In The Country of Women by Susan Straight A moving family saga celebrates generations of bold, brave, and determined women. Award-winning novelist Straight (Between Heaven and Here, 2012, etc.) makes her nonfiction debut with an eloquent, absorbing memoir. Addressed to her three adult daughters, the narrative weaves together stories that transcend time, place, race, and […]
The Gratitude of Labor There is an important principle in Judaism, a source of hope and also one of the structuring principles of the Torah. It is the principle that God creates the cure before the disease. (Megillah 13b) Bad things may happen but God has already given us the remedy if we know where to look […]
Friday, February 4, 2022/3 Adar I, 5782 Parashat T’rumah Exodus 25:1−27:19 Dear Friends, After receiving the Ten Commandments from God, the Israelites are hard at work to create a sacred community of justice and compassion. They have now been living in the wilderness for months. Although the Torah gave them guidelines to help them settle […]
Odds & Ends & A Prayer Linda Rubin and Marla Shwarts Safety, transparency, hope, community, science, diligence, trust, – all of these attributes have been the guiding principles of your Reopening Task Force and Temple Beth El as we maneuver through this pandemic. Weekly meetings to keep pace with the ever changing science and medical […]
Celebrating Love Cantor Ilan Davidson cantor@bethelsp.org As we enter into the month of February, it seems appropriate to discuss the topic of celebrating love. In the past, you have read my article about a little-known holiday, the Jewish Valentine’s Day, T’u B’Av, which takes place in the summer. I also wrote about how, as Jews, […]
Grant Perry What happens when your first visit to Temple Beth El, with your wife and young daughters, happens to be during the marathon-long adult b’nai mitzvah of 12 passionate members of our synagogue, nearly 20 years ago? Once he wipes away his remaining tears, a still- moved Grant Perry would say, “You’ve found your […]
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . Would you have done anything different, […]
Healing the Heart of Darkness Jobbik, otherwise known as the Movement for a Better Hungary, is an ultra-nationalist Hungarian political party that has been described as fascist, neo-Nazi, racist, and antisemitic. It has accused Jews of being part of a “cabal of western economic interests” attempting to control the world – the libel otherwise known […]
Friday, January 28, 2022/26 Shevat, 5782 Parashat Mishpatim Exodus 21:1−24:18 Dear Friends, This week’s Torah portion, which immediately follows the giving of the Ten Commandments, continues the giving of laws. As we know, there are not only 10 commandments attributed to the Torah, but a total of 613. Mishpatim adds approximately 50 new laws or […]
