- 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
…essible to people using wheelchairs. The main building is carpeted with low-pile or no-pile carpet, including the Rosenkrantz Library and the George G. Posener Daily Chapel – Beit Midrash. The classroom building is not carpeted. The linoleum floor is kept clean. The lower levels, including the Lower Social Hall, kitchen, three classrooms, and lower level washrooms, are accessible by elevator from the lobby. On Shabbat and Festivals, the elevator o…
…was a network of individually operating courts throughout Europe in those times. Most of the communications between these courts occurred locally but the network, like the monkeys, had the possibility to communicate over long distances. The advantage of the network was that of insurance. If, for example, I were a Jew in Baghdad and I had a contract with a Jew in, say, Madrid, this network would help enforce the contract, to the end that Jewish tr…
…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 …
…. Everyone has multiple claims on their limited resources. But BEKI is a do-it-yourself enterprise, as we all know. Luckily, that means that a lot of people are willing to pitch in, in a lot of different ways, and don’t wait to be asked. It was easy to pull off a successful silent auction at the Annual Meeting, and a wonderful morning of landscape work last Sunday. In VaEthanan, we see that the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness were winding…
…a moment for an individual or family to pause and begin a period of sacred time. The act of lighting the candles links one Jewish household to another and one generation to another. Dear Rabbi, Is it permitted to use Razor Boards [skateboards with handles] on Shabbat? Signed, Cutting it Close Dear Cutting it, Halakha (Jewish law) enjoins us from engaging in dangerous activities, and to follow safety rules in everything we do. Thus halakha requir…
…gnized that Conservative Judaism was not simply the non-movement of the non-Reform and non-Orthodox, but rather a distinct movement in its own right. It was not until the 1990’s that the United Synagogue took the name United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. My great-grandparents followed in the footsteps of their parents in living as observant traditional Jews. They were not Orthodox. They were not Hippies. They were by definition Conservative J…
…ers that are switched around. In old English, the word “ask” was spelled “a-k-s” but then became too confusing with an axe with which one chops wood. Tson was a word used to describe sheep and goats together. The Tanakh only separates goats from sheep once by referring to goats as izzim. In the Mishna, it says, “behema dakka” meaning small cattle. Hebrew having many words for sheep is not unusual. The Eskimos have many words for snow, we have lots…
…e with his garment; and so too shall you do with anything that your fellow loses and you find: you must not remain indifferent (Deut. 22:1-4). “You must not remain indifferent.” The root, ayin, lamed, mem, means to hide, to conceal. In this verse, the verb is in the reflexive form, so it means you must not hide yourself, and by extension, it means you mustn’t ignore or run away from your neighbor’s needs. If you see someone’s beast of burden falle…
…ieving to this day. As we approach his yahrzeit I observe that the level of pain and death brought by the disease seems incomprehensible. Millions of people are infected with a virus with a near 100% mortality rate and no cure in sight. The agonizing medical effects of the virus are compounded by the social and legal stigma of the HIV-positive label. The devastation touches us all. My first cousin performed many deeds of kindness during his life a…
…two brothers. Between these two episodes is the strange story of the night-long struggle between Jacob and a mysterious adversary, which, as Nehama Leibowitz has observed,”is one of the most puzzling chapters in the Torah.” Jacob remains awake, restless, unable to sleep, consumed with fear and anxiety over his imminent meeting with Esau. He gets up in the night and decides to move his family, flocks, and baggage to the other side of the Jabbok Ri…
