- 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
…replaced by “Adonai” (“my Lord”) when reading or praying aloud, and is sometimes replaced with “HaShem” (“The Name”). It is sometimes symbolized as a hei apostrophe or as a double yud in Hebrew. Another sacred name is the Hebrew equivalent of “Allah” and its variations. This name begins with the letters alef lamed and ends with a consonantal hei, or, in the most common variations, ends with the im or enu suffix. This name is most often translated…
…s. His wisdom and warmth certainly help light the way to 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 Universit…
…alking, it still took a few years for them to come to a stable resolution. Time heals, but it takes time for the healing to occur. Perhaps when Joseph and his brothers talked with each other, the brothers expressed apology and contrition, and Joseph gave them forgiveness. But, with the interest in forgiveness that drew me to this parasha, I was surprised to find that apology and forgiveness are never described, and there is reason to believe that…
…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…
…ene. Each member of the household has their own Hanukia, and each lights a number of lights corresponding to the number of the day of the holiday. We are fortunate that we are able to do this mitzva in such a complete and beautiful way. But what of the poor person who can not afford all of this “hidur mitzva” but must struggle to light even one lamp? The Mishna Berura, written at the beginning of the twentieth century by the Hafetz Hayim, comments…
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…
…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…
