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!
August 15, 2016 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh,
Yesterday (Sunday) I had the pleasure of spending the end of Tisha B'av learning Torah with a number of 20s and 30s who live in Highland Park. Many topics were included in this marathon of learning including...
how Tisha B'av implores us to feel the pain of historical collective trauma,
how we struggle with understanding why bad things happen to seemingly good people,
and how our love affair with Jerusalem revolves around lamenting its destruction and hoping for its rebirth (among other topics).
The conversation was stimulating, variegated, and incisive because we weren't shy to share our own perspectives - our Unique Torah - and we weren't afraid to listen and be moved by the teachings of[...]
Category : home Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : learning rabbi rabbi's journal synagogue tisha b'av unaffiliated unique torah young people
July 21, 2016 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh,
Below you'll find a prayer I wrote in honor of the victims of the Dallas shooting which I'll be reading at a vigil today organized by the Perth Amboy Chaplain Corps. I will be speaking on this prayer (and the sources quoted) during my talk tonight.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Ari Saks
Adonai Elohei Haruchot L'khol Basar, God, Source of the breath of all flesh (Numbers 27:15)
You breathed your spirit into the nostrils of the First Human (Genesis 2:7)
Imbuing our earthly bodies with your heavenly spirit (Rashi on Genesis 2:7)
A pure spirit (Talmud Masekhet B'rakhot 60b; Birkhot Hashahar)
So as long as I breathe, I acknowledge Your Presence (Talmud Masekhet B'rakhot 60b; Birkhot Hashahar)
Lord in this moment of hamas, of anger and hostility (Genesis[...]
Category : American Jewish News home Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : #BlackLivesMatter breathe dallas Police prayer rabbi rabbi's journal shooting
July 1, 2016 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh,
It's my fault that fireworks are not happening tonight. One of the organizers asked me to pray that rain would not fall tonight, and though I did offer a prayer, it didn't help; the weather forecast is too inclement for the fireworks to happen tonight. They've been rescheduled for tomorrow and I hope the organizer doesn't ask me to offer a prayer for those fireworks - I don't want it to backfire.
Before you write me a note saying "to not take your prayers so seriously" or that "you really didn't cause this," just know that I wrote the previous paragraph with the proverbial tongue in my cheek. I recognize that prayer doesn't necessarily work in that way we most[...]
Category : home Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Shabbat Tag : abraham joshua heschel diversity fireworks rabbi rabbi's journal unity
June 23, 2016 By bethmordecai no comments.
Reflection on the Cleveland Cavaliers winning the NBA Championship and our upcoming Shabbat by the Sea experience on Caring for One Another...
Dear Hevreh,
I confess that I was very excited when the Cleveland Cavaliers ("Cavs") won the NBA championship on Father's Day. Why is this something I have to confess to? Because I'm not a Cavs fan, I'm a Sixers fan. More to the point, I'm a Philadelphia sports fan and it surprised me that cheering for the Cavaliers to win on Sunday night felt somewhat like cheering on one of my Philly teams win. It was odd, because a part of me thought that I should not feel that way, that no team winning a championship could (or should) feel[...]
Category : home Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : Cavaliers Championship Cleveland Desert Empathy Fan Philly Promised Land rabbi rabbi's journal sports
May 25, 2016 By bethmordecai no comments.
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 Tag : gratitude hakarat hatov mitzvah rabbi Rabbi Jonathan Porath rabbi's journal scholar in residence weekend הכרת הטוב
May 18, 2016 By bethmordecai no comments.
The following is the first of three journals previewing this weekend's Scholar in Residence Weekend -- From Being Jewish to Doing Jewish: Deepening Our Jewish Identities. Today's installment focuses on the Friday night program around "being Jewish."
Dear Hevreh,
Chances are that if you're reading this message, there's been at least one seminal moment in your life when you either felt a connection to being Jewish, or (if you don't identify as Jewish) you developed an appreciation for what Judaism has to offer. In other words, regardless of our particular experiences, we share a universal feeling of the importance of whatever-it-is-that-we-call-"Jewish."
Our weekend's scholar Rabbi Porath will spend some time on Friday night helping us articulate and appreciate these seminal experiences of being/feeling[...]
Category : home Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Scholar in Residence Weekend Tag : Cantor Bronwen Mullin connection inner yid Jewish rabbi Rabbi Jonathan Porath rabbi's journal scholar in residence weekend soul spark
May 13, 2016 By bethmordecai no comments.
*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[...]
Category : home Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Scholar in Residence Weekend Torah Teachings Tag : Doing Jewish k'li yakar k'li yaqar keli yakar keli yaqar mitzvah planted planting possibilities rabbi rabbi's journal Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz Skills torah teachings
May 6, 2016 By bethmordecai no comments.
Reflection on this Shabbat Morning's Torah Talk with a special kiddush sponsored by Harriet Pearlman who is moving to Minnesota to be closer to family..
תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם
Talmud Torah k'neged kulam
The Study of Torah is greater than everything else
(Mishnah Peah 1:1)
Dear Hevreh,
We yearn for our actions to be purposeful, efficient, and relevant, to take advantage of every second we have in this world because there are too few to spare. It may be ironic then that the study of ancient Jewish texts is perhaps, as the quote above teaches us, the most important thing we can do as Jews, yet on the surface, studying Jewish texts is an inefficient, laborious, task to delve into topics[...]
Category : home Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Shabbat Tag : rabbi rabbi's journal shabbat torah Torah Talk
May 4, 2016 By bethmordecai no comments.
Reflection on the beginning of Yom Hashoa, Holocaust Remembrance Day, beginning tonight with a program at the JCC at 7:30 pm...
Dear Hevreh,
Some of you may have already seen the email shared with our community, or the article I wrote in the New Jersey Jewish News on the subject, but right now there is a great need in our larger Jewish community to support our Holocaust survivors. Yes, we need to help our survivors because their stories are invaluable, their presence is precious, and their sacrifice is too great to articulate. But even more so, we need to help them because they have done so much to help us.
Earlier this November, during one of our parlour meetups,[...]
Category : home Middlesex Jewish News Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : holocaust Jewish Federation middlesex jewish news Never Forget rabbi rabbi's journal stories Survivors
April 28, 2016 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh,
If you think sometimes we struggle to get a minyan, you should come by the New Jersey Veterans Home. Every other Tuesday I go with Sherry Webber and other members of the community to the Veterans Home near Menlo Park Mall to talk and learn with Jewish residents. Usually about 4 or 5 come to the meetings and though we often find these meetings interesting and engaging, we often talk about the challenge of getting other Jewish people in the Home to join us for our sessions (sound familiar?).
Yet there we were, only two days ago, in a room full of thirty residents and staffers exploring the wonders of the Passover Seder. By Veterans Home Chaplain Jan Koczera's[...]
Category : Passover Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : interfaith Jewish Wisdom passover rabbi rabbi's journal seder Veterans Home