Sign Up Now For Launch Early in 2024 Adding to the education program at our shul, Rabbi Gadi has announced the start of a new class, beginning in January, to teach interested congregants how to read from the Torah. Several members have been studying informally with the rabbi, who will now offer the opportunity to others. As Hebrew readers know, the difficulty in reading from the Torah is that the text contains no vowels and [...]
Set against the backdrop of WWII, bestselling author Mitch Albom offers a powerful novel of hope, forgiveness and love in The Little Liar, a novel that explores the lives of three young people, forever changed by deception and the grace of redemption. Here, Albom confronts the destruction that lying can wreak on the world stage as well as individual lives. The Book Circle meets monthly to address books on Jewish themes by Jewish writers. [...]
Readers of The Shofar, particularly those who pause for a moment to skim the president’s message, may have noticed that this president tends to use personal experience as the catalyst that informs her bully pulpit. This should come as no surprise; remember, it is this president who leads a memoir-writing class as a side hustle. And what is memoir? Past experience. For this month’s Shofar message, I’ve chosen a past experience that occurred only a [...]
While traveling through Israel during the past two weeks, I saw unforgettable sights — pictures of the kidnapped, of course, but also a sign that reads “Beyachad Nenatzeach” (Together we will win). Togetherness may not have been one of the goals of this war, but it is a goal of the Jewish people to cohere. For part of my time in Israel, I traveled with the Rabbinical Assembly Mission, a group of 24 Conservative rabbis from North America with goals [...]
Many people choose to join our shul after the High Holidays. As an incentive to join now, the shul is making the following offer: Any individual or family joining between now and the end of the year will pay the new rate — $1,000 for families; $650 for individuals — for the remainder of this year, and will be paid-up members through 2024. In other words, get an extra 12 months... Interested? Know people interested? [...]
Thank you so much for all the effort involved in administering the Cans For Cast drive. The cans and nonperishables collected will go directly toward feeding the 1,211 families who use our services. The work we do would be impossible without the support and collaboration of community members like you. Warmly, Center for Advocacy, Support and Transformation (CAST) Calendar for giving Tikkun Olam, a shul group that spearheads charitable giving on behalf of the [...]
The dramatic pro-Palestinian demonstration that took place on Nov. 15 gave witness that Columbia University continues to be a battlefield and a tinderbox of Palestinian Protest, colored by a distortion (intentional or not) of the Palestinian cause. Since 2008, I have seen the slow progress of Apartheid Week on the Columbia campus, developing from a small booth to an army. Even after two pro-Palestinian organizations — Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace [...]
Overheard in the checkout line at Costco: Woman #1: Can you believe this crowd? Look, packed with Christmas shoppers. Woman #2: Christmas shopping seems to start earlier and earlier these days. Woman #1: Well, it’s not even Thanksgiving, but let me be the first to wish you a merry Christmas. Woman #2: I don’t celebrate Christmas. I’m Jewish. Woman #1: Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I didn’t mean to offend you. With December [...]
Many people choose to join our shul after the High Holidays. As an incentive to join now, the shul is making the following offer: Any individual or family joining between now and the end of the year will pay the new rate — $1,000 for families; $650 for individuals — for the remainder of this year, and will be paid-up members through 2024. In other words, pay dues for 12 months and get up to [...]
The annual shul Hanukkah party is jam-packed with fun stuff to see, to do and, of course, to eat. Let’s get to the major question right here at the get-go: Will there be latkes? You bet. Chef Deborah Pittorino has promised 300-400 latkes for the party. And that ain’t all. Also on the menu: jelly-filled doughnuts (sufganiot), hot cider, coffee, tea and cold drinks, plus applesauce and sour cream for the latkes. What else? Thanks [...]
Get Social