On Sunday, April 23, our own Rabbi Steven Wernick will participate in a celebratory reading of Israel’s Declaration of Indpendence—Megillat Ha’atzmaut—at the Egalitarian Kotel. Every year between Yom HaShoah and Yom Ha'atzmaut, the World Zionist Organization holds a festive event of reading Megillat Ha'atzmaut at the Egalitarian Kotel. It is broadcast live in different...

Every year we are challenged at Passover by the phrase בכל דור ודור חייב אדם לראות את עצמו כאילו הוא יצא ממצרים, to look at ourselves as if we ourselves came out of Egypt. In some Sephardic and Mizrachi traditions, seder guests actually get dressed up and replicate the Exodus, arriving at the seder as guests who have just fled Egypt and are in need...

For the month of April, I got inspired by the upcoming holiday Pesaẖ, or in it׳s other name—H̱ag haHeirut—and decided, that the song I’ll choose for this month will be about freedom. The song “Lev Hofshi” by the Israeli artist Mooki is a beautiful song that talks about freedom, new beginnings and letting go of your past, of being happy with the things that surrounds...

The unappeased memory of a future still to be fulfilled. -- Harold Fisch. Most of the Book of Leviticus is about the sacrificial service in ancient Israel, as practiced initially in the desert sanctuary and later in two temples. Re-reading these prescriptions and descriptions each year in the Torah reading cycle seem to have no practical use in a post-Temple Jerusalem and post-Temple...

The happiest month of the year, Adar, is here! "MiShenichnas Adar Marbim B'simẖah" is a saying that I'm sure you have heard before. This saying is what led me to choose the song "Misheu Iti Kan" by Benaia Barabi to be the song of the month!This song gives us a different perspective of being happy. The kind of happiness that you can find in the small things in life. It speaks about...

The double portion of Vayakhel-Pekudei, the final two parashiyot in the book of Exodus conclude the narrative of the construction of the tabernacle.Vayakhel recapitulates the instructions for fashioning the tabernacle and its furnishings, and Pekudei gives a detailed accounting of the expenditures involved. We read that all the people—men and women alike—responded with great generosity...

Dear Friends,Over the decades, I have returned countless times to the final verses of this week’s parashah, trying to understand what is happening. "And as Moses came down from the mountain bearing the two tablets of the Pact, Moses was not aware that the skin of his face was shining/radiant/glowing, since he had spoken with God. Aaron and all the Israelites saw that the skin of Moses'...

Beth Tzedec Bulletin - Spring 2023 EditionThe latest edition of the Beth Tzedec Bulletin is available for download. Let's celebrate, learn, pray and connect as a community with the many opportunities offered throughout our quarterly catalogue of programs, events and articles.Don't miss any of the news and excitement, including:Bree-AH: The Arts & Pray/Play Lab (page 2);Open My...

This week’s Torah reading focuses our attention on Aaron, Moses’ brother. In fact, Tetzaveh is the only portion following Moses’ introduction in which he is totally absent!  In the parashah, Aaron becomes the Kohen Hagadol, the High Priest, responsible for the functioning of the Tabernacle and the religious life of the Israelites.God simply appoints him. Our ancestors wanted to know by...

Help Us Make a MinyanDo you live in the shul neighborhood? Please join our new WhatsApp Minyan Group to help us ensure a minyan when we are short. Once a week, once a month – it’s really up to you!You will fulfill several mitzvot. You will make a minyan. You will give yourself time to engage with God. You will enable others to recite Kaddish. And you will strengthen our Beth Tzedec community...

We don’t revere a mountain. It is a distinct part of the Jewish narrative that, although the giving of Torah happened at Mount Sinai, we do not make a pilgrimage to or revere the mountain. Rather, the experience at Mount Sinai was an interaction with holiness, with the Divine, and so the Israelites set about creating an indwelling place for that Divine that could travel with them in the desert....

We will be reading this Shabbat from Parashat Mishpatim which expands upon the ten commandments. Among the many laws that instruct us how to create a faithful, responsible and caring community is this law about how treat strangers and makes the connection to our experience of being othered in Egypt.You shall not wrong or oppress a stranger (ger), for you were strangers in the land of Egypt...

When teaching the revelation at Sinai to children, I help them try to connect to the experience as described in the Torah by saying that it was the greatest sound and light show ever. There was lightning, smoke and thunderous noise, an experience that would overwhelm the senses of sight and hearing. For adults, take the most over-the-top rock show you’ve ever seen, complete with the...

February starts, and we are getting closer and closer to Tu B'Shevat (ט"ו בשבט), that this year falls on February 6! Tu B'Shevat is a day when we appreciate and celebrate the trees and nature in Israel.. That's why the song "Brosh—Cypress" by the Israeli artist Ehud Manor is the perfect song for this month! Cypress trees are very common in Israel, you can see...

The Song of the Sea (Shirat Hayam, Exodus 15) is chanted publicly from the Torah twice a year on Shabbat Shirah (Parashat Beshallaẖ) and on the seventh day of Passover. It is also recited publicly in our morning prayers every day of the year in the Preliminary Service. Shortly after Shirat Hayam, we say the following between the Shema and the private devotion of the Amidah:שִׁירָה...