TBE Blog

The TBE Blog is the space where Temple Beth El’s Leadership Team members reflect on relevant topics that are most meaningful to us. Here you will find musings on everything from prayer to politics, music to mysticism and history to current day life. From our iPads, smartphones, and laptops to yours, these are the things that inspire us, keep us up at night, and fuel our own Jewish journeys.

Something for Everyone on Mitzvah Day by Karen Greenblatt

Temple Beth El May 13, 2019

There’s something for everyone on Mitzvah Day. We started in 1998 when our sons were just two years old, coloring paper bags that older kids ...

Why I am Participating in Mitzvah Day by Jennifer Golynsky

Temple Beth El May 8, 2019

I was contacted last year by Charlotte Family Housing and asked to provide some pro bono human resource consulting. After researching the organization, I quickly ...

Mitzvah Day – It’s About the Bagels by Rachel Choffin

Temple Beth El April 22, 2019

I first got involved in Mitzvah Day as a little kid. My first memory of this event was the giant pile of bagels in the ...

Sacred Ground by Susan Jacobs, Director of Education

Susan Jacobs April 16, 2019

On Sunday, April 7th, Temple Beth El Religious School third grade students and their parents took a field trip to The Hebrew Cemetery of Charlotte. ...

Why I Participate in Mitzvah Day by Jennifer Clark

Temple Beth El April 15, 2019

Tikkun olam, the call to repair the world, is not only what drives me to click on the registration link and sign up for Mitzvah ...

Getting Lost in the Logistics of Passover and Finding Our Way Forward by Rabbi Judy Schindler

Rabbi Schindler April 11, 2019

In preparing for Passover it is so easy to get lost in the logistics – the guest list and the table settings, the matzah and ...

Why My Family Helps Levine Children’s Hospital on Mitzvah Day by Michelle Siegel

Temple Beth El April 8, 2019

My niece Catherine was born in November 2012 with a congenital heart defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). We experienced the tremendous strain a ...

Perpetually Seeking Freedom by Rabbi Dusty Klass (Charlotte Jewish News Editorial Apr. 2019)

Rabbi Dusty Klass April 4, 2019

Every year, a little over a month after Purim and its revelry, we gather at tables – round tables, square tables, multiple tables cobbled together ...

Mitzvah Day is Important by Stella Traw

Temple Beth El April 1, 2019

I think that Mitzvah Day is important because it gives people opportunities to help people in need. It also gives people a chance to help ...

Home by Cantor Mary Rebecca Thomas

Cantor Mary Thomas March 28, 2019

Home. Take a moment and imagine home. Not the home you live in right now or even the home you might dream of for the ...

The Power of Volunteering: Our lives changed because of you! by Eileen Schwartz

Temple Beth El March 5, 2019

I reached out to the TBE Caring Committee (now called Hineynu) in December 2015. I was my Mom’s caregiver. I was feeling isolated, exhausted and ...

About Chevrah Kadisha by Courtney Rosenthal

Temple Beth El March 5, 2019

Rabbi Dusty Klass once told me that as Jews, we just “get death right.” As someone who wrestles with considering her own mortality and the mortalities ...