Some ideas to help make Shavuot a fun time in your home!Crafts, recipes and discussions can go a long way to helping make Shavuot more meaningful for the whole family.Help your family recognize that Shavuot is coming. We count the Omer—the days between Passover and Shavuot. Make a family Omer counting chart and count it together at dinner time. On Shavuot, it is customary to eat dairy...

I am not a fluent Hebrew speaker. Even with a career in Jewish education, a Master’s degree in Bible, a year spent living in Israel, eight other visits and thousands of hours in Hebrew class in elementary school, high school and university, I have not mastered the Hebrew language.  Sure, I can get by with the Hebrew I do know. I can hold my own in a conversation with an Israeli, I can...

Riding the TTC, one cannot help but notice the plethora of advertisements for Continuing Education. In a recent subway ride, my entire car was plastered with banners boasting of a particular university’s 88 certificate programs and over 1,500 courses, seminars and workshops—all aimed at mature students.While the rest of the world is seemingly catching up, our tradition has...

There is a lot to enjoy in the summer. Aliza and I love to stay home. We spend hours puttering in our garden and begin every day with a cup of tea on our deck as we literally stop to smell the roses. It’s interesting to note that in Judaism, there is a special blessing for when you smell roses (different from the brakhot for fragrant herbs, different from that of aromatic fruits,...

As I write this column, Beth Tzedec is preparing to host Rabbi Steven Wernick, CEO of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. His topic for his address to the Congregation on Shabbat, April 25 is The Next Great Jewish Paradigm Shift: Creating Intentional Communities. In my inaugural Bulletin column, written at the time we rejoined USCJ last summer and very much informed by our...

In the road to character, David Brooks sets out to recover what he describes as “a vast moral vocabulary and set of moral tools, developed over centuries and handed down from generation to generation." To reclaim that moral vocabulary and path of life, he consciously adopts a religious vocabulary and vector. He notes, “We don’t live for happiness, we live for holiness. Day to day we...

Following the Annual General Meeting held on Tuesday, May 28, the Board of Governors met and elected the Executive Committee, comprised of the following individuals:Blake Teichman - PresidentSheldon Rotman - ChairAlan Sless - Vice-PresidentDebbie Rothstein - Vice-ChairPeter Weinstein - TreasurerLarry Wallach - SecretaryLeonard Cappe - ParnosCarolyn Kolers - Immediate Past PresidentNorman...

Beth Tzedec Congregation is pleased to announce that we are now able to offer two financial assistance awards to qualifying students, made possible thanks to the Kaplan Family in memory of Charles & Pearl Kaplan and Robert & Estherelke Kaplan.To download the application form, click here .

Youth Director Job Description Beth Tzedec Congregation is seeking a Youth Director within our Youth and Family Programming department. A full-time position, the primary role of the Youth Director is to be the face and voice for youth and teen programming for the Congregation. Objectives include maximizing participation and...

The third annual Golf Classic fundraiser is confirmed for Thursday, May 28 at King's Riding Golf Club. The Men's Club urgently requires promotional items to give away to the participants. Even if you don't have promotional items, you can still help. Please consider making a cash donation—even just $18—to help the Men's Club make this event a shining success. Charitable donation receipts will...

Have you been diagnosed with the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 genes? You don't have to face it alone.Beth Tzedec Congregation is organizing a support group for Jewish adults who have tested positive for the BRCA genes. Connect with others to share experiences and discuss life-altering decisions, Jewish meditations, halakhic considerations, prayers for healing and rabbinic counseling.For information or to...

I use the Internet for pretty much everything, but I am most satisfied when I use the Internet to figure out how to do something that I would have otherwise had to hire someone else to do. Recent examples include changing the air filter in my car, replacing my shower spout, installing a car seat base and mounting my TV stand. This is, of course, over and above the many times a day...

Mah Nishtanah! The four questions that your kids ask at the seder are supposed to engage them and spark their curiosity. The night is different from a normal night. How can we help them realize this and start asking questions to prepare them for the holiday?Here are our four questions (and two for good luck) that YOU can ask and discuss with your family: “When Israel was in Egypt’s...

In her beautiful poem “each of us has a name”, the Hebrew poet known simply as Zelda writes: Each of us has a namegiven by Godand given by our parentsEach of us has a namegiven by our stature and our smileand given by what we wearEach of us has a namegiven by the mountainsand given by our wallsThe poem continues, listing the many sources of the names that we acquire. Yet Zelda never...

Those of you who know me well know that I am a huge movie buff. I believe I have mentioned before that my wife and I are often accused of constantly speaking in movie quotes because the scripts become cemented in our brains.As long as there have been movies, there have been cantors trying to get into movies. More often than not, when a cantor is fortunate enough to get cast in a film, he...