- 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
…non-Jewish spouse. One should not try to sell one’s hametz to a non-Jewish business partner for the same reason. The best way to sell hametz is to grant power of attorney to an “authorized dealer” such as Rabbi Tilsen to sell your hametz for you. That way you can be sure that the law is strictly observed and the sale is valid. Dear Rabbi, Can Hametz be sold by email? Signed, yitsi@mitzraim.com Dear yitsi@, The selling of Hametz before Pesah (or…
…from instructions for digging a latrine outside the borders of the camp to business ethics. There are more mitzvot here than any other parasha: 72 separate precepts, according to the Rambam. A lot of it seems dated, irrelevant to how we live: offenses are punished by stoning, public flogging and even cutting off a hand; the rules about sexual relations assume polygamous marriages and a patriarchal society. There are prohibitions against cross-dres…
…ot know him as well as did my siblings who were his contemporaries and his classmates in high school. Nick was a talented chef, and when he lived in the San Francisco Bay Area he had a catering business. Nick was fit and energetic and had developed an extensive network of friends who cared deeply about him and about each other. He was an essential part of his community and of his family. Nick was my first cousin to die. He died of AIDS in 1990, am…
…a Director of the Congregation on several Boards, contributing his wisdom, business and engineering experience, and sensibility to synagogue operations. He spearheaded several major and numerous minor building projects, including the replacement of the roof and pointing of the exterior brickwork. George has contributed countless hours of his own labor in maintaining the grounds and building, literally from the basement boiler to the top of the roo…
…is on questioning — and answering — that makes the Jewish world go ’round. Classic Judaism insists on free discourse and open-mindedness, and the respect for the intellectual and religious integrity of each person, within broad limits, as essential to the search for truth. Some religions or philosophies claim to have the truth. In contrast, ours is a religious philosophy that seeks truth. Not all modern expressions of Judaism share this outlook, b…
…r the movement. The various institutions, such as the Rabbinical Assembly, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Cantors Assembly, Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano, Jewish Theological Seminary, Zeigler School, and the rest, may individually or collectively address the issues of how we deal with Gay and Lesbian Jews. The papers endorsed by the Committee give some food for thought, but there is no force-feeding. There is not a satisfying meal,…
…les, 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, MERCAZ, Masorti-Israel — and above all our own family — these are the institutions that we must support. No one else is going to Jew it for you….
…o them or not. I have never heard of any synagogue being expelled from the United Synagogue for any policy violation, except failure to pay dues. Our religious heritage, as documented by the Mishna and other rabbinic texts, endorses the values of free speech, intellectual integrity and democracy. Individual sages were allowed to teach whatever they actually believed, even if it was not in keeping with the majorityʼs view. The sages could speak the…
…ust make Conservative institutions such as BEKI, Camp Ramah, Ezra Academy, United Hebrew School and the Jewish Theological Seminary our top priorities. It is here where the “tire meets the road” and a new generation is trained in what “Judaism” was, is and will be. As we redouble our own efforts to build a strong Conservative community in Greater New Haven, let us be appreciative of the heritage created for us here by our elders and ancestors, and…
…uded mawāt, matrūk maḥmiyya, and abandoned mīrī, and represented about 70% of all Israeli-controlled Palestine.38 The mawāt lands, which accounted for over half of the State lands, had been (as of 1931) supporting 7,869 landowners and 2,508 tenants.39 Although previously reckoned as owners of the land “by the act of possession”40 these farmers had no title-deeds and therefore had little legal claim to the land. As noted above, matrūk lan…
