Thank you to everyone who has donated school supplies for the children of CAST clients. Thanks to your generosity, one big red barrel has already been filled! Our collection continues, and we hope you will keep donating. The barrel is located at the top of the ramp outside the synagogue’s kitchen door. Together, we can help even more local children begin the school year prepared and ready to succeed!
The book circle will meet on Thursday, August 27, at 3:30 p.m., in Andrew Levin Park to discuss The Thread Collectors by Shauna J. Edwards and Alyson Richman, a novel about female strength, hope and friendship. This book was reviewed by The New York Times as a story “that will stay with you long after the last page is turned.” One woman embroiders in New Orleans. A Jewish woman quilts in New York City. These [...]
Save the Date: A Special Oneg Shabbat Performance Friday, August 21 2026 Following Friday evening services, the Not the Shema Players will be joined by Debra Riva and Joel Erhlich for a reading of Scene One from the full-length play: "I’m in Need of Weed" Please join us for this special theatrical presentation as part of our Oneg Shabbat. We look forward to sharing an entertaining evening of community and theater together. [...]
What happens when months, even years of working and waiting for change happens all at once? From where I sit as the newly elected president of this shul, that is exactly the situation in which we find ourselves. Most of us resist change, but when it is necessary and we face it head on, it can be challenging, exciting, and a little scary — but exhilarating at the same time. As of July 1 [...]
As we bask in the warm beauty of summer on the North Fork, we find ourselves in the middle of one of Judaism’s great annual events — an unfolding drama of alienation and reconciliation. It begins with the disastrous “Three Weeks,” culminating in Tisha B’Av — the anniversary of the destruction of the Temples and the horrifying alienation of exile. This is followed by the “Seven Weeks” of consolation, culminating in Rosh Hashanah, the Ten [...]
The beautiful 2026 Journal honoring Ann Hurwitz and Linda Kessler is here! Please take a look and join us in celebrating our wonderful honorees and Congregation Tifereth Israel’s 125th anniversary! We hope you enjoy it!
The morning service is not one long extended event, but rather a series of events, like scenes and acts in a play, or movements in a symphony. For those who understand it, it is filled with sweeping crescendos and moments of high drama. The basic structure is this: We begin with a short series of prayers, focusing on our personal identity, place, and time. This is called Birkot Hashachar, morning blessings. This is followed by Pesukei D’zimra, [...]
Prayer is the pathway to G-d, the experience of a dimension of our lives which transcends the day-to-day, and reminds us that we have a place in eternity. Sounds great, but we live at a time when talent for praying is not our strongest suit. To pray well, we must get in touch with our deepest selves. That is no easy task. To pray well, we must “know before Whom we stand.” No easy task, [...]
The first of the ten commandments begins with the word “Anochi,” meaning “I,” as in “I am the Lord your G-d…” The mystics point out that the first letter in “Anochi” is an aleph—which paradoxically enough is a silent letter. The idea being that before G-d even speaks a word, the world stands in silent anticipation for whatever concrete statement is about to be released from the infinite. The “silent letter’ before a parent speaks is [...]
The Book Circle will meet on Thursday, July 23, at 3:30 p.m. in the Andrew Levin Park garden at the synagogue, weather permitting. The July selection is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. In this story, it is 1939, Nazi Germany. People disappear. Death is everywhere. Enter Liesel Meminger, a foster child living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence by stealing something she can’t resist — books. With the help of her [...]
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