- 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
…the small print is not the annoying drone of a man on a television commercial talking so fast that nobody can understand him; or the paragraph in size two font on the bottom of any text that contains the word “free.” Rather, this time the small print is the thank you’s to some very special people who helped me a lot during the course of this past year. I would like to thank Rabbi Jon-Jay Tilsen for always being nurturing and encouraging. Thank you…
…elves; certainly we do not listen to those that others claim to hear. With all of the false prophets and false messiahs about, the rabbis had to take a stand. They essentially banned prophecy, or more precisely, prohibited us from adhering to contemporary purported prophecy. Our sages recognized that God, in our tradition, is experienced partly as a literary character. This recognition emerges from a study of Midrash, in which the sages felt free…
…tional Judaism by abandoning kashrut, changing Shabbat to Sunday, and radically altering the siddur. At the same time, these Conservative Founders — who included many Sefardim along with Ashkenazim — saw the recently-constituted Orthodox Movement as deviating from the tradition of halakhic development and intellectual enlightenment that has characterized our cultural and religious history. These Conservative founders viewed themselves not as leade…
…11 May Prayer and Liturgy at BEKI with Rabbi Carl Astor May 11, 2022 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm Home Page Interior Page The heart of the BEKI community is the worship service. It informs us, energizes us, and challenges us. Once a month we will gather on […] More Info…
…n that Conservative Judaism continues to uphold. I’m referring to matrilineal descent. If a Jewish woman has a child with a non-Jewish man, that child is considered to be Jewish. But if the opposite is true, and father is Jewish but the mother is not, then according to Conservative and Orthodox doctrine, the child is not Jewish. (The Reform movement has already ruled that Jewish identity can be passed down through the mother and the father equally…
…hine embroidery, photo-transfer and other complex cloth techniques conceptually allude to ideas, messages and symbols. Klein’s touring exhibition, “All That Remains: A Holocaust Exhibition in Fiber”, is a fiber arts exhibit on the theme of the Holocaust. This series has been an ongoing endeavor, a very personal body of work created since 2000. It consists of conceptual art clothing, wall hangings, drawings, soft sculpture, and installation pieces…
…current congregation, Beth El–Keser Israel, known as “BEKI,” was born. In Fall 1968, the synagogue boasted a membership of more than 600 families, with more than 200 children in the religious school. By the late 1970s, Beth El–Keser Israel’s membership was smaller and older, and by 1994, membership stood at 204 families. The roof leaked, the parking lot had sinkholes, the heating and cooling plants were failing frequently. Some congregational lead…
…ity. Happy Pesah! Dear Rabbi, The following notice appeared as a “special alert” in Kashrus Magazine (March 2004 p. 7): “Manischewitz Chocolate Coins (‘OU-Pareve’) bear the words: ‘In G-d We Trust.’ A number of leading rabbonim have Paskened that one may not eat them nor throw away the chocolate and wrappers, if they too have those words. Consult your rabbi.” So rabbi, I am consulting you. What should I do if we have those coins? Signed, In R-…
…t itself, however, from a level deeper than any anxiety. When my best medical alternative quickly became clear, my deeper energies turned foremost to communicating with those around me. In service of this powerful need, I found within me an unusual calm and lucidity. These helped me to reach out to those close to me in special ways both before and after going in for the surgery. One of those close to me in this drama was God. For the first time, r…
…l. 1). 6. Sefer Nashim Hilkhot Ishut, 15:19, Shabtai Frankel Edition, Jerusalem 1982. Emphasis added. Cf. Magid Mishna there. In Binyamin Zev these statements of the Sages become a Rabbinic Decree (Taqanat Hazal) (Cited above p. 248 bottom). 7. Mitzvot ase 70, p. 147:3. 8. On Even HaEzer, 154:3. Also quoted by Rabbi Yehiel Mikhal ben Aharon haLevi Epstein in `Arukh HaShulhan, Even HaEzer, Gittin 154:18. 9. Binyamin Zev, pp. 247 and 248. 10. Saul L…
