by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 30, 2022 | Community, Education, Happiness and Joy, Kindness and Compassion, Leadership, Responsibility, Vayeitzei
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz Israel just held its fifth election in three years. For a while now, Israel has been struggling to find a leader who can form and maintain a coalition made up of different parties, each with their own interests and priorities. These parties...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 28, 2022 | Community, Israel, Kindness and Compassion, Psalms, Temple
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz King David begins Psalm 15 with a question: A psalm of David. Hashem, who may sojourn in Your tent, who may dwell on Your holy mountain? Psalm 15:1 And in a few short verses, King David simplified matters, condensing the entire Bible into a...
by Rabbi Tuly Weisz | f 24, 2022 | Antisemitism, Chosen Nation, Community, Covenant, God, Gratitude, Israel, Psalms, Tests and Trials
The recent surge in antisemitism from the Black Hebrew community regurgitates age-old tropes, namely that another group has replaced the Jews as God’s Chosen People. When Christianity first broke off from Judaism 2,000 years ago, the younger religion claimed that...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 23, 2022 | Community, Education, God, Good and Evil, Happiness and Joy, Hebrew Language, Psalms
By Rabbi Avi Baumol Much has been written about the first Psalm. Rav Yudan, a fourth century Palestinian scholar, considered it “the choicest of all Psalms.” That being said, it is incumbent upon us to understand the uniqueness of this poem, and why King David began...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 11, 2022 | Community, Psalms, Sukkot, Temple
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz I grew up reading the Tolkein series, so when I first set foot in a Yeshiva (school for Torah study) and saw a room full of bearded men learning in a strange language from huge tomes, I was thrilled. I was in Gandalf’s academy. Though I never...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 20, 2022 | Community, Ki Tavo
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz I had a friend named Elyon Shemesh who was a gifted drummer and follower of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach (a rabbi and composer). Though born in Israel, he spoke fluent and unaccented English. One time, he was visiting New York City and he went to...
