- 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
…rs, words and spaces, although exact layout (number of words in a line and number of lines in a column) may vary, as will the quality of the materials and calligraphy. We take out the particular scroll or scroll that is set to the portion that we are reading on the given occasion. The weekly reading goes in sequence, so each shabbat we begin reading from the spot we left of the previous week. But on festivals and other occasions we may read from a…
…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…
…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…
…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…
…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…
…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…
…anteed women the right to own property, the enforceable right to financial support, and most of all, the right to a payment agreed to before marriage in case of divorce. The ketuba was a contract. But it was also an I.O.U. It was collectable from the husband’s estate; it was a mortgage on all he owned. If the ketuba was to change the relationship between men and women, then it would have to be enforceable. When you choose divorce, you choose to pa…
…f your own worthy goals. Mom and I, your family, teachers and friends will support and help, but more and more it is up to you. In that context, how reassuring it is to believe in angels. God’s messengers are arriving; their message of Torah is being delivered, but it remains up to you to invite them in and to listen to their message. In the Haftora that you chanted so beautifully, Hosea tells us that no matter how much we fail God, he will not fa…
