June 2011
1 post
Sixty-Six →
A movie of one man’s Bar Mitzvah memories! Enjoy!
April 2011
1 post
March 2011
2 posts
Rabbi Julie Schonfeld in the Jewish Week: "Talking...
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, Special To The Jewish Week
Since the beginning of January, I have been on a tour of North America and have seen over 400 Conservative rabbis face-to-face or conducted extensive phone interviews with them.
What am I looking for?
I have been reaching out to my colleagues with the question: “As a rabbi, what are you are trying to accomplish in your...
January 2011
2 posts
A song to sing, a tune silenced
This coming Shabbat is known as Shabbat Shirah. Here at B’nai Israel Gainesville we will celebrate song with guest artist, Rabbi Noam Katz who will bring to our congregation his unique sounds of Jewish worship and teaching. We call our weekends of musical energy, “Deep Soul Shabbat”, following a phrase that appears in the weekday tachanun prayer that implores God to endow us...
Family Torah Education Resources
From www.torahtopicstoday.com
BO
A STUBBORN HEART…. All of us become stubborn at times. We don’t want to listen to what others are telling us about ourselves. It’s hard to change and we resist. None of us want to listen to difficult truths. Likewise with Pharoah, the leader of Egypt, in our Biblical portion. He didn’t want to listen to Moses. He...
November 2010
2 posts
Jacob dreamed a ladder..
And he (Jacob) dreamed: Behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to the heavens, and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood beside him….
And Jacob awoke and said “Surely, God is in this place and I did not know.” [Bereshit 28: 12, 16]
The story of Jacob’s dream is an interesting one. And the rabbis of...
October 2010
3 posts
Watch
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a...”
– Albert Einstein
Growing Passionate Jewish Leaders
Wertheimer/Avi Chai studies the leaders: On Thursday, the Avi Chai Foundation released sociologist Jack Wertheimer’s long-awaited report on Jewish leaders in their 20s and 30s.
Wertheimer first announced some of the preliminary findings of his report, “Generation of Change: How Leaders in Their Twenties and Thirties are Reshaping American Jewish Life,” at this past spring’s Jewish Funders...
September 2010
2 posts
Message for Rosh Hashanah
As we approach Rosh Hashanah I wanted to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you – even our B’nai Israel friends in distant locations – a very happy Shana Tova! A New Year filled with sweetness and goodness!
Many of you have commented to me on the recent news that has propelled Gainesville into a national conversation on religious tolerance. As you may know, I have taken an...
August 2010
4 posts
Press Release on Interfaith Unity
For Release – 8-20-2010
We as people of faith from a great variety of religious congregations in Gainesville stand together in affirmation of one another, especially our Muslim sisters and brothers in this time when threats against their holy scripture and their faith itself are made by The Dove World Outreach Center in this town. The news of their intent to burn the Quran on September...
Lev Shalem - Your Whole Heart
As you may know, this year Conservative/Masorti congregations throughout the United States are celebrating the publishing of our new Machzor so appropriately titled, “Lev Shalem” which translates as “wholehearted” or “complete heart”. What a wonderful title!
We see this Hebrew term in a number of verses from the Tanach. In one example (Isaiah 38:2) we read about King Hezekiah who was known for...
See?
“See, this day I present before you a blessing and a curse. Blessing, that you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin upon you this day and curse if you do not obey the commandments….” (Deut.11:26-28)
These words above are the opening words of the Torah portion that we read yesterday. Taken on their own, these words are a powerful statement that was meant to...
A Mission Impossible?
The scene opens with a discreetly delivered tape recorder and soon we hear the voice from the recording instruct “Your task, if you choose to accept it… “. Of course, most of us will recognize this as the opening scene for numerous “Mission Impossible” episodes. And it seems to me, as we approach these High Holidays, that we are also being given a discreetly delivered package and buried...
July 2010
1 post
Conversion Bill Postponed
We’ve learned today that the conversion bill that was recently proposed in the Israeli Knesset has been postponed. As it was recently noted, “Those of us in the liberal Jewish world have won the battle but probably not the war”. As you may know, this bill was proposed under the guise of “liberalizing” the process of conversion in Israel but in its specific language...
June 2010
2 posts
Korach's Argument
This shabbat we are reading from Numbers 16 in the section we call Parshat Korach (http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0416.htm#1). It is the story of Korach’s rebellion and through its concise language we learn quite a bit about leadership, community organizing and the difficulties of group management. The story is about one man who enlists the help of others to overthrow Moses’...
Tragedy on the Mediterranean
For weeks now we’ve watched as a flow of precious oil has spewed into the Gulf blackening the water and fouling the coast. Today we learned of another spill into the water - the spilling of blood as a flotilla of ships sailed toward Gaza with the purpose of provoking Israeli reaction. The ships set sail under the flag of humanitarian effort but resisted offers to have their cargo searched....
May 2010
5 posts
Memorial Day Prayer
Thanks to Rabbi G. Haber
אבינו שבשמים , Heavenly Father: As we pause to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom on this Memorial Day Weekend, we also salute those who served in the military throughout the history of our country to protect us from danger and harm. We are ever mindful, as well, of all those who sustained injury in mind and/or body in the course of their...
Inspiration!
Taking a few days to travel to the Rabbinical Assembly Convention is not without stress. Of course I worry about making sure that everything is fine here and praying that there are no emergencies during my time away. On the other hand….
We all need time to be able to gain perspective and refocus. And my infrequent visits to these conventions is one way to step back from the daily grind...
Rabbinical Assembly Convention
Tonight I’ll be off to the Rabbinical Assembly Convention in New York City. This year the convention is being held at The Jewish Theological Seminary where, unsurprisingly the focus is on intensive Jewish learning for the participants of the convention. Truth is, this is a big part of the reason that the 1500 members or so of the Rabbinical Assembly became rabbis: we have an intense love of...
In Pursuit of the Ideal: What Could a Jewish...
I just saw the above title for an upcoming evening seminar in New York. How inspiring! But….
Do we really get the opportunity to create the communities that we want? I suppose that there are some who have access to unlimited funds and unlimited resources and for them they ARE able to imagine and work toward the perfect community. But for the vast majority of us we have to approach this...
The Intricacies of Jewish Prayer
“You get what you pay for!”
Who hasn’t said that expression? And yet we live our lives looking for bargains! Deep down, of course, we recognize that quality carries with it a higher cost. And it is human nature that things that cost dearly are more precious and valued. Unfortunately we live in a world where we have expectations that some things should be free. For example – patriotism should...
April 2010
2 posts
Emor and Omer
This week’s torah portion is Emor. A central point of the text is the emphasis on the holidays that we observe throughout the year (Leviticus/Vayikra Chapter 23). The times and seasons of the festivals are clearly enunciated and we are given specific instructions on the observance of Pesach, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot. These days are to be ‘set aside’ or...
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