Congregation Beth Mordecai
Congregation Beth Mordecai
An inclusive congregation affiliated with the Conservative Movement.
Your Jewish Home for the Soul!
An inclusive congregation affiliated with the Conservative Movement.
Your Jewish Home for the Soul!
August 15, 2016 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh,
Yesterday (Sunday) I had the pleasure of spending the end of Tisha B'av learning Torah with a number of 20s and 30s who live in Highland Park. Many topics were included in this marathon of learning including...
how Tisha B'av implores us to feel the pain of historical collective trauma,
how we struggle with understanding why bad things happen to seemingly good people,
and how our love affair with Jerusalem revolves around lamenting its destruction and hoping for its rebirth (among other topics).
The conversation was stimulating, variegated, and incisive because we weren't shy to share our own perspectives - our Unique Torah - and we weren't afraid to listen and be moved by the teachings of[...]
Category : home Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : learning rabbi rabbi's journal synagogue tisha b'av unaffiliated unique torah young people
April 10, 2016 By bethmordecai no comments.
Reflecting on Friday's Disaster of Spiritual Care Training & Previewing Today's Workshops forInterfaith families
Dear Hevreh,
"Everybody is a living document." This is one of the key teachings from my training on Disaster Spiritual Care with the American Red Cross on Friday. In essence, this teaching emphasizes how everyone's unique story is a something important to listen to, how it is a "document" worthy of being "read." This is especially the case when working with someone who has just experienced trauma from a hurricane or a terrorist attack. While there is the story of the tragedy that we hear in the news, there are the stories we don't hear from survivors who collectively add their[...]
Category : Interfaith Families Perth Amboy Chaplain Corps Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : Chaplain Corps Faithful Families Grandparents Circle interfaith families Living Document perth amboy chaplain corps rabbi rabbi's journal unique torah
March 25, 2015 By bethmordecai no comments.
אלו דברים שאדם אוכל פירותיהן בעולם הזה והקרן קיימת לו לעולם הבא: כיבוד אב ואם, וגמילות חסדים, והבאת שלום בין אדם לחברו. ותלמוד תורה כנגד כולם (משנה פאה א:א)
These are the fruits a person eats from in this world which will carry over to the next world: honoring your father and mother, doing acts of kindness, and making peace between your fellow man. But the study of Torah is greater than them all (Mishnah Peah 1:1)
Dear Hevreh,
Today was a day of Torah learning. Not the kind you just get in a book, but the unique kind you get through conversations and the sharing of knowledge among friends. Just check out the Facebook updates on #LearnWithTheRabbi and[...]
Category : Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : ask the rabbi Learn with the Rabbi Mishnah Peah 1:1 rabbi rabbi's journal Talmud Torah torah unique torah משנה פאה א:א תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם
September 30, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Let Us Sing Our Songs Together
Rosh Hashanah 5775 – September, 25 2014*
Rabbi Ari Saks
Congregation Beth Mordecai
Picture this. You are an Israelite in approximately 1600 BCE. You, your family, and your people have just escaped the torture and slavery of the Egyptians with the help of God and Moses, and as you turn back from reaching the other side of the Red Sea , you hear the deafening, vicious sound of waves devouring your Egyptian pursuers, until the last of them are no longer seen.
You stand there aghast, not knowing what to say…you are free! After a moment or two of reality sinking in, you feel this overwhelming urge to shout out for joy. To sing praises of thanksgiving, of joy,[...]
Category : Rabbi Rosh Hashanah Sermons Tag : Arukh Hashulkhan Benjamin Segal birds community Expression high holidays joy love mary poppins rabbi Rabbi Irwin Kula reflection Rosh Hashanah sermons shower song song of songs To Rome With Love Unique Songs unique torah vulnerability Woody Allen Yearnings
June 3, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh,
During this past Shabbat and Annual Meeting, I shared my philosophy of Unique Torah -- how the Unique Stories of our lives can turn into the teachings of our Unique Torah when we share it and connect it so something greater than ourselves. This philosophy is not only predicated on expanding the definition of "Torah" from the Torah read on the bimah to the Torah (i.e. teachings) we learn from our relationships and our personal experiences of life, but also to seeing this expanded definition of Torah as having the potential to be exalted, godly, and divine, as if it was also revealed by God at Mt. Sinai.
