by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 29, 2022 | Repentance
As a child, I was fascinated by science fiction. I remember sitting in front of a black and white television set when I was eight years old as I watched Neil Armstrong take his first “small step” onto the moon. I always knew that this was only the beginning. To me,...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 29, 2022 | Bible Study
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz People familiar with very old television will remember the comedian Jack Benny. In one of his famous sketches, he was confronted by an armed mugger who demanded, “Your money or your life?” Benny hesitated, causing the mugger to repeat his...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 22, 2022 | Bible Study
By Elie Mischel Rabbi Israel Kagan, one of the great Eastern European Jewish leaders of the 20th century, was once cited as a character witness in a court case in Belarus. The defendant’s lawyer said that Rabbi Kagan, though not present in court, was known to think...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 22, 2022 | Fear of God, God, Happiness and Joy, Hebrew Language, Prayer, Psalms, Rosh Hashana
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz When I first started my journey toward “being religious”, I was concerned about the prayers on Rosh Hashana. During the rest of the year, we bow at the waist while reciting the Aleinu prayer. But on Rosh Hashana, we prostrate ourselves fully,...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 22, 2022 | Covenant, Justice, Light Unto the Nations, Responsibility
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz Every year, just before Rosh Hashana (Hebrew New Year), I ask myself why I should work so hard at repenting. How bad were my sins really? I look around and figure that I am no worse than any of my neighbors. And then I read the Torah portion...
