- 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
…ers have continued to be involved with some of the men to offer additional support as they settle into their new situations, providing employment opportunities, furniture, food and friendship. The BEKI Tikun Olam Committee is proud once again to be able to coordinate BEKI’s effort in this worthwhile project. SIGN UP ONLINE AT: tinyurl.com/ATatBEKI2020 AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Your help is needed in all of the following ways: Volunteer to help shop bef…
…17 May Walk Against Hunger – Team BEKI May 17, 2015 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm Walk Against Hunger – 2015 flyer Walk Against Hunger – Sunday, May 17. In support of the CT Food Bank. We’re getting a BEKI Team together […] More Info…
…eaching. To my mind, it’s no coincidence that there are a disproportionate number of gay clergy. Half of my ordination class was gay or lesbian. The process of coming out of the closet, the work we’ve done to become whole and unashamedly ourselves is deeply spiritual. Perhaps this is the Torah that gay men and lesbians have heard and give the world – the lesson that we all, gay or not, must be honest about our lives. And it’s a lesson that is usef…
…The other days of Creation are denoted, as you would expect, using ordinal numbers – second, third, and the like; but not the first day, Yom Ehad – Day One. Rashi teaches that “Day One” is to be understood as the Day of the One, the Day of God, and that God created everything in all its potential on that Day. From that day on, it follows that, as my daughter Sarah has recently begun quoting Martin Buber in the tag line to her email messages — To p…
…d activities that have been flourishing for years. And we’ve initiated any number of new programs that you have suggested. There is energy in the air that encourages people to think, “We can do it.” Our attitude is, “Just say yes.” Last June we had a tribute dinner, honoring the rabbi and Miriam and raising a lot of money for the shul. A zillion people worked to make that happen. Prior to that, the last tribute dinner anyone could recall took plac…
…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…
…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…
…means that we have to live as Jews, we have to be the Jews, and we have to support our institutions that teach the traditions of Judaism as we know them. Lighting shabbat candles, reciting the Shema, coming to a daily or shabbat service, baking a halla, reading a passage from the Torah or other Jewish book — these are the redemptive acts that we ourselves must do. Our own synagogue, our United Hebrew School, Ezra Academy, Kadima-USY, Makom, JTS, M…
…to the attention of the BEKI membership and community. The Board voted to support the statement and the underlying principle that action by the government that is directed against a particular group defined by their religious beliefs stands against the values of Judaism. The Board does not take such a statement lightly and does so with the understanding that this is a complex issue with many points of view and may not be speaking for its membersh…
…gn. They visit Israel, send their children over a summer or for a year and support financially every one if its worthy institutions.” As diaspora Jews our relationship with our beloved homeland has been sorely challenged by the actions and statements of the current temporary Government of the State. What are we to do, who love Israel but are mad as heck at the Government? One legitimate and appropriate way of working toward a solution is for us to…
