Bashert – Being Right Where You Belong by Cantor Mary Rebecca Thomas
Sometimes one finds themselves in exactly the right place at the right time. Jewish custom might designate circumstances like these as bashert – meant to be. Some of us see such blessings as mere coincidence and others ascribe deeper meaning to moments that simply feel bashert, as an affirmation of the mystery of creation. I […]
Queen for a Day! by Susan Jacobs, Director of Education
When I was a little girl, my parents went to a Purim ball at Temple Israel and came home with the most beautifully decorated crowns I had ever seen. They weren’t the tiara kind. They were the big, royal, shiny gold kind, covered in jewels with a royal blue velvet poof on the inside. A […]
The Power of Our Congregation by Judy Seldin-Cohen
Lessons from TBE’s Action on Affordable Housing That Can Inspire Us Today In April 2010, the Temple Beth El Board passed a resolution on affordable housing and homelessness. So what, you might say – resolutions are just words. Actually, as a direct result of our stance at TBE, more than 100 homeless families are now […]
PERSPECTIVE: reflections on turning 65 by Cantor Andrew Bernard
Many a day as I’m stretching on the pool deck getting ready for my swim, I tell one of my lifeguard friends, “Don’t get old. Just hold where you are. It’s not worth it.” And then I continue trying to work out the soreness in the shoulders before I get into the water. The truth […]
The Fault in our Bubbles by Rabbi Dusty Klass (From Charlotte Jewish News Editorial, February 2018)
For me, Christmas has never been about Chinese and a movie – it has been about family and food, watching It’s a Wonderful Life, and singing along to Counting Crows in the kitchen while doing dishes with my cousins. And yes, we opened presents next to a tree. Now, we have never had a tree […]
Purim – Tradition, Innovation, Experimentation by Andy Harkavy, Director of Congregational Engagement
Judaism is all about tradition. We do what we do because our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and so on and so forth did it at one point in time. Traditions may also become stale or lose meaning. Why do we ALWAYS do what we do? Sometimes we know, but more often than not, we do what […]
Adult Education at Temple Beth El by Rabbi Asher Knight
At Temple Beth El, our Jewish learning helps to create sacred connections inspired by Jewish wisdom. Temple Beth El has been proud of our strong adult Jewish Education offerings. From our “Pathways to Jewish Learning and Living,” to Adult Hebrew, and Anshei Mitzvah, to South Park and Uptown Talmud, to scholar-in-residences, to S.P.I.C.E. and Senior […]
Cultivating A Prayer and Meditation Practice by Rabbi Asher Knight
Prayer means something different to each of us. And in each stage and moment in our lives, we may need prayer differently. Recently, our high school youth group, LIBERTY, welcomed over two-hundred teenagers from around the southeast to Temple Beth El. As we prayed and sang our Shabbat evening service, the voices of the teenagers […]
It’s a Learning Process by Dr. Laura Bernstein, Executive Director
Plagues. Plagues. And more plagues. This week’s Torah portion, Bo (Exodus 10:1 – 13:16) begins with Moses and the eighth plague of locusts. It continues through the plague of darkness and the death of the firstborn, and concludes with Pharaoh allowing the Israelites to leave Egypt. Have you ever thought about how G-d came up […]
