Members with Roots - the Dixie Connection Feb. 16
This year we will be hearing from members with roots in the southern states. So far, speakers include Renana Kadden (Georgia), Leslie Adler (Louisiana), Rabbi Adler (Tennessee & Georgia) and Gary and Melissa Zachariah (Kentucky).
Please be in touch with Karen Benjamin if you would like to be included as speaker (does 'red clay' run in your veins?). Snacks will include Sippin' Bourbon and Kentucky Derby Pie. You are invited and encouraged to bring friends to the ROOTS program on Saturday night. All Beth David programs are open to the community.
Our hosts will be Ben and Marcia Adler, 259 King Philip Drive; and we will begin at 7:00pm.
Meet the Candidates - Feb. 17
MEGA Vender Fair March 10
Security Measures 2018-2019
Members and Friends of Beth David
Following the tragic events in Pittsburgh of 2018, the topic of security at the synagogue is high on the list of priorities for us all. This note to the community is to provide members and visitors with a behind-the-scenes look at the activities of our Security Committee. I will provide a brief update on additional security measures being implemented in the short term, as well as a glimpse of more longer-term planning.
However, before going into too many details, I would like to lay out the objective of this notice. The attack on the community at Tree of Life can have two possible effects. The first is that people stay away due to fears for their security. The alternative is that we heed the AJC's call to #ShowupforShabbat and show up in greater strength with a heightened resolve that we will not be cowed by the actions of a coward. The objective of this notice is to provide the community with the confidence to choose the communal path.
Our Security Committee is headed by Dr. Peter Lang, who provides expertise and leadership gained through security training and performance of security roles in synagogues in Mexico City. The committee met last year and is in the process of evaluating enhanced protocols and performing short, medium and long-term planning for additional protocol and infrastructure improvements to our building.
Over the past year, we have already installed and rolled out multiple security tools, the details of which I will not lay out here for hopefully obvious reasons. We have also secured further funding from a Homeland Security grant which will enable us to strengthen those areas that the committee, in cooperation with local police and national security organizations, find to be deficient.
As the enhanced protocols evolve over the coming weeks, the community will be kept informed and education will be provided as necessary to ensure that everyone knows what to do in case of a security event.
As you come to shul this Shabbat, as I hope you all will, please follow their instructions and be reassured that significant changes are coming that will benefit us all.
Daniel Schneider
President - Beth David Synagogue
What's New: Free Hebrew Classes
Beginning Nov. 7, Wednesdays, 7-8:30 pm
Leading the Way:
Beth David Synagogue becomes CT’s first synagogue to welcome Orthodox scholar from controversial women’s yeshiva
By Stacey Dresner
WEST HARTFORD – Jenna Englender is a Jewish scholar.
Currently enrolled in an in-depth course of study that includes Jewish law, Talmud, Torah, Jewish thought, leadership training, and pastoral counseling, Englender will use all that she is learning as the new director of outreach at Beth David Synagogue, a Modern Orthodox congregation in West Hartford. Englender took up her new post on August 1.
Next year, when she graduates, she has a choice of using the title of either “Maharat” or “Rabba.” Maharat is an acronym for “Torah, spiritual and halachic leader;” Rabba is the feminine for “Rabbi.”
Beth David’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Yitzchock Adler, says the title is really up to Englender, who this fall will begin her fourth and last year of study at Yeshivat Maharat, the Orthodox women’s yeshiva founded in 2009 by Rabbi Avi Weiss and Rabba Sara Hurwitz.
“For me it hasn’t really been about the title. It is more about the skills,” she explains. “I think it is important to have had someone say, ‘You have been taught, you have knowledge, you are capable of teaching the community in a serious way.’ But I think the conferral of a degree is very important in that way. It gives a sense of authority to what you are doing that I think is very important.”
Read the full Article here.
Interfaith Alliance
Rabbi Yitzchok Adler of the Beth David Synagogue in West Hartford is working with Father Edward Moran of St. Thomas the Apostle Church to foster an interfaith alliance. (Stephen Singer / Hartford Courant)
By Stephen Singer
The Hartford Courant
On the first Sabbath after the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh that left 11 congregants dead, Jewish community leaders nationwide have invited friends and neighbors of all faiths to join their services as a rebuke to fear.
For two congregations on either side of a residential street in West Hartford, coming together for the national #ShowUpForShabbat initiative this weekend is only natural.
Rabbi Yitzchok Adler of Beth David Synagogue and the Rev. Edward Moran of St. Thomas the Apostle Church have worked together for four years, meeting for discussions, lectures, Bible studies — using both the Old and New Testaments — and just for visits.
Members of the two congregations also maintain a community garden on the synagogue campus, with vegetables donated each summer and fall to soup kitchens and shelters.
Read the full Hartford Courant article here. |
Jewish Engagement Group
Chai Mitzvah come join us!
Chai Mitzvah is an adult Jewish engagement group that takes place over the course of 12 months. We meet once per month for conversation and learning. We welcome you to come and join a current group or if you have a group of friends you can start a new group. This is a great way to reconnect, recharge, and re-examine your jewish life.
Please contact Susan Fried at 203-606-4522 or Susan@chaimitzvah.org
Our Community:
A Guide to Jewish Resources and events in the Greater Hartford Area
Our Day Schools:
Bess & Paul Sigel Hebrew Academy
Hebrew High School of New England
Brit Milah
Purim Party Pictures:
Pictures from Beth David's community Purim party. Click here
Prior Events:Team MoJo Winners at Chopped!
Congratulations to Team MoJo as winners of the Chopped! event with Scot Haney of Channel 3, Robyn Weller, and Leah Berson.
Check out our Facebook page for more images.
Super Bowl Fundraiser Party 2018
This year's Super Bowl Fundraiser Party 2018! Congratulations to all our winners. See you all
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Grow West Hartford!
Rabbi Adler and Karen Benjamin represented Beth David at the Biennial OU Small Communities Fair. They were assisted by Alyssa Schwager.
We Love West Hartford
Across Time and Many Lands...
Tue, February 19 2019
14 Adar I 5779
Today's Calendar
Purim Katan |
Shacharit : 6:30a |
Mincha/Maariv : 5:10p |
: 7:00p |
Upcoming Programs & Events
Feb 22 Scholar in Residence Shabbat with Dr. Richard Freund Friday, Feb 22 6:30p |
Parshat Ki Tisa
Shabbat, Feb 23 |
Candle Lighting
Friday, Feb 22, 5:15p |
Havdalah
Motzei Shabbat, Feb 23, 6:16p |
Purim Katan
Tuesday, Feb 19 |
Office Hours:
Our office hours are:
10a.m. - 2p.m. M-Th.
Friday - Closed
Contact Us or Volunteer
This Week's Shabbat Sheet:
Coming Up...
Mark Your Calendars
Feb. 22 & 23: Scholar in Residence with Dr. R. Freund. Click here for more information and to register.
Mar. 3: Breakfast with CT Secretary of State, Denise Merrill