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!
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
April 27, 2016 By bethmordecai no comments.
The setup of our Seder last night. The calm before the storm (lol)
- Scott Gursky
Dear Hevreh,
Our tables are set with an expected order. Forks on the left with the salad fork on the outside; dishes stacked to reflect the order in which we will eat; and the wine and water glasses neatly arranged for ease of use and aesthetic value. An immaculately set table is abeautiful sight to behold but it's orderly beauty is set in contradistinction the wonderful chaos and life of a meal. Spilled drinks, table banging, loud children noises, interrupted conversations, and bellowing laughter make meals -- especially large Seder meals -- an incredibly messy, but beautiful, experience to have.[...]
Category : Holidays home Passover Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : Adam and Eve chaos control Creation God holidays Illusion Noah's Ark Order passover rabbi Rabbi Shuli Passow rabbi's journal reality seder Sodom and Gomorrah Tower of Babel
April 22, 2016 By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh,
Well, Passover is here. Whether you're having a Seder with 30 of your "closest" friends and family, being a guest somewhere new, having a quiet Seder for just the two of you, or choosing to not celebrate, the holiday has arrived. We mark it with food, with conversation (and debate, of course), but most of all we mark it as a milestone of the year. No matter how Jewish we feel or what kind of Jewish we do, we are aware of Passover's arrival.
But why is that? Perhaps because it is at the onset of Spring. With weather warming, flowers budding, wardrobes changing, and snowbirds returning, the Spring forces us through its sheer will to take notice[...]
Category : Passover Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : festivals Heschel passover rabbi rabbi's journal Sabbath seasons springtime
April 21, 2016 By bethmordecai no comments.
According to Jewish law, one must not own any piece of hametz for the duration of Passover. As such you are able to appoint Rabbi Saks to sell all of your hametz (including food and dishes) to be possessed by a non-Jewish buyer for the duration of Passover.
All hametz materials do NOT have to leave the home during Passover. They simply must be covered and placed out of sight. The non-Jewish buyer has the "right" (though never exercised) to come and take the hametz away during the holiday, which is why you'll need to supply your address to Rabbi Saks if you decide to sell your hametz.
Once Passover is over, the non-Jewish buyer will sell the hametz back to Rabbi Saks so all who appointed him as their seller can partake[...]
Category : Holidays Passover Tag : chametz hametz passover sell hametz
By bethmordecai no comments.
Dear Hevreh,
I never held a pistol before, let alone carried one in a gun holster snug tightly against my hip. Yet there I was, a rabbi and a police chaplain, armed in a training simulator at the Middlesex County Police training center to get a taste of what police officers experience on a daily basis. The wall length screen in front of me projected scenarios that police face, from traffic stops of armed bikers and arrest warrant fugitives to domestic violence calls. It was sobering, surreal even, to encounter these individuals on the screen who, through the wonders of technology, seemed so real. As our Captain said, even though you know it's not real your heart rate will increase as[...]
Category : Ari-archive Tag : God Guns high holidays passover Perth Amboy Police Chaplain Corps Police power rabbi rabbi's journal training
April 15, 2016 By bethmordecai no comments.
Community Passover Seder
Saturday, April 23, 6 pm
Explore the joy and intrigue of Passover with this wonderful communal celebration of the timeless Seder ritual.
Adults are still only $39, under 18 is $19, 12 and under is FREE.
Contact Elliot Rubin at officebethmordecai@gmail.com OR 732-442-1373 for more details...
Category : Holiday Events Holidays Passover What's Been Happening at Beth Mordecai Tag : Holiday Holiday Events passover Passover Seder seder what's been happening at Beth Mordecai
April 12, 2015 By bethmordecai no comments.
Join Rabbi Saks for an ONLINE opportunity to recite Yizkor for your loved one. If we get 10 LIVE we will recite the Mourner's Kaddish.
Feel free to watch at your convenience and insert the name of your loved one at the appropriate moment.
Category : Holidays Online Learning Online Yizkor Passover Tag : 5775 online online learning passover yizkor
June 2, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Check out some teachings by Rabbi Saks from this year's count of the Omer! To download a copy of the omer calendar so that you can count alongside Rabbi Saks, please cklick here for the calendar and please click here for the blessings
Today's Count:
Day 49 -- מלכות/שכינה שבמלכות/שכינה (Indwelling Presence within Indwelling Presence)
Calendar of Days
Day 1 -- חסד שבחסד (Lovingkindness within Lovingkindness)
Day 2 -- גבורה שבחסד (Discernment/Strength within Lovingkindness)
Day 3 -- תפארת שבחסד (Balance within Lovingkindness)
Omer
Online Learning
videos-archive
Tag : counting the omer discernment lovingkindness omer online learning passover s'firat ha-omer sefirat ha-omer shavuot strength גבורה חסד
April 22, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Watch Rabbi Saks' Online Yizkor Event for the 8th Day of Passover to share the name of your loved one and to recite the Mourner's Kaddish.
Category : Online Learning Passover Tag : online learning passover yizkor
April 18, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
Shabbat Hol Ha-Moed Passover 2014/5774: Time for a Festival In the portion for this Shabbat of Hol Ha-Moed Passover, we read the term "moed" as it refers to the holiday of Passover...or as it refers to the time of Aviv (Spring). So which is it? Does "moed" mean "festival" or "time"? We will explore this question as it will help us understand the unique qualities of Jewish festivals like Passover and how these holidays have special significance for us today. Classes from other years...Shabbat Hol Ha-Moed Passover 2013/5773 -- Keeping Shabbat in Passover
Category : Online Learning Online Parashah Class Uncategorized Tag : akitu bounty chizkuni ear festival food grain grateful harvest hizkuni hol hamoed joy keter yonatan moed online learning online parashah class passover shabbat time חזקוני כתר יונתן מועד עת פסח
