- 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
…ators, but even the students who were dragged against their will to Hebrew school were influenced for the good by her loving instruction and deep commitment to Judaism. At the beginning of each class when she called the roll, her students were taught to answer not with “here” or the Hebrew equivalent, 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…
…his decision-making authority among the lower courts, alleviating the overflow of court cases. The monkeys make a network to deal with the problem of too much space to be explored, in which they had to find the sparse resources. Likewise, Moshe had too many cases to adjudicate by himself. After following Yitro’s suggestion, the only reason why Moshe would deal with a case was if it required his special expertise or authority. Another, separate gr…
…ok fair? A juried art exhibit. A children’s choir. A gardening club to landscape the new entrance. A scavenger hunt for adults. A congregational trip to Israel. There’s really no end to what we can do. I know that in the months and years ahead, under the leadership of our next president Donna Levine and those who follow her, BEKI will thrive and grow, because we will continue to take upon ourselves sacred obligations and pass them to one another….
…be successful independently — “thou shall furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy threshing floor, and out of thy winepress.” And we must do this so as not to forget that we were once slaves in Egypt — but were then redeemed. It goes on to say that if the slave or his woman chooses not to leave- they are to be hammered to the doorpost through the ear — and remain bondsmen forever. The decision to choose slavery over independence is…
…ike to talk about Isaiah and conclude with a reading of a portion of the haftorah. In the years 597 to 582 BCE, fifteen thousand Jewish captives were brought from Judea to Babylonia by their conquerors. About a third of them were settled in the city of Babylon, the rest in two groups in outlying areas. Biblical scholars believe that the book of Isaiah was written during the Babylonian exile by a number of people in addition to Isaiah. Isaiah himse…
…bya. Zero percent Jews in Iraq. One older Jewish man I know in Jerusalem described how, when his family fled Baghdad 50 years ago, he was traumatized by the sight of Jews hanged from utility poles in the streets. All of those countries that once had thriving Jewish populations are now Jew-free. Areas in Israel such as Jaffa, Hebron and Gush Etzion were made Jew-free by Arab conquest for various periods in the 20th century. There is a long history…
…f he consumed it as a second tithe in Jerusalem, if he ate carrion or torn flesh or the flesh of unclean animals or creeping things, etc., etc., if he consumed any food but did not consume flesh, if he drank any liquid but did not drink wine, he has not become a rebellious and disobedient son, unless he both consumes flesh and drinks wine, as it is said, a glutton and a drunkard…. If he stole from his father and consumed it in his father’s place,…
…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…
