- 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
…ngers of Success – February 1999 My First Cousin – 1995 What Shul Do You Belong to? The Danger of Extremism – Rosh HaShana 5762 – 2001 LeHitgaber: Perspective and Coping – Yom Kippur Yizkor 5764 – 2003 A Place in the Sun – Yom Kippur Kol Nidre 5769 – 2008 Listen: Slow Down – Rosh HaShana 5760 – 1999 Predicting the Past Lasting Forever – Yom Kippur Yizkor 5762 – 2001 The Voice of Jacob Where All People Can Be Safe – June 2012 Everyone is a Winner R…
…abbinic authority, even if it does not meet our standards in every way, as long as it is within the law. On the other side, some will not accept our certification without respect to any objective rules of kashrut but rather out of their own parochial institutional interests, lack of trust or respect, or exclusivist ideology. Can we survive with this imbalance? It is like those missionaries who believe everyone must follow their religion to be “sav…
…on, and hoped the hype would be forgotten within a week of opening day. As long as it did not inspire pogroms in the streets of New Haven or the wilds of Woodbridge, my plan was to ignore the movie. I will admit, though, that the idea of watching a movie in Aramaic appeals to me. Since Aramaic is the language of the Talmud, parts of the Hebrew Bible, and passages of the siddur, it is very much a “Jewish” language. As a cognate language to Hebrew,…
…doing a d’rabanan (or takanah-level) action on Shabbat can be performed as long as one does it “kil’achar yad,” which means, in a way that you don’t normally do it. Try using your non-dominant hand to click refresh; try sitting in a different position. This would render it halakhically acceptable. If the halakhic language seems abstruse to you, the value that we are going for is this: even if opening the livestream is not a problem on Shabbat, we…
…Club and our YPL made good progress. We confirmed our First Confirmation Class. Finally triumphant fulfillment came. We purchased the Plymouth Church on Chapel Street and Sherman Avenue to serve as our new Temple and Synagogue Center. Louis Scherban and Goodwin D. Wolff assisted in the negotiations, Abraham Gubin, Samuel A. Smith and Louis Kasimir took over the heavy responsibility of the pew arrangements. Several of our families memorialized Win…
…count of this G‐d, the community whose text this great work of scripture belongs and consider what in their experience would lead them to such a theology. The psychoanalyst Greg Mogenson, in his work G-d Is a Trauma, insists that a “traumatized soul is a theologizing soul,” a statement to which I can personally attest. And it cannot be denied that the Israelites fleeing the harsh slavery of Egypt were indeed traumatized by their experience. Moreo…
…nexpectedly, he is confronted with his brothers, the memory of whom he had long swept into the dark recesses of his mind. He had cut himself off not only from them but from his father as well, even though he knew how deeply this would hurt him. He had even named one of his sons Menashe, which means “God has made me forget my father’s house.” As he stares down at the men bowed before him, Joseph has certainly has not forgiven them. Quite likely, he…
…the Lord swore to give them.” Rather he proclaims in every generation, as long as his people dwells in the Land, whenever he brings its first fruits, in thanks to the Almighty: “I am come to the Land.” Every member of the House of Israel thus identifies himself personally with his people and its history. He came to the Land, it was given to him. Ms Leibowitz points out the similarity of this proclamation to our Pesah Hagada’s central teaching tha…
…the violations of halakha associated with automobiles or even bicycles. As long as it is understood that the device will be used within the eruv (Shabbat boundary) and operated in an especially safe manner, there may not be any specific barrier to their use. We live in a mixed community, and in general, I would not want to deprive my children or myself of available pleasures on Shabbat unless there is a good reason to do so. Especially if riding a…
…gatherings. A week did not go by without seeing my cousins. My cousin Nicholas Chiam Tilsen was born in 1951. He was more than ten years older than me, and I did not know him as well as did my siblings who were his contemporaries and his classmates in high school. Nick was a talented chef, and when he lived in the San Francisco Bay Area he had a catering business. Nick was fit and energetic and had developed an extensive network of friends who car…
