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.
All is Never Lost: Chanukah Light by Rabbi Dusty Klass
Rabbi Dusty Klass
11/26/2018
December is the darkest month of the year. It’s no coincidence that Chanukah, a holiday in which we are commanded to increase light each night, ...
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Hard Conversations – A Light in the Darkness by Susan Jacobs, Director of Education
Susan Jacobs
11/20/2018
On a typical Sunday morning at Temple Beth El Religious School, you will see students piling into school and hear the din of their giggles ...
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We Listen and Learn from You by Sam Swire, Director of Youth Engagement
Temple Beth El
11/15/2018
This past weekend I had the privilege of helping to staff our 10th graders’ annual Confirmation Trip. While most would shy away from accompanying 26 ...
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Explore Your Love for Israel (Charlotte Jewish News Editorial, December 2018) by Cantor Mary R. Thomas
Cantor Mary Thomas
11/13/2018
Chanukah rolled around about halfway through my year living in Jerusalem while a student at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, the Reform ...
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Reflections Following Pittsburgh by Rabbi Asher Knight
Rabbi Asher Knight
11/07/2018
Reflections following Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue November 2, 2018 Tragedy upon tragedy – ripples upon ripples. A community of worshipers at Tree of Life ...
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Meditation’s Surprising Ties to Our Religious Practice by Adam Bernstein
Temple Beth El
11/01/2018
In an attempt to divine some order from mid-life chaos, I recently turned to meditation. The loss of my parents, a health scare and other ...
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Build Connections with Us by Rabbi Asher Knight
Rabbi Asher Knight
10/24/2018
My grandmother and I had an incredible relationship. We traveled to Ecuador, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Egypt together. She introduced me to new ideas, books, ...
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Find Your TriBE by Andy Harkavy, Director of Congregational Engagement
Madeline White
10/17/2018
TriBEs are small groups of individuals, couples, or families that help make our big community feel small. They help every person be a part of ...
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You Matter and So Does Your Vote by Rabbi Dusty Klass
Rabbi Dusty Klass
10/11/2018
If you have been in the building at temple over the past week or so, you may have noticed a cut out of a person, ...
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Temple Beth El Follows Path of Three Centuries of Southern Jews (Charlotte Jewish News Editorial, October 2018) by Rabbi Judy Schindler
Rabbi Schindler
10/04/2018
August 5th marked twenty years since I arrived in Charlotte. By sheer coincidence, I spent my twentieth anniversary of becoming a Southerner immersed in a ...
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Iyyun for Healing (Yom Kippur 5779) by Cantor Mary Rebecca Thomas
Cantor Mary Thomas
09/27/2018
A few months ago, in the course of conversation with our summer intern, Student Rabbi Hannah Elkin, she mentioned that her Clinical Pastoral Education supervisor ...
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Temple Beth El Religious School Keeps Our Kids Connected By Moira Quinn Klein
Temple Beth El
09/21/2018
September is a great month. Temperatures begin to slide from misery to comfortable. So does the humidity, by the way, which means “good hair days” ...
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And You Shall Teach Them Diligently to Your Children: What I Didn’t Understand…Until Now by Cantor Andrew Bernard
Cantor Bernard
09/21/2018
This summer I spent eight weeks teaching water safety to a bunch of preschoolers at the Downtown Seattle YMCA. This free program offered to the ...
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Choose “We” (Yom Kippur 5779) by Rabbi Dusty Klass
Rabbi Dusty Klass
09/19/2018
With gratitude to Rabbi Leah Citrin for walking through this writing process with me every year, and to Rabbis Miriam Farber Wajnberg, Asher Knight, and ...
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Choosing to Live While Standing in the Shadow of Death (Kol Nidrei 5779) by Rabbi Asher Knight
Rabbi Asher Knight
09/18/2018
Video of this sermon One day a group of American tourists traveling in Eastern Europe, went to visit the Chofetz Chaim. (In the rabbi world, ...
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