- 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
…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…
…e Ely House, Center for Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT, and has curated a number of independent exhibitions. She studied at the Akademie fuer Angewante Kunst in Vienna, Austria, and received her MFA from San Jose State University. Anna Broell Bresnick has collaborated with dancers and musicians in the creation of installations for performances. These have included large sculptural str uctures, floor drawings and video. Broell Bresnick has taught…
…o BEKI. At the same time, we also admire and love the fact that a sizeable number of congregants can daven and read Torah! The unrestrained excitement of little ones further adds to the pleasure in feeling that Am Yisrael Chai! Tom Goldenberg & Jessica Holzer and Ainsley Tom is a New Haven Mayoral candidate and was previously a public sector consultant. Jess is the chair-elect of the University of New Haven’s public health department. Ainsley is i…
…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…
…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…
…heir wrath. This lesson will be called upon to guide relations with Roman, European and other oppressors over the ages. Perhaps Jacob was trying to warn or frighten Esau. A midrash on this verse explains it this way: Jacob mentioned God’s Name to Esau in order to intimidate him, to frighten him. How may Jacob’s mention of God be understood? By the parable of a man who invited his friend to dine with him. When the guest perceived that the host plan…
…” The clay Golem brought to life, but not with mystical words – as the old European stories have it – instead, with breath, G-d’s own breath. If we anthropormphize G-d (and we’re invited to by the text, since humans are made in G-d’s image) then the image is of the Creator cradling the lifeless body of the first human, G-d’s face close to the human face, the giving of breath as the giving of life. * * * And it’s more than the process of creation t…
…for boys) celebrated through study, charity and synagogue ceremony. Bris: European pronunciation of brit. Brit Mila: “Covenant of circumcision,” entered into by ritual circumcision of a Jewish boy when he is eight days old. LaMaazel: “To good fortune!” Miqva: Ritual bath for spiritual renewal and for conversion. Mohel/Mohelet: One who performs the mila (circumcision). Pidyon ha-Ben: “Redemption of the Son”; ceremony for certain firstborn boys on…
…estinian Arabs are descendants of Bosnians, Armenians, Georgians and other Europeans who colonized during the 19th and 20th centuries, or Arabized Turks who came during the 300- year Ottoman (non-Arab) period immediately preceding British rule. This is a simple demographic fact, though not widely recognized. Many came during the time of Zionist development or British rule to enjoy the benefits of the economic growth that the Jews and British broug…
…el 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 an honored role among Jews seemed so bold. Who was I to ge…
