- 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
…tion of humans. It merely forbids idolatry. The fact that the Tent of Testimony and the Temple of Solomon are described in the Bible as containing carved cherubim strongly argues that the commandment is accepting of representations even of heavenly beings. Furthermore numerous passages of the Bible describe Temple art containing palm trees, lions, and other clearly representational objects. Throughout the ages, Jewish art has decorated synagogues…
…her mourners were deprived of the honor. Qaddishes were then added so that more of the mourners would have the opportunity to say a qaddish. We can say qaddish any time there is a minyan and we recite a Psalm or other passage from the Torah or Rabbinic literature. So they simply added a Psalm and followed it by qaddish. There were now several times in a service when qaddish was said, so that several mourners would have a turn. There are some commu…
…parts of the service, such as during the Haftara and, yes, the Rabbi’s sermon, your mouth, from the halakhic point of view, is in idle, 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…
…at the Shulhan Arukh, the sixteenth-century law code that serves as the common base for modern law, describes the obligation in this way: ‘ One needs to take great care in lighting the Hanuka lights; even a poor person subsisting on charity pawns or sells their cloak and buys oil for lighting. Shulhan Arukh O.H. 571 Lighting the Hanuka lights is so important that a poor person is instructed to take on additional hardship to do it. The Shulhan Aruk…
…ers. But beyond the “fixed prayers” one should say what is in one’s heart. Moses Maimonides firmly noted that a person may pray in any language. Yes, God understands English. We encourage everyone to learn Hebrew and to pray in Hebrew, and for good reasons. But a prayer is valued by God regardless of language. In our prayerbook there are even prayers such as the qaddish that are not written in Hebrew, but rather Aramaic, because that was the langu…
…ferent, don’t hide yourself; you have an obligation to help. Turning for a moment from the Torah to Pirqe Avot, Rabbi Simon the Just is quoted in the first chapter for his epigram, Upon three things the world is based: upon the Torah upon divine service and upon acts of kindness. Here at BEKI we read and study Torah and try to observe its mitzvot, so I think we’ve got Torah covered. We certainly hold worship services, which is a conventional way t…
…ilities to live richer lives as Jews in their own homes and to participate more fully in the synagogue community. Kulanu Havura helped congregants become more aware of and sensitive to adults with special needs as one step in unifying the community to make it more worthy of God’s blessings. Kulanu Havura received major funding in 1997-1999 from the Jewish Foundation of Greater New Haven and Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel. It received ongoing su…
…ongregation to welcome us. I felt embraced, and I didn’t feel invisible anymore. One day I was speaking with my brother-in-law on the phone. I was talking about BEKI (which by this time I had joined) and the feeling that I have here. And I confided in him that one day I’d like to get up on the bima and read from the Torah. And as I said these words I began to tremble. The very thought was overpowering to me. To even think of myself as playing such…
…porates a component to explore how participants can make Jewish observance more a part of their home lives, just as they may learn in their residential programs how to live independently.” Johnston added, “The idea is there’s lots of JCC’s and synagogues around the country doing nice little segregated programs. Let’s give these people their own group and space and we’ll teach them. Kulanu is a bridge to open up the synagogue to help our congregant…
…ility to pay. Our members include those who can afford to pay little or no money to belong to BEKI, and such arrangements are kept confidential. Rather, membership is important so that we can know each other, celebrate together, learn together, even mourn together. By filling out the membership application, you signal your willingness to share yourself with others, and to let them share with you. The application asks what you are hoping to get fro…
