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!
June 17, 2016 By bethmordecai no comments.
The following is a preview of a conversation this Shabbat morning in honor of Father's Day...
Dear Hevreh,
I'm not sure how to celebrate Father's Day. Though this will be my third Father's Day as a "father," I don't quite know how to approach the significance of this day. It it supposed to be a "ho-hum" day with the highlight being the giving of gag gifts and the telling of dad jokes? Or is it supposed to be something more significant where the role of a father is appreciated in a way analogous to (though not the same as) the way that Mother's Day is celebrated as a High Holiday on our secular calendar?
I guess this question of how[...]
Category : home Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : dads egalitarianism fathers day home jobs society work
January 21, 2016 By bethmordecai no comments.
Reflection on last week's Friday night service and this week's upcoming storm...
"דומה דודי לצבי" (שיר השירים ב:ט), מה צבי זה מדלג מהר להר מבקעה לבקעה מאילן לאילן ומסוכה לסוכה מגדר לגדר, כך הקב"ה מקפץ מבית הכנסת זה לבית הכנסת זה מבית מדרש זה לבית מדרש זה. כל כך למה? כדי לברך ישראל.
- שיר השירים רבה פרשה ב
"My beloved is like a gazelle" (Song of Songs 2:9), Just as a gazelle skips from mountain to mountain, valley to valley, tree to tree, and dwelling to dwelling, fence to fence, so too the Holy One Blessed Be He skips from this synagogue to that synagogue, from this house of study to that house of study. Why? In order to bless Israel.
- Song[...]
Category : Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Shabbat Tag : Ahad Ha'am angels God home jewish community learning Midrash Northern Jewish Middlesex rabbi rabbi's journal shabbat skipping song of songs synagogue שיר השירים
October 30, 2015 By bethmordecai no comments.
Beginning with Abraham, the Israelites are in constant search for home. Their existence is predicated upon the constant search for home and the reality of living in the diaspora or exile. Is it possible for the Israelites to truly ever reach home? Is it possible for us to ever find our true home? Or is life a constant search for it, with lots of stops along the way.
We'll look at this question through Abraham's search for home and in particular his sojourn in the land of the Philistines for "many days" (Genesis 21:34).
Join us for this fascinating class on finding home.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SOURCE SHEET!
Classes from other years:
2012/5773 -- Shirking Responsibility for Hurricane Sandy
2014/5775[...]
Category : home Online Learning Online Parashah Class Tag : Abraham Genesis 21:34 home online learning online parashah class torah portion vayeira vayera וירא
August 13, 2015 By bethmordecai no comments.
(8/13/15),
"Wherever we are together, that is home."
Dear Hevreh,
This past week I spent some quality time with family. We rented a home on the beach and written upon one of the walls of the house was the quote from above -- wherever we are together, that is home. How appropriate because though this rented space was not the physical home any of us lived in before this week, we made it home because we were there together.
Home is not simply the place we grew up. In the first mention of the Hebrew word for home or house (b-y-t) in the Torah, Abram (before he's called "Abraham") is told by God to leave "your father's house" (Genesis 12:1). Only a few short chapters[...]
Category : Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : Abraham home rabbi rabbi's journal
November 7, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Parashat Vayera 2014/5775 (Triennial II) -- Raping Foreigners
In this week's Parashah, we read how the men of Sodom came to Lot's home to demand that he release the men staying in his home so "v'neid-ah otam, so that they can rape them (Genesis 19:5). This trope of raping foreigners is echoed later in the Bible in Judges 19:22. Why are the men in both of these stories doing this to the foreigners in their midst? What can these stories teach us about the power of rape and attitudes to foreigners? Do these stories have anything to teach us today?
Classes from other years:
Parshat Vayera[...]
Category : home Online Learning Online Parashah Class Tag : foreigners Genesis 19:5 home Judges 19:22 land online learning online parashah class power ramban rape sanhedrin sanhedrin 109a strangers talmud vayera weekly torah portion וירא
April 28, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
"Today we focus on the diversity in our lives, and those times when we thought of that variety as confusing or bewildering. Remember a time when you visited a city for the first time, anticipating with delight the sights and sounds that brought you there, but instead, realized that you were lost and perplexed. Strange customs, odd street layouts, unusual odors and unfamiliar language can disorient us. We want familiar patters to help us understand a place, so we can be more omfortable. Information in the form of a map or a phrasebook helps us recognize te patters within the apparent chaos. Splendid variety is wonderful as long as we discern the underlying patterns"(Counting the Omer: A Kabbalistic[...]
Category : Omer Online Learning Tag : bangkok g'vura g'vurah gevura gevurah hod home omer online learning smog splendor strange city thailand גבורה הוד
July 12, 2013 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh, The Hebrew root of the word Shabbat is "lashevet," which means "to dwell." Is there not a better explanation of the essence of Shabbat than of dwelling? Dwelling is the act of remaining in place, an act which may seem easy but in fact can be very difficult. There are so many distractions, so many other things on our mind that it can be tough to simply dwell and enjoy being in our special spaces. There many different kinds of spaces we dwell in, like in our home, in the schul, or (among others) in a gazebo at the park like the one we will dwell in NEXT Friday night for Shabbat by the Sea. Yet wherever we[...]
Category : Ari-archive Tag : dwell home rabbi rabbi's journal shabbat shabbat by the sea לשבת