Posts Tagged ‘mitzvah’

mitzvah

May 25, 2016
By bethmordecai
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DAY 1425: The Mitzvah of Smiling

Reflection on this weekend's Scholar in Residence Weekend -- From Being Jewish to Doing Jewish: Deepening Our Jewish Identities מָֽה־אָשִׁ֥יב לַיהוָ֑ה כָּֽל־תַּגְמוּל֥וֹהִי עָלָֽי׃ How can I repay unto the LORD All His bountiful dealings toward me? (Psalm 116:12) Dear Hevreh, Smiling. It's one of the most important things we can do, but also one of the hardest. We smile when we're happy, laughing, and enjoying our experience, but too often we walk into life's moments with a skeptic's frown; we demand that others impress us before rewarding them with a smile of acceptance. As a rabbi looking out at a congregation on Shabbat morning or during the holidays, the task of turning a skeptic's frown into a believer's smile can be daunting. If[...]

Category : home Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Scholar in Residence Weekend
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mitzvah

May 13, 2016
By bethmordecai
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DAY 1413: It’s All Planted Within

*Note: this message is a little longer than usual   Dear Hevreh, At the onset of the this week's triennial Torah reading of Parashat K'doshim (Leviticus 19:23-24), we read... כג  וְכִי-תָבֹאוּ אֶל-הָאָרֶץ, וּנְטַעְתֶּם כָּל-עֵץ מַאֲכָל--וַעֲרַלְתֶּם עָרְלָתוֹ, אֶת-פִּרְיוֹ; שָׁלֹשׁ שָׁנִים, יִהְיֶה לָכֶם עֲרֵלִים--לֹא יֵאָכֵל. 23 And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as forbidden; three years shall it be as forbidden unto you; it shall not be eaten. כד  וּבַשָּׁנָה, הָרְבִיעִת, יִהְיֶה, כָּל-פִּרְיוֹ--קֹדֶשׁ הִלּוּלִים, לַיהוָה. 24 And in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy, for giving praise unto the LORD. It seem a little odd that the Israelites would not be able to eat food they just planted in the[...]

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mitzvah

March 5, 2015
By bethmordecai
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Online Purim Megillah Reading for 2015/5775

Join Rabbi Saks today at 12:30 pm for an online reading of Megillat Esther! Photo taken from -- http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/loc/Megillah1.html

Category : Online Learning Purim
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mitzvah

November 6, 2013
By bethmordecai
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DAY 494: The Keif (or “Fun”) of Rubber Ducks

Dear Hevreh, Last night, many of you received an email from our esteemed Executive Director Elliot Rubin about selling ducks for our Rubber Duck Race fundraiser on December 8th. (In case you did not receive the email, you can read it here). The focus of that email was on the importance of selling ducks as a mitzvah, as a command, in which we recognize our obligation to raise valuable tz'dakkah for our community and the greater Perth Amboy community. While that sense of mitzvah is extremely important, I want to focus in this journal entry on another way to look at this campaign we're undertaking over the next 33 days. This process should be keif, or FUN!, because c'mon...we're selling rubber ducks!   I don't know about you but[...]

Category : Rabbi's Journal Rubber Duck Race Uncategorized
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mitzvah

September 23, 2013
By bethmordecai
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DAY 450: Finding Meaning (and Vulnerability) in Turning On My Car’s Ignition

Dear Hevreh, I could be mistaken, but I don't think many of us find the act of starting our cars a meaningful moment in our day. For those who drive regularly, it is a mundane occurrence that we don't think about (until that inopportune moment when our cars won't start). Yet there I was, sitting in my car on Friday morning, about to turn on the ignition and feeling lots of butterflies in my stomach as if I was walking into a room full of teenagers. All of a sudden, a simple act that I have done countless times in my life became a spiritual test, full of meaning. Why was this ignition start different than all other ignition starts? Because this[...]

Category : Holidays Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Sukkot
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