- 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
…Abby Fraade, the volunteer who manages sponsorships. Please note that cellphones and photography are permitted on weekdays, but not on Shabbat or Yom Tov. If you choose to have a ceremony at BEKI on some other day, please work out the general plan in advance with Office Manager Peggy Hackett. She will arrange kitchen supervision and custodial services. Please note that we do NOT allow self-catering or a plan that’s “friends will take care of setu…
…ll do it that way, too. But this procedure often created a dilemma: If the number of qaddishes was limited, there might still be some who did not get to say one; if there was no limit to the number of qaddishes added, the service became burdensomely long. So after careful scrutiny the rabbis allowed all mourners to say qaddish simultaneously. This rabbinic solution was adopted only after careful consideration, and after it was determined that mour…
…in the Synagogue To volunteer, contact the office at office@beki.org or by phone at 203.389.2108 x114. Administration – Members are needed to serve on the work-groups, committees and board that steward and administer the congregation. Membership recruitment and retention, financial management, library services, and the Gallery are among the many areas that require eager and willing volunteers. Office Tasks – Stuffing envelopes, preparing mailings…
…evision programs around the world some months ago depicting an Israeli Telephone Company employee stuffing faxes into the Western Wall. It is in fact a custom among many of our brothers and sisters to insert small handwritten personal notes and petitions to God between the stones of the Kotel, the Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem. The service provided by the phone company allows people unable to visit the Wall in person to fax their petitio…
…ograms. Rides for kids when their parent is unable to drive. An occasional phone call or visit to someone who lives alone or in assisted living. A cooked meals or groceries for someone recuperating from illness or surgery. Of course, we can’t provide regular nursing service or permanent carpooling, but we can extend a helping hand, and we should. How will this work? Well, were just getting started, and there may be some kinks till we work out the…
…bbat lunch or for the High Holiday meals. (BEKI provides clients with free tickets for High Holiday services.) In the summertime, Kulanu participants may have a joint program with one of BEKI’s social action committees—they will clean up Beaver Pond Park in southern Connecticut, where congregants have held Tashlich services during Rosh Hashana. Kulanu also plans to provide a job training sight at BEKI for adults with developmental disabilities who…
…, I would suggest, predates the Zionist movement, indeed all of modernity, finding its origins in Biblical times. Today’s Parshat [weekly Torah reading], Ki Tavo, provides our proof text. The very first section of the Parsha contains the declaration known as miqra bikurim, the “Recital of the First Fruits.” As Nehama Leibowitz, of blessed memory, points out in her Studies in Devarim, [t]he Israelite farmer who brings the first fruits of his soil d…
…to be preoccupied with other concerns, heavy work loads, the difficulty of finding time to be with their families in these stress-filled ’90s. They put their time in at the shul, but it’s in mixed forums, which, after all, mirror their work-places. They may simply be from a different line, men of a different line of thought, a different world-view. And if there are no sons, to whom does the inheritance pass? I turn to Numbers Chapter 27, from pars…
…au a blessing, that he was not tricked by the ruses, but tricking himself, finding a way to empower a younger son who by rights should not have had the power. Maybe. But for me, there is a deeper explanation. Isaac has learned that the blessing of fruitfulness is not limited. It is not like the blessing of dominion, Which requires the dominant and the submissive. The blessing of fruitfulness can be shared by all, Can be given again and again and a…
…) to support each other as they face the challenges of career development, finding partners and spouses, relating to the established Jewish institutions, dealing with illness, celebrating accomplishments, and other issues of the day. The Ḥavura is particularly important to some participants who do not have extended family in the area as well as those who wish to expand their existing circle of friends. Regular email announcements help Ḥavura parti…
