- 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
…nsgresses a prohibition, as Scripture states, “Do not add [to the required number of lashes]” — if the Torah warns not to add blows to a guilty person, how much more does this apply to an innocent person. Even to raise one’s hand against another, even if one doesn’t actually hit him or her, is called wicked, as Scripture states, “And he said to the wicked one, Why do you hit your neighbor?”7 Rabbenu Perez, in his decree, cites a responsum of Rabbi…
…in the Synagogue To volunteer, contact the office at office@beki.org or by phone at 203.389.2108 x114. Administration – Members are needed to serve on the work-groups, committees and board that steward and administer the congregation. Membership recruitment and retention, financial management, library services, and the Gallery are among the many areas that require eager and willing volunteers. Office Tasks – Stuffing envelopes, preparing mailings…
…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…
…o families during the shiva mourning period. Meals for Newborns BEKI has a long tradition of providing meals to families who have welcomed a child. Volunteers use a website called Lotsa Helping Hands. Just log in and choose your password. When the calendar is set up for meals, you’ll receive an email with a link. Jewish Community Alliance for Refugee Resettlement The Jewish Community Alliance for Refugee Resettlement (JCARR) is a partnership of BE…
…to marry only one woman, the only one whose father never blesses him. That last fact is key, I think, to both Isaac’s story and to Isaac’s lineage. He is the boy unblessed by his father, but also the first man to bless his own boys, leaving behind a legacy of troubled blessings, the first blessings spoken by a Jew, blessings ripe with the errors of beginning. * * * The central story of this parshah is the battle for the blessings, the Thrilla in K…
…his problem by guaranteeing that the property’s value would not go down as long as they did not sell their houses. This was a step forward in civil rights in an era when such a thing was unthinkable, and it ended up being successful; not a single person sold their house, and the property’s value actually went up. This was the first private integrated housing project in the U.S. Another example from my family is the work of my grandmother, Evelyn B…
…t auction at the Annual Meeting, and a wonderful morning of landscape work last Sunday. In VaEthanan, we see that the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness were winding down, and although Moshe was eager to continue doing what he had done so well for so long, the time was coming for Joshua to take charge. Moses wasn’t the right man to lead the people into battle. A new era was about to begin. New leadership was taking over, with new objectives a…
…tant, or, as the Talmud has it, aharon aharon haviv, is the best saved for last? But where does that leave Ina? Perhaps she is it like a queen traveling with part of her retinue in front and part behind. There were six possible orders, but 70 possible reasons for the order. That is why Talmud scholars can’t navigate – by the time they have considered all of the possible interpreta tions of the highway sign, they are long past the exit. Bump Ahead?…
…and antagonisms” developed not merely as a result of the “numerous and prolonged lawsuits” fought over land ownership33 but even more directly as a result of the eviction of hundreds of tenant families from lands they considered their own when large landholders sold their holdings to Jews. Most of the two million dunams (200,000 hectares) of land owned by Jews at the end of the Mandate were acquired through purchases from large landowners. As Jo…
…y. Our members include those who can afford to pay little or no money to belong to BEKI, and such arrangements are kept confidential. Rather, membership is important so that we can know each other, celebrate together, learn together, even mourn together. By filling out the membership application, you signal your willingness to share yourself with others, and to let them share with you. The application asks what you are hoping to get from synagogue…
