Passover is my favorite Jewish holiday of the year. Why, you may ask? It certainly isn’t because of the delicious matzah, that’s for sure! (I confess, though. I do like to make matzah brie…) No. I love Passover because of the message of the holiday. “Remember, you were strangers.” I remember when my family first Continue Reading »
I don’t know what it means. It’s boring. It just drags on and on. There’s so much to read. I’m hungry. Being allowed to have only a small bite of food each time we say a blessing is torture. Horseradish doesn’t taste good. My extended family speaks different languages. I’m not allowed to text at Continue Reading »
Our teens have had several terrific travel experiences over the past two months. In January, we launched a new overnight trip to New York City for our eighth and ninth graders. It was a tremendous success. We had fun and still learned so much. The itinerary included visits to the historic Central Synagogue for Shabbat, Continue Reading »
Temple Beth-El is privileged to have four newly elected officials in its congregation, serving in positions from local school boards to the New Jersey Assembly. Our fellow congregants and public servants are interested in pursuing a broad range of goals while in office, with an eye toward improving the lives of people in their communities. Continue Reading »
As many of you know, a large delegation from Temple Beth-El attended the Union for Reform Judaism’s Biennial Convention, held in Boston on December 6-10. Our heads are still spinning and our hearts still dancing from the learning opportunities, significant speeches, musical presentations, and — the highlight of every Biennial — the very special opportunity Continue Reading »
So I’d like to start off by saying that I’ve never actually written a blog post before. Like, ever. So I hope I’m doing it right. But I guess I’ll find out. For those of you who don’t know, I spent these past four weeks at URJ Kutz camp in Warwick, NY. Here I’ve spent Continue Reading »
During the first week of December I had the pleasure of attending the Union for Reform Judaism Biennial in Boston. You’re going to read quite a bit about the Biennial elsewhere in this edition of the Shofar, so rather than “pile on” to that subject, I’d like to talk about how warm it is. That Continue Reading »
A new secular year has dawned, and, as with all things new, it brings the opportunity to greet it with optimism and thoughtfulness for its possibilities. For some of us, the possibility exists of choosing to do something truly different with our lives in this new year. Most of us, however, will find ourselves carrying Continue Reading »
Childhood examples of tikkun olam helped inform Jamie Pear’s life’s work. Jamie, a TBE member and resident of Bridgewater, has spent much of her career helping children, and training others to serve the most vulnerable among them. Jamie says she has “always been passionate about working with children,” following in her mother’s footsteps to devote Continue Reading »
Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt of remarks made by Shelley Drozd during Yom Kippur’s Reflection Service. We enjoyed it so much we wanted to share her words with you. I feel my Judaism in my DNA. I come from a long line of Glasers who arrived in this country from Latvia in the Continue Reading »
