The fifth week of the month is a wildcard in our blog schedule. As Hanukkah begins this Sunday night, let’s think about the holiday from a new angle. Jewish service members are deployed around the globe this Hanukkah. Hopefully they will be able to enjoy a jelly donut, light the candles and appreciate their role …
This week is the fourth week of the month. For Reflections Off the Bimah, the fourth week features thought leaders drawn from throughout the Jewish world. These special posts give you the opportunity to consider important opinions you may not readily encounter. Judaism is filled with traditions. Some are public events in synagogues while many more …
The other day, Rabbi Harris came into my office during a rehearsal and said, “please quiet down, I think people are having way too much fun in here!” Some of you may know that back in Connecticut I ran a teen choir for 9 years that performed locally at Shabbat services and traveled nationally as …
By Robin Jacobson. This November marks the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht (“Night of Broken Glass”), considered by many to be the night the Holocaust began. A violent turning point in Nazi Jewish policy, this wave of orchestrated, anti-Jewish riots swept across Germany, Austria, and parts of Czechoslovakia on November 9-10, 1938. This fall, commemorations around …
I am proud to be Jewish, even in these difficult days. In these past days, I have cried with people and sometimes hugged when words felt inadequate. Rabbi Werbin, Hazzan Fradkin and I have spent time with Beth El students and adults responding to the tragedy in Pittsburgh. We have had gatherings in the sanctuary …
This week is the fourth week of the month. For Reflections Off the Bimah, the fourth week features thought leaders drawn from throughout the Jewish world. These special posts give you the opportunity to consider important opinions you may not readily encounter. I am bringing a blog by Dr. Joy Ladin who is the Gottesman Professor …
So I was sitting in my office one day with a teen who is involved in our High School A Capella group, Marak Hayom ( Soup of the Day). We were discussing their upcoming repertoire for the year and I asked if she’d heard this version of Hashem Melech by the Y-Studs A Capella group. …
During the High Holidays, I enjoy looking at the kahal (community) gathered. I clearly recall how I felt during my first Rosh Hashana at Beth El and how many strangers were before me. Over many years I have been invited into so many people’s lives. In quiet moments on the bimah, I reflect on the …
This week is the fourth week of the month. For Reflections Off the Bimah, the fourth week features thought leaders drawn from throughout the Jewish world. These special posts give you the opportunity to consider important opinions you may not readily encounter. This year feels like a Sukkah Wash-Out… but it didn’t always rain. Below is …
By Robin Jacobson. On Simchat Torah, we reach the end of the Torah and begin reading it anew. The rabbis promise that each year’s reading offers new insights as our life experience broadens. Is it similarly true, I wonder, that remarks our parents made take on new meaning over time? And is there something a …
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