- 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
…course, I gleaned that: To Israel the unique events of historic time were spiritually more significant than the repetitive processes in the cycle of nature…. The God of Israel [is] the God of events: the Redeemer from slavery, the Revealer of the Torah, manifesting Himself in events of history rather than in things or places. Though seeking God in a visual medium, we looked not for images but for stories, patterns of events that reveal the sacred…
Spirit and Fire A Retrospective Exhibit Leslie J. Klein is a mixed media and fiber artist from South Florida. She has worked in pastels, oil pastels, graphite and mixed media, creating her images from a Jewish and feminist perspective. She has had many one-person shows both in the U.S. and in Israel, including “The Eden Trilogy”, an installation in oil pastel first exhibited at the Artist’s House in Jerusalem. Klein is also well known for her wor…
…e, elevator, and many other renovations, tonight I’m going to focus on the spiritual, communal and social aspects of synagogue life. It seems to me that BEKI is humming with renewed energy. In the course of the past three years, we have revitalized programs that had been allowed to lapse. We have enhanced activities that have been flourishing for years. And we’ve initiated any number of new programs that you have suggested. There is energy in the…
…evil influence both subtle and overt. It is the struggle to cleanse one’s spirit of sin. This is the most important level of jihad. Then there is the Verbal Jihad, which is to speak the truth in the face of a tyrant. The Prophet Mohammed encouraged raising one’s voice in the name of Allah on behalf of Justice. The third is Physical Jihad. This is combat waged in defense of Muslims against oppression and transgression by the enemies of Allah and M…
…re to include everyone. As it is, if such a family may pick only a limited number of people to honor, everyone who does not receive an honor understands that the family was limited. However, if the family is essentially unlimited, by being able to call up more than one person at a time for an aliya, then anyone who is not called up has greater grounds to feel slighted. A second reason for wanting joint aliya is that one of the proposed honorees do…
…ll do it that way, too. But this procedure often created a dilemma: If the number of qaddishes was limited, there might still be some who did not get to say one; if there was no limit to the number of qaddishes added, the service became burdensomely long. So after careful scrutiny the rabbis allowed all mourners to say qaddish simultaneously. This rabbinic solution was adopted only after careful consideration, and after it was determined that mour…
…rs, words and spaces, although exact layout (number of words in a line and number of lines in a column) may vary, as will the quality of the materials and calligraphy. We take out the particular scroll or scroll that is set to the portion that we are reading on the given occasion. The weekly reading goes in sequence, so each shabbat we begin reading from the spot we left of the previous week. But on festivals and other occasions we may read from a…
…tell stories that celebrate our shared past. It is also a place where our spirits and our community can be invigorated, nourished, and rested. It is a safe place, made safe by the community’s recognition of its sacredness. The sanctity of the sanctuary derives not from its location, structure or furnishings. Sanctuary services can take place in a store front, a dining room, a concentration camp, or in a submarine. Any space with any architecture…
…n interfaith and multi-racial family himself, Rabbi Woodward considers the spiritual inclusion of non-Jewish relatives in the rituals to be deeply important. If you choose to name your child within BEKI’s Shabbat morning service, please note that only one person at a time is called to recite the blessings for a Torah aliyah, though an additional parent can also come to the readers table for the aliyah. If you would like to sponsor the Kiddush lunc…
…, Abraham had accomplished much. He was a great leader and warrior. He was spiritual, personable, and principled. And yet, after everything, it is as if he has not yet arrived. Lekh lekha — go, travel — is repeated. He must journey again. Because a religious person never arrives. A religious person is always on a pilgrimage. A religious person is, spiritually, never at rest. Nehama Leibowitz notices that in each lekh lekha, God asks Abraham to for…
