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!
September 19, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Please join us for Yom Kippur and the 2nd day of Rosh Hashanah in our MAIN sanctuary. Not in a catering wing with a television or a speaker with a piped in service. You will be in our main service with our own Rabbi Saks and our Canter, Rabbi Bronwen Mullin. It is the custom of this synagogue to offer FREE services for those days to those that wish to attend and cannot afford a ticket. The first day of Rosh Hashanah and Kol Nidre do require a very affordable ticket. Please call our office at 732-442-1373 Monday through Thursday from 10-2. If we are not in please leave a message and we will call you back.
Category : Holidays home Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur Tag : Rosh Hashanah Tickets Yom Kippur
September 16, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
הָיוֹם הָרָת עוֹלָם
Hayom Harat Olam
Today is the birthday of the world
(Rosh Hashanah liturgy)
Dear Hevreh,
According to tradition, Rosh Hashanah is considered to be the "birthday of the world," when God first began the process of creation. Perhaps this tradition teaches us that like our birthdays, the "re-birth" of the year not only gives us a chance to reflect on the year that has gone by, but to be rejuvenated for the year to come with the youthful energy of a newborn who looks at the world and sees the possibilities of what lies before her. In other words, Rosh Hashanah can help us find the kid in ourselves again.
How appropriate then that in this week leading up to Rosh Hashanah we[...]
Category : home Kidz Korner Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Rosh Hashanah Tot Shabbat YJPA Tag : baby naming big tent judaism birthday Jewish Federation kids kidz korner pj library rabbi rabbi's journal Rosh Hashanah Tot Shabbat YJPA youthful energy
November 7, 2013 By bethmordecai no comments.
Cherish zikkaron, cherish memory -- memory is the engine that drives our people forward because it binds our past together (Rosh Hashanah 5773 Day 2 Sermon -- Living the Inner Life of the Holidays) Dear Hevreh, During the bar mitzvah celebration this past Sunday, a number of people remarked how the sanctuary housed a deep spiritual presence of Jewish memory. Even though many of the attendees never stepped foot in our sanctuary before Sunday, they felt as if they were returning to where they came from. Memory, especially Jewish memory, is a powerful tool that binds us together as a people. Whether it's committing ourselves to never forget the atrocities done to our people or to simply enjoy our favorite Jewish "soul" food, powerful Jewish experiences seem to[...]
Category : Bar Mitzvah Rabbi's Journal Reunion Weekend Rosh Hashanah Tag : bar mitzvah memory past rabbi's journal reunion weekend vision
November 3, 2013 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh, Today is a wonderful day because for the first time in recent memory, we welcome a teenage Bar Mitzvah boy and his family to mark this wonderful occasion for their family in our community. By partnering with the Hebrew Corner, a non-denominational Hebrew School run by Cantor Avima Darnov, we connected with Lyle and Robin Sandler who were searching for a venue to host the bar mitzvah of their son, Ben. After many conversations and opportunities for the Sandlers to experience our community (including participating in our Unique High Holiday Experience on the second day of Rosh Hashanah), they agreed to host this wonderful simhah in our Jewish home. Being a part of the Sandlers' simhah is a wonderful privilege for our congregation and it[...]
Category : Bar and Bat Mitzvah Bar Mitzvah Rabbi's Journal Rosh Hashanah Youth Education Tag : avima darnov bar mitzvah grow community hebrew corner jewish home Rosh Hashanah simhah unique high holiday experience
October 8, 2013 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh, We are still less than a month removed from our High Holiday celebrations as a community, and I hope you are still feeling some of the positive effects of those days together and that they helped make the wisdom of a Jewish tradition come alive for you. I've already heard a good amount of positive and constructive feedback from you on the content and the process of those days, yet in order to make the lessons from those days stick throughout the year, and in order to improve the overall experience of the holidays every year, it is important to know more. That is why this week I will continue to listen to anecdotal feedback through private conversations and[...]
