- 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
…ctivity-based; and often silly. • Each age group has its own siddur (prayerbook), which includes Hebrew and some English. Although we hope that children are exposed to these Hebrew prayers and some aspect of the Torah stories being read that week in the annual cycle, parents, especially those who are themselves beginners in Judaism, can always introduce relevant English-language songs and books. • BEKI observes the Jewish Sabbath, which means that…
…if they aren’t already. The haftara, from the Second Book of Kings (2 Kings 11:17 – 12:17), discusses things that come up at modern-day synagogue Board meetings — proper use of donations, the importance of keep up with repairs on a facility used for communal worship. At the time of King Yehoash, who came to power in 836 BCE, the priests had been instructed to collect and spend certain annual donations to maintain the holy Temple and courtyards. Bu…
…t meeting this week Office Devar Torah: TBA ~11:15a ~11:30a Sanctuary Minḥa 1p 1:35p Beit Midrash Havdala (Home Ritual) 7:10p or later Home Qever Avot Services Sun 6 October 2019 Sunday after Rosh HaShana Shaḥarit Morning Service 9:00a 9:35a Beit Midrash Qever Avot Cemetery Memorial Service 10:00a 10:15a Beth El Memorial Park, Warner St. Hamden Qever Avot Cemetery Memorial Service 11:00a 11:15a Keser Israel Memorial Park & Congregation Sinai Memor…
…gh mountain where the scapegoat was pushed to its death. In the apocryphal book of Enoch, G‐d commands that Azazel be bound by his hands and feet and thrown into the desert. “Throw on him jagged and sharp stones, and cover him with darkness; and let him stay there forever, and cover his face, that he may not see light, and that on the great day of judgment he may be hurled into the fire.” Now that’s really harsh. His crime? Slightly worse perhaps…
…ey worthwhile. At the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, we saw the Shrine of the Book, an exhibit about the Dead Sea Scrolls. The one Biblical book found in its entirety in the caves of Qumran was the Isaiah Scroll, a facsimile of which was on display in full at the shrine. It so happens that Tsvi’s bar mitzva haftara, which he had read just days earlier at BEKI, was also from the scroll of Isaiah. As Hebrew orthography has not changed that much since t…
…the Jews chose God.” Listen to what Mark Twain wrote at the very end of the 19th century, in 1899, in his essay “Concerning the Jews”: If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and…
…inable thing, they will both surely die and their blood is upon them. (Lev. 18:20, 20:13) As we know, these texts have been used are being used, to exclude, oppress, and even kill gay men – and lesbians as well, although the text makes no mention of them. Hertz (or as we call it here at BEKI, the blue Hertz humash) comments that “with a man” indicates that the text “Disclosed the abyss of depravity from which the Torah saved the Israelite. This un…
…irds) of these displaced persons simply resettled elsewhere in Palestine by 1950. Israel had offered to settle an additional 100,000 Arab refugees at that time in the portion of Mandatory Palestine under its control, but the offer was declined by the Arab states. The majority of these displaced persons were tenants who suffered the tremendous trauma of dislocation, regardless of how the blame is apportioned. After Yasir Arafat and his associated o…
…ky (“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 do retain the ability to communicate. This network, when properly balanced, produces highly cooperative clusters of i…
March 1 – May 18, 2024 Suggested Donation amounts for Art Collectors The current exhibition in the lower level Gallery at BEKI is a collection of works depicting “Jews at prayer,” “Jews studying,” “Jews celebrating,” and “pious Jews.” The exhibition is drawn from artworks donated to BEKI throughout the years, some as permanent gifts, most as donations for fundraisers. Frequently entitled “Rabbi _,” the majority of these works are representation…
