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October 5, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Forgetting Justice for the Sake of Forgiveness Kol Nidre 5775 – October 3, 2014* Rabbi Ari Saks Congregation Beth Mordecai There is a famous midrash (Masekhet Rosh Hashanah, 17b) in which Moses is standing atop Mt. Sinai about to greet God for the very first time. When God arrives, Moses does not see God’s face but rather a figure wrapped in a beautiful Tallit. God then brings Moses into God’s Tallit and declares: “Moses. I will show you how to lead the people of Israel in prayer.” And as God teaches Moses how to lead the Israelites in prayer, God also teaches him a secret. “Moses, whenever Israel sins, let them recite the following words before Me, and I will forgive them.” And then[...]
Category : Israeli News Jewish Current Events Rabbi Sermons Yom Kippur Tag : 13 attributes accuracy Ali Abu Awwad arguing compassion forgiveness God hearing high holidays israel israeli-palestinian conflict justice lie Listening mercy Palestine rabbi Rabbi Brad Hirschfield Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger right righteousness sermons Seven (7) Habits of Highly Effective People Stephen Covey understand Understanding undrstood Yom Kippur You Don't Have to be Wrong for Me to be Right
September 9, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh, On Sunday afternoon, our beautiful sanctuary was filled with words that were provocative, engaging, timely, and deeply powerful on the challenges of Israeli-Palestinian peace. They are words that many of us are still digesting, and will continue to digest especially through the High Holidays. They are words that teach us that there can be multiple truths to a single reality, and it is possible (albeit painful) to hold those two truths as equally valid. And as these powerful words were shared by our guests Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger and Ali Abu Awwad, we were there to listen to them. 115 people from far and wide in the Jewish community of Middlesex community were present in our beautiful sanctuary to hear these[...]
Category : American Jewish News Israeli News Perth Amboy News Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : Ali Abu Awaad community israel israel event Palestine Palestinian peace perth amboy Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger speaker success
September 5, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
This is the third of a three part journal series previewing this Sunday's Israeli-Palestinian speaker event "One Land, Two Worlds, One Painful Hope" Dear Hevreh, The Jewish people have been through a lot in over 4000 years of our history. Expulstions, crusades, the Holocaust, you name it and it seems the Jewish people have survived it. So to say that a dialogue between a Palestinian and an Israeli is a "litmus test" for the Jewish people is rather facetious. If all of Jewish life is like an incredible Impressionist painting, then Sunday's event would be a single dot from the artist's brush. That being said, anyone turning on the news today knows that the conversation in our sanctuary on Sunday is relevant to[...]
Category : Israeli News Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : dialogue extremist israel jewish people litmus test Palestine Palestinian rabbi rabbi's journal settlers terrorists Test
August 26, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh, It's amazing what a few phone calls and emails can do. Last Friday morning, I emailed and called some members of our community to let them know about a special minhah service we were having before our regular Friday night service so that one of our members could recite Kaddish on the day of his father's yahrtzeit. It just took a few emails and phone calls and before you know it...we had a full house in our chapel at 7:45 pm! It's incredible how technology can make it so much easier to get in contact with people and how we can rally people together in such a short period of time. The type of fast communication we take for granted[...]
Category : Holidays Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : bonfires Elul emails israel minyan Palestine Palestinian rabbi rabbi's journal Rosh Hodesh small time