Bet Torah Blog

“My Jewish Journey” is an ongoing series in which members of the Bet Torah community describe and share their personal connection to Judaism and how that journey may have evolved over time. The Blog invites all Bet Torah members to submit their Jewish Journeys to: abwritebyme@gmail.com.

Immediately after becoming a Bar Mitzvah in 1968 at the Greenburgh Hebrew Center, the Conservative shul in Dobbs Ferry, I informed my parents,...Read more...

“My Jewish Journey” is an ongoing series in which members of the Bet Torah community describe and share their personal connection to Judaism and how that journey may have evolved over time. The Blog invites all Bet Torah members to submit their Jewish Journey to: abwritebyme@gmail.com.

My journey with Judaism went on a slightly different trajectory than many on this blog.   I was raised in a strictly Orthodox home by parents...Read more...

This very cute Rosh Hashanah post has been submitted by Corrie Jacobs. The author is unknown.

✈️ L'Chaim Airlines announces boarding for flight 5784.
Your luggage should contain only the best memories of 5783
The bad or sad moments should be deposited in the nearest dustbin
The duration of this flight will be 12 months. So adjust your seatbelt comfortably and the next refueling will be shortly at the scales...Read more...

Gary Myers recently spent time with The Blog discussing his new book, “Once a Giant: A Story of Victory, Tragedy, and Life After Football” (304 pages), published on September 12th. Gary and his wife, Allison, have been Bet Torah members for nearly 35 years.

Q. What was the origin of “Once a Giant: A Story of Victory, Tragedy, and Life After Football,” and what inspired you to tell this particular story?

A. This is my...Read more...

MAZEL TOV to Kevin Kalikow for being named by Westchester Magazine as one of Westchester County’s top pediatric providers for child and adolescent psychology.

MAZEL TOV to Cindy and Alan Bergman for becoming grandparents for the first time, appropriately, on Labor Day. The proud parents of Ava Shaina are Zachary Bergman and Sarah Kupferman, who were married last year by Rabbi Brusso.

MAZEL TOV to Gary Myers on the September...Read more...

“My Jewish Journey” is an ongoing blog series in which members of the Bet Torah community describe and share their personal connection to Judaism, and how that journey may have evolved over time.

My Jewish Journey is part Alice in Wonderland, part Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, and part Home Alone:  Alice in Wonderland because the rabbit hole I fell down exposed me to not only a world of deep Jewish thought and but also the...Read more...

“My Jewish Journey” is an ongoing blog series in which members of the Bet Torah community describe and share their personal connection to Judaism, and how that journey may have transitioned over time.

If you were to plot my journey with Judaism it would look like a stock market graph; highs and lows but overall, substantial growth.  
 
Growing up in a traditional Conservative family, I checked all the boxes:...Read more...

Cantor Gil Ezring, along with several other local cantors, performed at the 47th Annual Westchester Jewish Music and Arts Festival. The event, held on Sunday, August 20th, at the Kensico Dam Plaza, drew young and old from across Westchester County (and no shortage of their...Read more...

Reposted from The Forward, 8/14/23 

For its latest effort to combat antisemitism on college campuses, the Anti-Defamation League is turning to a particular brand of college student: frat boys.

The Jewish civil rights group is partnering with Alpha Epsilon Pi, the historically Jewish fraternity, on an initiative to engage members of AEPi’s 150 local chapters starting this fall, the two groups announced Monday. They...Read more...

(Reposted and abridged from Heritage Florida Jewish News)

(JNS) - A 2,000-year-old silver half-shekel bearing the Hebrew inscription "Holy Jerusalem" has been discovered in the Judean desert, the Israel Antiquities Authority revealed on Tuesday.
The rare coin, dated to 66/67 C.E., the days of the first Jewish revolt against the Romans, was discovered at the entrance to a cave near Ein Gedi. The find was part of a cave survey...Read more...

This past Saturday, my wife, Cindy, and I attended services at the Jewish Community Center of Long Beach Island, a Conservative shul in Spray Beach, New Jersey. I visit the island several times yearly to reunite with college buddies, and I typically make it a point to attend services at the synagogue.

The rabbi there for the past decade, Michael Jay, has been a family friend of my aunt and late uncle. Arriving at the synagogue early,...Read more...

(Reposted from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 7/21/23)

On New York’s Upper East Side, a crowd of a few dozen holding Israeli flags chanted “de-mo-cra-tia,” the Hebrew word for “democracy.” Some held signs playing on the 1982 song by Ehud Manor “I Have No Other Country” that has become a theme song of their movement. One sign read, “President Herzog, don’t sugarcoat our plight.”

The protesters had gathered...Read more...

(Reposted from the Jewish News Syndicate, 7/11/23,)

If there is a quintessential New York Times reporter, that writer might complain that Orthodox New York Jews have too much influence and are not the “archetypical Jewish New Yorker.”
That’s just what Dana Rubinstein did in a July 6 article about New York City’s first Jewish Advisory Council, which Mayor Eric Adams appointed.

“If there is an archetypical Jewish...Read more...

There’s exciting news for all the pastrami, stuffed cabbage, and knish lovers out there. Iconic Riverdale Kosher deli, Leibman’s, will be expanding into Westchester County. The new location in Ardsley’s Addyman Square, just off Saw Mill River Road (route 9A), is scheduled to open this fall.

Leibman’s has been dubbed the “Katz’s of Riverdale” by New York Magazine. A long-time institution in Riverdale, it has been...Read more...

May G-d bless you and protect you.
May G-d’s face shine upon you and grant you kindness.
May God’s face be lifted toward you and grant you peace.

This was the priestly blessing bestowed by Rabbi Sacks at a Kabbalat Shabbat service upon two Bet Torah members, Jack Metzger, and Gabe Goldman, before leaving for their participation in the 2023 JCC Maccabi Games. 

The games commence on July 5th and will be held in...Read more...