An inclusive congregation affiliated with the Conservative Movement.
Your Jewish Home for the Soul!
November 10, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh,
If I were to tell you that this past weekend I went to New York for "Music! Singing! Dancing!," you might have thought that I was going to the latest Broadway show or some other musical performance. But in fact, along with nearly 15 other members of our congregation, we weren't at a show...we were at shul.
To be exact, we were at Congregation B'nai Jeshrun, one of the largest and most thriving Conservative synagogues in the country. It's a synagogue that started in the late 19th century yet rapidly declined after a heyday around the middle of the 20th century. Then in the early 1980s it hired a charismatic rabbi Marshall Meyer, who was an aide to [...]
Category : home Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : B'nai Jeshrun BJ community dancing inspirational music prayer rabbi rabbi's journal services
August 1, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
This is the third of a 3 part journal series previewing different aspects of this Friday night's special Shabbat by the Sea -- Family and Community Edition. The theme for this journal is: wordless music.
Dear Hevreh,
When I was in Israel, I spent some time learning in a small one-room orthodox yeshiva in which the long table which acted as a m'hitzah separating the men from the women. However, the rosh yeshiva allowed for special sessions just for non-orthodox rabbinical students in which this restriction was discarded. The reason? Learning, unlike prayer, is more open to all.
When I was in New York I participated in an interseminary dialogue group with eight different Jewish and Christian seminaries (four each). We spent a good amount[...]
Category : Ari-archive Tag : God's Army Ministries interfaith music niggun rabbi rabbi's journal shabbat by the sea wordless
November 11, 2013 By bethmordecai no comments.
Enjoy this beautiful music from some beautiful voices (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); Post by Congregation Beth Mordecai.
Category : Jewish Culture and History Learning Tag : amsterdam cantorial music cantors culture music sephardic singing tumbalalaika
November 5, 2013 By bethmordecai no comments.
*Note: This message is a little longer than usual
Dear Hevreh,
When I experience the need for some musical inspiration I often turn to Spotify, a popular online music sharing service. As I'm sure many of us have, there are a number of different playlists on my Spotify account. However, there is one particular playlist that seems to be on repeat whenever I need some help thinking or writing about a topic (like I'm doing right now). That playlist is simply called "White Out Friday Night."
Last winter we ran a new Friday night program in which community members were encouraged to wear white as a symbol of the snow on the ground and the purity and holiness of Shabbat. More than[...]
Category : Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Shabbat White Out Friday Night Tag : music rabbi rabbi's journal shabbat spirit white out friday night