- 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
…forces drowned. They’ve heard Miriam’s song and received mana. They’re shlepping toward Har Sinai and they stop at Refidim. They’re tired and thirsty and the oasis is dry. Despite the pillar of smoke by day and fire by night and all these other direct manifestations of God’s covenant with them, they begin to complain about the water. Why did God bring them here? “Is God amongst us or not?” Where is God when you need Him? Moshe is exasperated and s…
…His death left us diminished and we are still grieving 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 pe…
…want a sanctuary design that evokes an awareness of the spiritual even the supernatural, of forces and concepts beyond our comprehension. We would like to feel uplifted. I think we would like to be reminded of things that are God created, not man created. In the sanctuary we might like to be surrounded by the natural rather than the artificial. The sanctuary space should be clearly different from the familiar day to day. A BEKI sanctuary should be…
…queror. Babylon at the time was an extraordinary city, huge in size with a population of over 100,000. It was at the heart of the fertile stretch of land that formed the cradle of Western civilization. The city had a massive inner wall surrounding the city and a ten mile long outer wall protecting the immediate countryside. Eight gates opened into the city. One of them, the Ishtar gate, was magnificently decorated with blue enameled bricks into wh…
…o the attention of the BEKI membership and community. The Board voted to support the statement and the underlying principle that action by government that is directed against a particular group defined by their religious beliefs stands against the values of Judaism. The Board does not take such a statement lightly and does so with the understanding that this is a complex issue with many points of view and may not be speaking for its membership as…
…ative Ashkenazi Hebrew siddur as represented by Mahzor Lev Shalem and is supplemented with English readings and rabbinic commentary. Doors open 20 minutes before scheduled service times. The building is accessible to those using wheelchairs and with limited mobility by entering through the front main doors on Harrison Street or through the East Entrance from the parking area via a sloped sidewalk or steps. The Sanctuary is equipped with a Hearing…
…ailed,realistic images executed in a variety of media — such as woodcuts,copper and stone — to a more abstract,landscaped- based style after he adopted watercolor as his primary medium in the early 1950s. “I do not see my landscapes optically,” he said. “They are a fusion of colors blended harmoniously—abstract at times, and at other times expressions of my inner feelings.” His work captures the magic of the land.“Only after years did I find self-…
…t is in our own tradition, surely we should add our collective voice and support to this global effort. ***************** With the general context thus set, I ask you to indulge me in the personal pleasure I have gained all year long from having been born in 1950. Not knowing that the entire society around me would be celebrating the Jubilee, I found myself a year ago contemplating the approach of my own 49th birthday. Having studied the yovel in…
…mes in fact directly from our Torah. While in principle this ideal should apply to all types of contributions–wisdom, work, wealth–that each family makes toward the good of all, it was most often applied to the readily quantifiable realm of money. For when it came to agricultural leavings for the poor and contributions (tithes) to the Temple, each family’s required minimum contribution was a proportion of its income. This system of tithes and leav…
…e a male would become virtually uncontrollable if a female of his species approached. Because of this, females afforded superior convenience and greater ease of handling. The addition of camels was actually anachronistic. Camels did not appear until the 12th century B.C.E. which was several hundred years after the patriarchal period. The sheep could have been listed first because of their value. Because sheep were central to the economy, people ha…
