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!
January 31, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
(1/31/14)
As we enter into another Shabbat, another opportunity to spend time together and learn together in community, I want to share a simple thought from the Talmud about the meaning of community:
אין התורה נקנית אלא בחבורה (ברכות סג:)
Eyn ha-Torah nikneit ela b'havurah (B'rakhot 63b)
The knowledge of Torah can only be acquired in a community (Tractate B'rakhot 63b)
There is something unique about the knowledge and secrets embedded in the Torah that, according to this teaching, they can only be revealed when we learn it together. Yes, learning Torah is a fascinating intellectual exercise for the individual, but it becomes something more, something larger, when we open ourselves to hearing the interpretations of other lovers of Torah. And if Torah learning is the foundation[...]
Category : Homecoming Weekend Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Shabbat Tag : community homecoming weekend rabbi rabbi's journal shabbat message torah unique torah
January 28, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh,
Yesterday I wrote about the importance of setting our priorities to do things that are important but not critical otherwise we might never get to those important items. The specific example I raised about myself is the importance of praying and learning every day. As such, I thought it would be appropriate to share with you some of my learning from yesterday which, ironically, was about the importance of prayer.
Rav Nahman of Breslov writes in his book Likkutei Moharan (2:2) that "prayer is the weapon of the messiah" (k'lei zeyno shel moshiah). One of the examples he brings to prove his point is an interpretation of Genesis 48:22, in which Jacob is on his death bed[...]
Category : Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : baba bathra gemara isaiah learning prayer psalms rabbi rabbi's journal rav nahman of breslov Twitter weapon
January 27, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh,
I am blessed with the opportunity in my role as your rabbi to make my own schedule, a blessing I treasure especially because I know how many of us are forced to conform to other people's schedules. Yet, no matter how much each one of us is able to choose our schedules, inevitably we are faced with decisions on how to spend our time in which we feel like we our schedule runs our lives as opposed to us running our schedules.
At the beginning of each week, I try to plan how I'm going to spend my time during that week, determining which projects will receive attention and which ones will be put on the back burner. Each week I[...]
Category : Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : learning prayer priorities rabbi rabbi's journal
January 24, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh,
One of the things I love about our Friday Night service is that in the midst of all the praying and teaching, we take a moment to check in with each other to see how our week has been. I love it because it gives us a chance to be reflective when most of the week we are too active to fully appreciate and realize what we are doing.
It's pretty normal to not find time during the week to be reflective. Just ask God. On occasion God reflected during creation that what God created that day "was good," but it wasn't until the end of the sixth day - Friday night - that God looked back "on all that[...]
Category : Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Shabbat Tag : rabbi rabbi's journal reflection shabbat shabbat message
January 23, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh,
This past Monday, I had the pleasure and privilege of speaking at the large Cathedral International Baptist Church in Perth Amboy in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Remembrance Day. It was my first experience participating in a southern Baptist, African-American church worship service and I am still thinking about what transpired during those couple of hours. The music, the pageantry, the sermons and speeches that implore you to be an active participant with your voice and your body in the moment, and with your spirit and your energy in fulfilling their messages of social justice in the days and weeks to follow. It was truly an amazing experience.
I was given the task of reflecting on Dr. King's philosophy of non-violence[...]
Category : Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : african-american baptist black cathedral international dr. martin luther king jr. rabbi rabbi's journal tikkun olam
January 17, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh,
According to the Shulkhan Arukh (25:5) one of the boxes of t'fillin is placed on our arm to correspond to our heart (because the arm is parallel to the heart), and the other is placed on our head to correspond to our mind. The reason for placing the t'fillin in accordance with our heart and mind is because our soul is bound up in the desires and thoughts emanating from our heart and mind, and as such we are trying to instruct in our soul through the passages contained within the t'fillin that our purpose as human beings is to serve God.
Most days of the week we need these "signs" (otot) to remind us of God's presence in our lives, but during days like Shabbat -- when we have a[...]
Category : Rabbi Rabbi's Journal
January 15, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh,
In most sanctuaries, there is a verse from scripture placed above the ark. Residing at eye level with the ner tamid (eternal flame) this scripture is a meditative piece to remind the worshippers in the pews of the intention behind our prayers. One of the most popular phrases to adorn the top of a sanctuary is an adaptation from a Talmudic phrase: דע לפני מי אתה עומד -- Know Before Whom You Stand (Masekhet B'rakhot 28b). We worship before a God, a Presence, so much greater than ourselves, and when we stand in worship, we must be aware of that powerful Presence.
The Talmudic source for this quote indicates that it came as Rabbi Eliezer was on his death[...]
Category : Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : abraham joshua heschel Adult Learning b'rakhot JCC of Middlesex Martin Luther King Neve Shalom prayer rabbi rabbi eliezer rabbi's journal shul Social Justice synagogue talmud Temple Emanu-El
January 10, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh,
I have one thought to leave you today. Shabbat is good, so let's share in all of the goodness of Shabbat tonight at shul!
And to kick off the sharing of that goodness...enjoy this song by the great Shlomo Carlebach which we will sing tonight!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Ari Saks
Photo courtesy of http://www.vosizneias.com/post/read/41137/2009/11/03/new-york-yahrzeit-vin-exclusive-the-man-who-never-died-r-shlomo-carlebach-zl-interview-with-neshama-photos-music-video
Category : Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Shabbat Tag : rabbi rabbi's journal shabbat shlomo carlebach
January 9, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh,
The Ramban, among others, teaches us that what we understand to be the Torah of the Five Books of Moses was actually created before the creation of the world as this supernal gift that was waiting for the right time to be given to God's creations. As Walter and I learned yesterday at Yeshivat Panera, this view of the Ramban that Torah is supernal, existing beyond time and space, is epitomized by his teaching that when the Torah was given it was written as black fire upon white fire. That is to say the (black) letters and the (white) parchment of our physical Torah contains an inner flame, or passion, that when accessed has the power to illuminate hidden teachings[...]
Category : Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : black fire harriet pearlman rabbi gedaliah druin ramban sofer torah white fire women yeshivat panera
January 6, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh,
There are many purposes for being a part of a Jewish community -- to build a social network of friends, to have a place to celebrate and honor lifecycle events, to learn about and experience the wisdom of Judaism, and to experience a connection with God among others. All of these purposes were on display this past Shabbat morning as more than 20 members of our extended community us braved the cold and the snow to help Rachel and I bentsch gomel after last week's accident. As Rachel shared with me later, more significant than the act of reciting gomel is the community that came out to make sure that we could recite gomel. It was a special feeling[...]
Category : Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Shabbat Tag : community gomel kiddush purpose rabbi rabbi's journal shabbat simhah yahrtzeit