- 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
…t vivid because of its recency. A few weeks ago, my wife and I were in New York and had dinner with a couple, Isaac and Miriam, that lived across from the Twin Towers. Their five-year-old daughter had watched from her bedroom window as the second plane crashed into the towers. She hadn’t seen the first because she was in bed reading a book. She watched the towers crumble. Every time she does a drawing, a collage, or an art project there is always…
…ent, poh or hineni, but with a pitgam, a Hebrew aphorism. She would post a new one every week on the classroom wall, often with a story to illustrate the message. Over the course of the school year, the kids would memorize a fair number of these. The sayings she chose reflected her particular take on Judaism, which tended to the ethical rather than the spiritual. In cleaning out her apartment last year, my sister Naomi and I came across some of th…
…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…
…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 on the section of the Shulhan Arukh c…
…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…
…have to look at what is important in life. Family, friends, and religion, and don’t forget money. But I look at Deborah and Miriam and see women who knew themselves and knew how they wanted to live, and I have to admire that….
…25 Jan The Afro-Semetic Experience January 25, 2000 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm BEKI Join us for An encore concert IN ANTICIPATION OF THE DAYS OF AWE David Chevan, Warren Byrd and the AFRO-SEMITIC EXPERIENCE CONGREGATION BETH EL – […] More Info…
…sical themes and nonconforming shapes. For inspiration, the Rhinebeck, New York, resident draws from her natural surroundings in the Hudson Valley as well as from her prior explorations in other media. The artist explains: Fiber, the medium I have chosen for my work, incorporates all of my past experimentation in art: painting, printmaking, and stained glass. Whether in tapestries or in quilts, the surface design recycles the previous techniques….
…09 Nov New Haven Beit Midrash November 9, 2022 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm Events The first of these community New Haven Beit Midrash sessions, will be on Wednesday, November 9th from 7:00-9:00 pm. There will be simultaneous breakout sessions […] More Info…
…26 Apr Yom HaShoah & Yom HaAtzmaut: A New Omer? Zoom Schmooze April 26, 2023 7:30 pm Events The mourning practices of the Omer commemorate a plague in the second century CE. But what if a new, reinvigorated Omer commemorated the contemporary Jewish […] More Info…
