- 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
…r Letter of Determination from the IRS. Donate Online – To make a donation online by credit card, complete this form. Contributions of any amount are appreciated. Bill My Account – Donate now and have our office bill you. Members and Supporters may call or email office@beki.org requesting the BEKI office to bill your account. If you’re paying by check, make the check out to “Cong. BEKI” or to “Congregation Beth El–Keser Israel.” Endowments – Click…
…ion about this and other Tikun Olam (Social Action/Justice) programs at BEKI, please contact co-chairs: Darryl Kuperstock (kuperst@gmail.com 203-215-8555) or Steve Werlin (shwerlin@gmail.com 617-721-8213)….
…his death. Lying in a barn, bleeding from his serious wound, he was discovered by the farmer. The farmer saw the chocolate beside him and offered it to him, but Zadie refused it. He said, weakly, that what he needed was fresh milk, because he remembered being told by his mother, who was a midwife, that milk could help him cough up the blood and heal the wound. So the farmer gave him fresh milk, and in that moment he believed that God was with him….
…Thus I am pleased to report to you that, though long overdue, the shul’s 40-year-old underground heating oil storage tanks were removed this past fall without incident. There had been no leaks. In this we were lucky since their life expectancies had long since expired. However, the tanks are just the beginning. Their removal sensitized us to the critical need to continue renovating our entire heating and cooling infrastructure. Our furnace is anci…
…ort the weight of the proposed design? The synagogue was built with highway-grade structural steel pillars and girders. That said, a structural engineer must certify that all aspects of the design meet Connecticut building codes and are safe for occupancy and use. Will the ceiling be lower? No. We plan to run new heating/cooling ducts above the ceiling (where none currently exist), to add vents for that ductwork, and to replace the lighting. Other…
…violations. Unfortunately, most of the CJLS papers promote sweeping and far-reaching approaches where a simple answer to a narrow question would have worked better. The approaches described in the papers are not really practical for us, do not represent solid halakhic positions, and do not satisfactorily address the tension between the radical change in our understanding of same-sex relationships in our social context, and the need for coherence,…
…oesn’t tell us whether or how Jonah responds. * * * If the cycle of talking-to-God-about-punishment stories culminates in the Book of Job, what lessons does that book offer for atonement? One lesson hearkens back to the Yom Kippur injunction to become at-one with other people before seeking to become at-one with God. Our central prayer, the Shema, proclaims that God is One. That means not only that God is singular but also that God is all. If we c…
…s are quite explicit about their intentions to expel, kill or subjugate non-Muslim or non-Arab residents of the territories they control or plan to conquer. The bizarre accusation against Israel of genocide is frightening when we consider that genocide is actually taking place in Darfur (incidentally, related to pan-Arab racial imperialism) and in other places. All people interested in human rights and civil rights, as well as those interested in…
…d ask where any blessings began. The first brocha of the Torah comes from G-d. G-d blesses “the great sea monsters, and every living creature that crawls, with which the waters swarmed, according to their kind, and every winged fowl.” G-d blesses them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply,” P’ru urvru. Whatever blessing is, it does not need a human being on either side, as subject or object. G-d repeats this blessing of fruitfulness A few lines later…
…e documents proving the Jewishness of a person’s mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and great-great grandmother when applying to get married in Israel. The RA comments that “Needless to say, this is a near impossibility for most people,” and goes on to argue, “Where one is part of a Jewish community and has been living as a Jew, there is no need to instigate an investigation into that person’s Jewishness. We affirm that trust is the default po…
