that G-d blesses someone by name is in the next parshah, Lech L’cha when G-d speaks to Abram for the first time. G-d promises that when Abram leaves everything he knows and travels to the promised land, “I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. And I will bless t…
…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…
…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…
…al government passed a “temporary” ten-year tax cut program. That was at a time when large budget surpluses were projected. Now they want to make those cuts permanent. This is at a time of huge projected deficits and hardship for many American families. Most of those tax cuts benefit the wealthiest one percent of Americans. Tax cuts for the wealthy are unconscionable at this time. Our synagogue board members know how much I make, and you might not…
Phone: 203.389.2108 Fax: 203.389.5899 Postal Address: Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel 85 Harrison St. New Haven CT 06515-1724 Office Manager Peggy Hackett Ext. 114 Education Director Annie Norman-Schiff Ext. 113 President Russell Epstein Rabbi Eric Woodward Ext. 120 Ritual Committee Chairperson Bruce Spierer Youth & Family Programming Director Annie Norman-Schiff Ext. 113 BEKI Bulletin bulletin@beki.org Cemetery Association cemetery@beki….
…ongs that are sung or the use of choral music during services. Because our time is short, we will not have time to debate the validity of these points of view. Perhaps we will be able to do this some other time. For today, I would like to recognize that there are also strong forces within Judaism that embrace art, embrace a wider view of religion that encourages the inclusion of beauty in the synagogue and sanctuary. I would like to acknowledge, t…
…that is, it is not uttering praises. And you might assume that during that time you ought to be able to chew your gum and eat your candy. To that I can only say, you’re right. God presumably — and Jewish law — would not object if you chew gum during the Rabbi’s sermon. But I can tell you that if you blow bubbles during the Rabbi’s sermon, the Rabbi might blow bubbles during your Haftara. A candidate for President would not chew gum during a televi…
…rs of Judaic education I have learned VaYiqra three times so far and every time I learned something new. The first time I was four years old and in studying VaYiqra I learned how to read Hebrew, Rashi script, and I learned what the sacrifices were. The second time I was eight years old and I learned more about why there are sacrifices. Most recently, I learned VaYiqra again over the past year and studied the te`amim – the symbols for the tune used…
…ght: The meaning of the phrase “and the man shall be free of guilt….” At a time when a man is clean of sin, the water tests his wife. At a time when a man is not free of sin, the water does not test his wife. Therefore, when adulterers increased in their numbers, the sota’s bitter waters ceased. This reading by the Gemara has answered both our questions while demonstrating for us the evolutionary nature of the halakha, the laws by which the mitzvo…
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