- 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
…oncerned with what they call “family values”; they see sexual morality as crucial to the spiritual quest. But, as we shall see, the patriarchs were not family men. Whatever their other achievements, their domestic lives left much to be desired …. I confess that I read the Torah as literature — sometimes enlightening and uplifting, sometimes infuriating, and sometimes confusing and even impenetrable. After having gone through more commentary and mo…
…Joanne could not have accomplished what she did today without the help of Ruthie Greenblatt, whose birthday we are celebrating today. Ruth’s faith in Joanne’s ability long predated Joanne’s faith in herself. Ruth’s patience, her talent, her inspiration, and her astonishing capacity to give of herself are the stuff of miracle. The hardest thing to do is to praise a righteous person, because the language of praise is cheap and formulaic. Suffice it…
…my of the Israelites, and prophesy the city’s imminent doom. Jonah instead runs away and boards a ship for Tarshish. So God sends a huge storm that threatens to sink the ship. The sailors, with a heart-wrenching appeal for God’s mercy, toss Jonah overboard and the storm dies down. Then God sends a giant fish to swallow Jonah. Inside its belly, the taciturn Jonah bursts into prayer. He vividly describes his near-death experience and promises to do…
…p your chimney, but that doesn’t mean it is a smart thing to do. Civil and human rights are the foundation of modern civilization. I think the Bill of Rights is a great national achievement and I’m a card-carrying member of the American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International. Yet the issue of rights is sometimes used as a cover for wrongs. Those who defend the hate-radio programs of G. Gordon Liddy, Ken Hamblin and others of their ilk con…
…f the poor person who can not afford all of this “hidur mitzva” but must struggle to light even one lamp? The Mishna Berura, written at the beginning of the twentieth century by the Hafetz Hayim, comments on the section of the Shulhan Arukh cited above: If one has a limited supply of oil for all the eight days [of Hanuka] and one’s neighbor has none at all, one should light each night only one light and give some to that neighbor…. That is, we a…
…, and also studied at Yeshivat Hadar in New York and Mechon Schechter in Jerusalem. My approach to pastoral care was shaped by my training at JTS as well as an intensive unit of chaplaincy at Bellevue Hospital in New York, where I was privileged to serve a diverse, urban, largely uninsured community. In 2012 I joined the American Jewish World Service clergy delegation to Muchucuxcah, a Mayan village in the Mexican Yucatan, which sparked a deeper c…