Category : Holidays Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur Tag : feedback high holidays holidays rabbi rabbi's journal Review Ron Miskoff Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur
September 24, 2013 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh,
As I sit at my desk trying to think about how to describe our upcoming celebrations of the holidays of Sh'mini Atzeret and Simhat Torah, I'm struck by a particular thought. Judaism is a religion that thrives on anxiety. Now bear with me, for a moment -- we just celebrated the High Holidays which is a period of serious reflection as we consider the aspects of our character that we'd like to work on for the following year. Yet Rosh Hashanah is supposed to be a joyous holiday, and Yom Kippur is considered to be a Shabbat Shabbaton, the greatest of all Sabbaths, and no one would mistake Shabbat for a sad occassion. The juxtaposition of the solemnity[...]
Category : Holidays Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Rosh Hashanah Sh'mini Atzeret Simhat Torah Yom Kippur Tag : dance holidays joy rabbi's journal rosh hashana Rosh Hashanah sh'mini atzeret shemini atzeret simchat torah simhat torah Yom Kippur
September 12, 2013 By bethmordecai no comments.
Rabbi Ari Saks Congregation Beth Mordecai High Holidays Bulletin Article, 5774 Last Friday, for the second day of Rosh Hashanah, we had a special and unique High Holiday experience that was not the normal, traditional service. The order of the service was different, there was no Torah service, and we had opportunities for discussion and some dancing, in addition to some other innovative methods used to enhance our Rosh Hashanah experience. Overall, the feedback has been that it was a fun and meaningful service. Yet the service would never have been possible if it were not for a combination of a unique quirk of the Jewish calendar and the unique customs in which we observe our holidays. The unique quirk of the Jewish calendar is the existence[...]
Category : Bulletin Articles Passover Rabbi Rosh Hashanah Sh'mini Atzeret Shavuot Simhat Torah Sukkot Yom Kippur Tag : 5774 attendance diaspora etrog halakhah high holidays history innovation israel Jewish calendar jewish law lulav mission lulav and etrog passover pesach pesah rabbi's tisch Rosh Hashanah sh'mini atzeret shemini atzeret simchat torah simhat torah sukkot torah unique high holiday experience Yom Kippur
September 5, 2013 By bethmordecai no comments.
The Necessity of Vulnerability for Connection Rabbi Ari Saks Congregation Beth Mordecai Rosh Hashanah Sermon 5774 (September 5, 2013)* It was a cool Rosh Hashanah morning in early September. All of the worshippers of the small schul in the center of town had already been davening, praying together for a few hours. They were currently davening the Mussaf Amidah, the central prayer in the second half of the service which we, here are Beth Mordecai, will soon pray together. Every worshipper was deep in their thoughts, shuckling back and forth as the words flowed from their lips…zohrenu l’hayyim tovim kol v’nei v’ritekha – God, remember us the children of your covenant for good. Little Deborah, all of 9 years old, stood watching as the men and women of[...]
Category : Rabbi Rosh Hashanah Sermons Uncategorized Tag : Rosh Hashanah sermons
August 15, 2013 By bethmordecai no comments.
Join us for the High Holidays!
Category : Holidays Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur Tag : advertisement high holidays holidays Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur
July 12, 2012 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh, I'm sitting here in my office, practicing my reading for the Torah portion for this week (Parashat Pinhas), and I'm struck by a story that relates to something I was thinking about at the Board of Trustees meeting last night. We were talking last night about finding volunteers for the High Holidays, and during that discussion I wondered...how do we motivate people to give up their precious free time and commit to helping our community? I had a suspicion of what my answer was (and to be truthful, I've thought a lot about it over the years), and that suspicion was confirmed tonight while practicing the Torah reading: Motivation comes from feeling like we matter. In this week's Torah portion, the[...]
Category : Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur Tag : Board Meeting high holidays motivation pinhas rabbi rabbi's journal volunteer פנחס