Dear Temple Beth El Community, Over the last few months, Jewish communities across the United States have been targets of vandalism, bomb threats, and hate crimes. Our beloved Charlotte Jewish community has been affected by this wave of terror threats. One of the scariest aspects of the last six months is that these threats have […]
I was recently in Dallas to attend a meeting of the Union for Reform Judaism. The meeting happened to be held at the hotel at the Dallas airport – in the very same terminal where the government was detaining 50 refugees who had received green cards and visas. I met a young man named Mohamed. […]
Exactly a year ago I met Rabbi Dusty Klass for the first time. I traveled to New York having been named Temple Beth El’s Senior Rabbi less than a month earlier. I joined Ginny Rosenberg, Cantor Bernard, and Laura Bernstein to interview soon-to-be ordained rabbis from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Prior to our […]
New rabbis are often given advice. One sage suggestion: steer clear of divisive issues and partisan politics. To be honest, the last six months have not been easy for a new rabbi who is trying to learn the landscape of our congregation and Shalom Park. Between protests over the killing of Keith Lamont Scott, which […]
On Rosh Hashanah, I spoke about a challenge of our modern society: We often fail to relate, face-to-face with family, friends, neighbors, and our fellow Jews in our congregation. Consider the effects of the geographic reality of the greater Charlotte area. Temple Beth El’s 3,300 souls live in over 10 zip-codes, spread-out over large geographic […]
This New Year brings new faces and opportunities to Temple Beth El. Rabbi Klass and I are thrilled to join Temple Beth El’s dynamic team of lay leaders, clergy, and staff. We are excited by the opportunity to serve both our congregation and the broader Jewish community. And we look forward to meeting you and […]
Read this message written by Rabbi Knight and Rabbi Ezring and shared by the Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte. We are deeply saddened by the events in Charlotte over the last twenty-four hours. The death of Keith Lamont Scott ignited protests that have injured and endangered both civilians and law enforcement. For months we have […]
The Mishnah relates a lesson about creation: “Human beings mint many coins from the same mold, and the [coins] are identical. But the Holy One strikes us all from the mold of the first human and each one of us is unique.” (Sanhedrin 4:5) I love this text because it reminds me that each of […]
On the third Shabbat of this month, we will read a verse of Torah that is better known than any other in our scriptures. Recognized as the watchword of our faith, the verse contains six Hebrew words: Sh’ma Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad Listen Israel, Adonai is our God, Adonai is One. Venerated by centuries […]