With the selection of Pope Leo XIV, Robert Francis Prevost, and in light of the film “Conclave,” which I happened to watch by chance on a flight back from Florida, I’ve been reflecting on the difference between perception and reality in religious institutions. The film was hard to watch. According to friends in the clergy, Hollywood took too many liberties and included a number of inaccuracies. But the hardest concept to explain to secular audiences, and even [...]
Two years ago, I was nominated and elected president of our shul — again, having served in the position about 15-or-so years earlier. Friends from my other lives around the country responded to the news with condolences, commiserations, and various forms of body language to suggest tough luck, misfortune and mercy. They would be so wrong. Oh, of course I understood that, like life itself, the administration of a synagogue could be messy from time [...]
Dear Friend of Congregation Tifereth Israel, We are publishing our Virtual/Online Journal, once again, this year and hope that you will choose to advertise in it. Whether this may be your first time advertising with us or if you have participated in the past, it is an excellent marketing opportunity along with a way to support the work we do supporting our local community. Our Virtual Journal is live online 24/7/365, which is seen locally [...]
The Yellow Candle Project is a moving tribute to the six million. Each participating family will receive a yellow candle to be lighted at home, when all will join together on Zoom to share this solemn experience. Attached to each candle is the name of a child who died in the Holocaust. Please remember this child in your prayers. Your yellow candle’s flame can serve as a moving reminder of the evil effects of hatered [...]
Please join the East End Jewish Community Council (EEJCC) and march in the Israel Day Parade in New York City Sunday, May 18, 11:30 AM to 4:00 PM Participation is free.
The Book Circle will meet on Thursday, May 15, at 3 p.m., in the community room at the shul, where the group will talk about Goyhood, a debut novel by Reuven Fenton. Here, a devoutly Orthodox man discovers in middle age that he is not, in fact, Jewish. He is, however, a Talmud scholar, married into one of the greatest rabbinical families in the world. Now what? Meyer Belkin grapples with a God he [...]
Veronica Kaliski, chair of the shul’s Tikkun Olam Group, told The Shofar that the annual donation of funds to provide chickens to CAST clients took place this year in time for Easter. In acknowledging the $300 contribution, Sarina Harley, CAST’s interim food relief program manager, thanked the group and the shul for generosity in time for Easter. “We are elated to have so much chicken to distribute to the CAST clients,” she wrote. “Chicken [...]
Our shul hosted a Second Seder on Sunday, April 13. The beautiful table setting invited participants into the community room, where Rabbi Gadi led the gathering through the dramatic Passover story of slavery in Egypt and the flight to freedom through the parted sea and 40 years in the desert to the land of Israel. Later that week, the shul hosted the annual Model Seder luncheon for GEM (Greenport Ecumenical Ministries) clergy and their [...]
Last Twilight In Paris by Pam Jenoff A trail of clues leads Louise from a discovered necklace to a department store in Paris that once served as a Nazi prison. Nothing is as it seems. Will the truth be buried forever? For fans of mystery stories, this one is gripping, mixed with the triumph of love even in the darkest hours. Songs for The Brokenhearted by Ayelet Tsabari In this debut novel, Ayelet [...]
Suffolk County Legislator Catherine Stark, First Legislative District of New York, has named Rabbi Gadi Capela of our shul the Jewish-American Person of Distinction for 2025. Rabbi Gadi is being cited for his leadership at Congregation Tifereth Israel and in the Greenport community, his tenure as president of the East End Jewish Community Council, and for his interfaith work on Long Island. The event will be held on Wednesday, May 7, at the H. Lee [...]
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