- 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
…zva of helping others, even a meanie, and so he returned to help the driver whose donkey had the flat tire. Now this little story tells us exactly what was the dynamic that reconciled these two people. That’s what understanding and living according to the Torah can do for us. I have suggested three ways to read Jacob’s words about seeing in Esau the face of God. Jacob’s words could have all of these meanings and are therefore all the more powerful…
…American values validate cultural diversity. To live according to our own ways is now part of the American ideal. By right as Americans we can declare our Jewishness. By living fully as Jews, we get “extra credit” for living the American Way. When we place our Hanuka lights in our window for all to see, we make a positive statement about our values and identity. “Whoever performs a mitzva,” say our sages, “lights a candle of God and revives their…
…and in a final, hostile encounter the two negotiate a cool parting of the ways. Now Jacob faces an even more frightening encounter, with his brother Esau, who has vowed to kill him. Jacob’s past has finally caught up with him. He fears for his life. His worldly success has not prepared him to meet Esau. But he cannot turn back. Laban is behind him. He has no choice but to continue on his way toward the waiting Esau. Jacob must prepare himself for…
…ecember 2006 (or on YouTube at Solar Rabbi’s Hannukkah Message) Innovative ways to cut heating and cooling costs, by Kent Pierce, WTNH Channel 8 News, 5 September 2006 BEKI Running Clean and Green, ShalomNewHaven, September 2006, p. 10 Rabbi on the Roof, by Allan Appel, New Haven Independent, 3 August 2006 A Letter from Tsvi Benson-Tilsen, BEKI Bulletin, February 2006 The sun will shine on BEKI bar mitzva, by Howard Blas, Connecticut Jewish Ledger…
…text, in these first three instances, we’ve seen the word blessing used in ways that may seem contradictory: blessing as a prelude to fertility and increase – to p’ru urvu and blessing as a marker of ceasing, of stopping: To multiply and to pause, to build and to break: both can be brochos. So what is a brocha? * * * The first blessing uttered by a human Comes in the next parshah, In Noach, after Noah’s drunken escapade, when the bad son Ham doesn…
…t from one place, even if it’s Eden: it’s from the land itself – he will always wander. “a restless wanderer shall you be on the earth” the soil that gaped with its mouth to take his brother’s blood the soil will never nourish him. and Cain worries – not that he – the tiller of fields, the agriculturalist – will have nothing to eat. Not that he’s leaving home alone (Adam and Eve at least had each other) heading out into a world that’s now filled w…
…the punishment is death, but he did not know what manner of death. In some ways, this story is similar to one about a stick gatherer, where again Moses deliberates before pronouncing a punishment. A man goes out among the tents of Israel, collecting sticks on Shabbat. God had previously told Israel not to do work on Shabbat. When the man is brought to Moses for judgment, some think Moses knows the punishment is death, but hesitates and decides to…
…father. Genesis 50:15-17 This is a total manipulation of Joseph in so many ways. They are trying to ensure that Joseph does not harm them by taking revenge. This is probably a lie inspired by fear. No where else in the text of the Torah do we hear Jacob say this to the brothers. Also, they are trying to connect themselves to God and Jacob. This sounds like they are trying to butter him up, by using the names of people Joseph cares for. Worst of al…
…vious to me, I have been struggling with the issue of forgiveness. In some ways, I regret to say, am not as forgiving a person as I would like to be. I still harbor grievances for wrongs done to me years ago and avoid the people who committed these offenses or even the organizations, like schools, where they occurred. I would like to forgive, but it’s hard. My motives for wanting to forgive are not all altruistic. I find that I pay a price for my…
…ard a segment of the surrounding society that seeks to convert us to their ways. We find those attempts at the least annoying, and often disrespectful and outright dangerous. Our response is to make sure we don’t do unto others as we don’t want others to do unto us. However, the truth is that, at least in America, far more Christians convert to Judaism than the other way around. Very few Jews convert to Christianity, since for the educated and dev…
