- 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
…– a good name is better than precious oil – you only had to master three words for that one – or even better, only two words for “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof,” Justice, justice shall you pursue. My mother was a compassionate person, and quite a few of the pitgamim emphasized empathy: Al tadin et chavercha ad shetageea l’mikomo: don’t judge another person until you’re in his situation. Al ta’amod al dam reyecha: don’t stand idly by when your friend is s…
…parate group of monkeys have a related social structure. According to Stanford University biologist Robert M. Sapolsky (“A Natural History of Peace,” Foreign Affairs, January/February 2006 p. 104), they live as a collection of small groups, each one an individual node. In this networked society, most of the interactions between individual nodes are local ones. The further away any two given groups are. the less frequently they interact, but they d…
…ow he sees this congregation. This is not a plug for the book, but you can order it through Amazon at a discount. If you log in through the BEKI website, we get a small donation. Tonight is probably the last time I will stand in front of you as President. Despite our perennially precarious financial situation, I will not appeal for money tonight. Tonight is a time to celebrate what we have accomplished together by passing the Torah from hand to ha…
…tice that I’m the one that gets to speak the most English today! In other words, a free will offering. The spirit of Shavuot is also one of renewal of commitment, the taking on of the Torah. It was in that spirit that we’ve carried on and come before you today. Additionally, we read in the notes for the text that in many congregations, Shavuot is the time when children are initiated into the formal study of Jewish religion and Hebrew language. Som…
…rd in your land, desolation nor destruction within your borders; But you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Paradise. Your sun shall no more go down, neither shall your moon withdraw itself; For the Lord shall be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended. I the Lord will hasten it in its time. Marc D. Schwartz, MD, President HealthCalls America Inc. www.HealthCalls.com …
…into Lebanon in 1992, but subsequently took them back under Israeli court order. (This does not count the expulsion of tourists with expired visas and assorted individual political cases.) The scale of that Arab expulsion of Palestinian Arabs from Kuwait is more than half the number of Palestinian Arabs who fled or were expelled from Israel in 1947-49. The “Jenin Massacre” (2002) turned out to be a hoax; while it was reported that hundreds or tho…
…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…
…cities of Greece, and even twentieth century America? Surveying the large number of works in the BEKI collection entitled “Rabbi_,” the BEKI Art Committee began discussing how best to present this work in an exhibition. Among ourselves, we called this the “Rabbi Show,” although there is nothing in the artworks themselves to signify that these are rabbis, rather than ordinary men who have been given the honor of holding the Torah. As Jewish artist…
