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!
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
August 24, 2014 By bethmordecai no comments.
(8/24/14),
Over the past two years, I've taken advantage of an opportunity to learn and connect with an impressive and diverse array of rabbis at a retreat for CLAL's Rabbis Without Borders program. At this past retreat, I had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know a very impressive rabbi -- Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger, an orthodox rabbi who lives in one of the settlements outside of Jerusalem and spends most of his time running a pluralist learning program he leads once a month in Northern Texas. We connected because of our mutual interest in Jewish perspectives on Christianity so we decided to continue our correspondence after the retreat as hevrutapartners to learn the New Testament together over[...]
Category : Israeli News Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Tag : Ali Abu Awaad CLAL israel israeli news Jewish Studies Initiative non-violence opportunity peace rabbi Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger rabbi's journal rabbis without borders reconciliation