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!
September 12, 2022 By Beth Mordecai no comments.
The High Holy Days are just around the corner! Click "Read More" for a Schedule of Services and other important information.
Our home for Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur will be:
The Sheraton Edison Hotel at Raritan Center, 125 Raritan Center Parkway, Edison NJ 08837.
(more…)
Category : Announcements High Holidays home Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur
September 21, 2018 By Beth Mordecai no comments.
Who Shall Live and Who Shall Die… We say it every year, Who Shall Live and Who Shall Die. But have you actually thought about that statement and the impact that it has on your own life. I have, often throughout this past year. You see, last Rosh Hashanah, as I stood on the bemah to address you, the person who was my champion, my biggest supporter, my biggest fan, was no longer in her seat watching you, watching me. Her name, along with my father’s, is now another name on the memorial tablets adorning our sanctuary walls. I thought about this phrase when I decided that it was time to sell my childhood home, and again as I removed from the wall,[...]
Category : home Yom Kippur
September 27, 2015 By bethmordecai no comments.
KOL NIDRE -- Listen to Cantor/Rav Bronwen Mullin's beautiful rendition of Kol Nidre...
Click below to listen!
[audio wav="http://bethmordecai.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Kol-Nidre-Kol-Nidre.wav"][/audio]
You may also enjoy Cantor Mullin's moving hineni prayer from Rosh Hashanah, 5776 (2015).
NOTE: Rabbi Mullin has completed rabbinic school and is working in Manhattan. She will not be joining us for High Holidays this year. Our 5778 High Holiday cantor is Anna R. Chapman. Additional information coming soon.
Category : High Holidays Videos Yom Kippur Tag : Bronwen Mullin high holidays kol nidre Yom Kippur
By bethmordecai no comments.
KOL NIDRE SERMON - Listen to Rabbi Saks' Kol Nidre Sermon on "the Value of Saying I'm Sorry." Batter up!
[video mp4="http://bethmordecai.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Kol-Nidre-Sermon.mp4"][/video]
Category : Faith Holidays videos-archive Yom Kippur
July 15, 2015 By bethmordecai no comments.
(7/15/15),
62 days. That's how long it is until we gather together in our beautiful sanctuary to ring in another Jewish New Year (!). I don't know about you, but 62 days feels far off and just around the corner at the same time. Yesterday, I spent some quality time in the library at the Jewish Theological Seminary to prepare material for the holidays and to turn my mind towards the themes of repentance, forgiveness, and self-renewal. Perhaps its because it felt so blistering hot outside, but it was hard to imagine that I was preparing for an event at the end of the summer. Could the words I was reading about a holiday still over two months away resonate with[...]
Category : Holidays Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur Tag : high holidays holidays planning rabbi rabbi's journal Rosh Hashanah Script volunteers Yom Kippur
October 5, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
A Moving Tradition
Yom Kippur Day 5775 – October 4, 2014*
Rabbi Ari Saks
Congregation Beth Mordecai
A week ago today, on a quiet Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur a small group of Jews gathered at Beth Mordecai in Perth Amboy, NJ to schmooze, to learn, and to drink some schnapps. In addition to the laughs and the cajoling needed to convince everyone around the table that it was ok to drink before noon, we had some really interesting conversations about our shul and about Judaism in general. One comment that spurred some interesting discussion was when one of our community members, let’s call him David, said “I think that Judaism or all of religion for that matter is about comfort.” As[...]
Category : Rabbi Ritual Practice Sermons Yom Kippur Tag : Amidah comfort Granting Desires high holidays Jewish Home for Your Soul Jewish prayer Moving New Jersey Star Ledger prayer Rabban Gamliel rabbi rabbi eliezer Rabbi Gerald Zelizer sermons Sh'moneh Esrei tradition Un'taneh Tokef Unetaneh Tokef yizkor Yom Kippur
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 19, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Please join us for Yom Kippur and the 2nd day of Rosh Hashanah in our MAIN sanctuary. Not in a catering wing with a television or a speaker with a piped in service. You will be in our main service with our own Rabbi Saks and our Canter, Rabbi Bronwen Mullin. It is the custom of this synagogue to offer FREE services for those days to those that wish to attend and cannot afford a ticket. The first day of Rosh Hashanah and Kol Nidre do require a very affordable ticket. Please call our office at 732-442-1373 Monday through Thursday from 10-2. If we are not in please leave a message and we will call you back.
Category : Holidays home Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur Tag : Rosh Hashanah Tickets Yom Kippur
October 8, 2013 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh, We are still less than a month removed from our High Holiday celebrations as a community, and I hope you are still feeling some of the positive effects of those days together and that they helped make the wisdom of a Jewish tradition come alive for you. I've already heard a good amount of positive and constructive feedback from you on the content and the process of those days, yet in order to make the lessons from those days stick throughout the year, and in order to improve the overall experience of the holidays every year, it is important to know more. That is why this week I will continue to listen to anecdotal feedback through private conversations and[...]
Category : Holidays Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur Tag : feedback high holidays holidays rabbi rabbi's journal Review Ron Miskoff Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur
October 1, 2013 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh, On Kol Nidre, I challenged our community to build something special that will last. Yet if we are truly going to build something special then throughout this process we must identify the ingredients that will go into our "special sauce." Identifying these ingredients will require opportunities for us to come together on an individual and communal basis to share our Jewish passions with one another, which means that one of the key indicators for knowing that we are on our way to crafting our special sauce is how successful we are at coming together and showing up at schul. Enter Exhibit A...Holiday attendance. I'm not talking about the High Holidays, but rather the joyous holidays of Sukkot, Sh'mini Atzeret, and Simhat[...]
Category : Rabbi's Journal Sh'mini Atzeret Simhat Torah Sukkot Yom Kippur Tag : high holidays jewish passion rabbi's journal rabbi's tisch sh'mini atzeret simhat torah sukkot unique torah Yom Kippur