Parshat Vayera – 4 parshiot down, only 50 more to go! Vayera is full of dramatic events. The parsha begins as Sarah and Abraham warmly welcome 3 visitors who reveal that Sarah will soon have a son. Given their advanced age, Sarah laughs at this news. Also in Vayera is the story of the destruction …
Parshat Lech Lecha – 3 parshiot down, only 51 more to go! In this parsha, God tells Abram (later to become Abraham) to leave his native land and venture into unknown territory with his wife Sarai (later to become Sarah). God promises Abram that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars and that …
Summary from Sefaria*: Noach (“Noah”) begins as God decides to destroy mankind with a flood. At God’s command, the righteous Noah builds an ark, where Noah, his family, and select animals survive the flood. Noah’s children bear children, and several generations develop. God confounds the speech of people building the Tower of Babel. Because life …
During Yom Kippur, our Beth El community heard the heartbreaking story from Kibbutz Nir Oz family member Carmit Palty Katzir. Carmit’s father Rami, 79, was killed on October 7th. Hamas terrorists took her mother Hana, 77, and her older brother Elad, 47, as captives. Hanna was released in a temporary ceasefire deal in November 2023, but Elad …
By Robin Jacobson. It’s the stuff of family lore and American history. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, over 10 million European immigrants crossed the Atlantic Ocean to America. These included 2.5 million Jews, many of them fleeing pogroms, persecution, and poverty in the Czarist Russian Empire. Courageous and determined, they built new lives in the United States. …
Beth El took part in the Jewish world’s one-year commemorations of October 7, 2023 – both in its public mourning and in its dancing. Our clergy and members gathered with thousands in downtown Washington, DC at The Anthem. Synagogues around the world also participated in a special campaign to receive a Torah cover with the …
By Robin Jacobson. Each High Holiday season, we turn again to sacred texts in search of new insights. That makes this a fitting time for Gila Fine’s The Madwoman in the Rabbi’s Attic: Rereading the Women of the Talmud. Fine takes a fresh and fascinating look at six stories in the Talmud, positing that the women …
By Robin Jacobson. For years Maya Arad has won enthusiastic praise for her fiction, even being described in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz as “the finest living author writing in Hebrew.” That alone is reason to dive into The Hebrew Teacher, the first of her books to be translated into English. Readers may be surprised, however, …
By Robin Jacobson. The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo imaginatively blends the genres of historical fiction and fantasy. This captivating novel is set in 16th century Spain, a time and place linked to the author’s family history. In 1492, when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella expelled the Jews from Spain, Bardugo’s Jewish ancestors fled to Morocco and Egypt. They …
By Robin Jacobson. Some adult book clubs choose one “young adult” title a year to read, simply to sample from the many excellent books in that category. This year, two outstanding young adult historical novels illuminate lesser-known Jewish experiences in Romania and the United States during World War II: The Blood Years by Elana Arnold …
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