Torah and Tidbits from Rabbi Elie Spitz This week there are some opportunities to learn, memorialize, and create memories: Wednesday: Sweet Sleep: Jewish and Contemporary Views and Aides. For the last six months I have focused my attention on research and writing on sleep, an ongoing fascination of mine. Here are some examples of topics…
Dear Friends, Our Pesech seders are a celebration of our collective identity. The following are some resources to help you prepare and to enrich your gathering of family and friends. 1.The Order of the Haggadah, a Program. When we read through the Haggadah its structure is unclear, which is ironic since the word “seder” means…
Torah: This Shabbat, the last before Pesech, is called “Shabbat HaGadol,” the great Sabbath. The title is taken from the haftorah of the prophet Malachi, who states that the prophet Elijah will herald the final “great day of the Lord,” a day of judgment that will lead to the Messianic Era. We are a Messiah obsessed people. Each time that we pray the amidah prayer,…
Torah: “As for the person with a leprous affection, his clothes shall be rent, his head shall be left bare, and he shall cover over his upper lip; and he shall call out, ‘Impure, Impure’” (Leviticus 13:45). Our Torah reading this week and next, describe a medical malady. The word tzara’at is often translated as leprosy, but is not what medicine today…
A short Torah teaching: This week’s Torah reading is from Tzav, the second parashah of Leviticus. The word Tzav in the Bible means command. It is the root of the word mitzvah. In Yiddish, mitzvah (and I hear myself saying the word with a Yiddish accent) conveys “a good deed.” And yet, when we do an act of goodness as a duty, we are more prone to repeat that act than…
Vayikra. This Shabbat we begin the third book of the Torah. In rabbinic times, the first centuries of the Common Era, children began their Torah study with Leviticus. Rabbi Issi explained: “Sacrifices are pure and children are pure; let the pure come and engage in the pure” (Vayikra Rabbah 7:3). A couple of readings from my classmates…
This coming Shabbat morning we will celebrate our new Shabbat siddur. This prayer book contains hundreds of insightful and uplifting commentaries and transliterations. This siddur is similar in format to our High Holyday prayer book, which has received rave reviews. We are grateful for this most recent gift to our community from Barbara and Joe…
We are down to the final months of our significant transition of passing the torch from our treasured Preschool Director Lisa Heller to our incoming Director Sharon Alkin. Lisa Heller has been the beacon and driving force of the Preschool at Congregation B’nai Israel for twenty years. Lisa, with the help of many of our…
As many of you know, I have been the Child Development Center Preschool Director for 20 years. Those years have been filled with amazing memories and experiences with the children, staff and synagogue. During those years, I have developed lifetime relationships with other Jewish early childhood community leaders and I have applied my skills to…
Linda and I spent twelve days in Israel. We combined participation on a biennial Rabbinic Mission of Israel Bonds and visits with our daughter, Anna, who is spending a semester at Tel Aviv University. The following are some brief observations. Daily life: In the NYTimes this morning, there is only one report on Israel: two…