As such, our celebration of Shavuot, in which we recall how[...]
Category : Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Shavuot Tag : mt. sinai rabbi rabbi's journal torah unique stories unique torah
By bethmordecai no comments.
*Sermon for Friday night of "Cantor Showcase of Unique Torah" (Shabbat prior to Shavuot) – May 30, 2014
Our Unique and Godly Torah
Rabbi Ari Saks
Some of you may remember a story my father told during my installation on this same bimah over a year and a half ago. I was a little boy in Benton Harbor and my father and I had just come back from shul on Simhat Torah. As we approached home I started making a frantic pointing motion in a not-so-specific direction (with the requisite grunting of a child). So my father, in attempting to respond my neediness, took me on a walk trying to follow my random pointing. Eventually we ended up back at shul where my pointing got[...]
Category : Bulletin Articles Cantorial Showcase Holidays home Rabbi Sermons Shabbat Shavuot Tag : bulletin articles Cantorial Showcase godly holidays neil gillman norman lamm pirkei avot potential rabbeinu yonah rabbi revelation sermons shabbat shavuot unique torah
May 30, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh,
Each of us has a journey, a path that takes us from one place to another but, like the Israelites through the desert, that path is often more circuitous than straight. Why? Why can't our journeys be straight and direct? Perhaps because though circuitous every stop is purposeful, full of meaning. The people we meet, the places we visit, the food we eat, every experience of life has something to teach us so that at the end of that convulated journey we become the people we are meant to be. And when we see make meaning of each of those experiences, when we tie our Unique Stories into the greater meaning of life -- God, Judaism, eternity, faith --[...]
Category : Cantorial Showcase Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : Cantorial Showcase history Jewish scientists jose lopez journey pictures rabbi rabbi's journal story unique stories unique torah
May 28, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
(5/28/14) Torah is more than just the stories of our ancestors or the stories of our tradition. Torah is made up of the stories of our lives. Each day we wake up and add another verse, hoping that the story we are creating has lasting value and impact. One of the ways to make our stories have lasting value is to connect them and see them in the context of the values and teachings within the eternal Torah of our people. That's the intersection comprising our Unique Torah, where the Torah of our lives meets with the Torah of our tradition to become a Lasting Teaching, a teaching that emanates from our hearts and resonates throughout history. On Friday Night, we will have an[...]
Category : Cantorial Showcase Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : billy joel Cantorial Showcase hashkivenu lives rabbi rabbi's journal songs tradition unique torah השכיבנו
May 27, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh,
Last week I talked about how the growth of our community can be seen in our ability to run multiple programs during the weekend. This weekend provides another opportunity for us to display that growth with our Cantor Showcase (Friday 8 pm), Scholar-In-Residence (Saturday 11 am) and Annual Congregational Meeting (Sunday 10 am).
But why should you come out to these events? What's their value to you as an individual and to us as a community?
Over the course of the week I will be sharing individual journal entries about each of these particular programs and events to explain how they represent some of the most exciting and important values of our community. But in the meantime,[...]
Category : Adult Education Cantorial Showcase Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : adult education apple Cantorial Showcase community rabbi rabbi's journal scholar in residence unique torah value your verse
May 16, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh,
When it comes to relationships, it is often easier to not "rock the boat," perhaps because of our worry of the potential consequence of causing a rift within our relationships by engaging in difficult conversations. Yet not engaging with those difficult issues at all can lead to resentment, mistrust, and separation that limits the closeness we feel with one another, which is why when we engage in these issues in a thoughtful and appropriate manner we build the trust needed to know that at the end of the day, we can move on from any disagreements that linger so that we can continue to be in relationship with one another.
The same can be said of a community which is built[...]
Category : Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : conversations israel jstreet obligation rabbi rabbi's journal shabbat unique torah women