Yom Kippur Morning 2018/5779 – Tearing out a Page from the Book of Life Rabbi Cy Stanway Temple Beth Miriam When I was a young rabbinic student and had just come back from my first year in Israel, I arrived in Cincinnati for a crash course in leading High Holiday services. I wasn’t worried about [...]
By Robbie Greenberg I returned from Israel eight days ago and upon landing, despite having just completed a 15 hour airport marathon, immediately attended a “welcome back” pizza dinner with the families of all my friends who went on Birthright with me. . ”How was it!” “Did you see the Dead Sea?!” “How incredible was [...]
Beginning in 2017, Beth Miriam will be using a new and exciting High Holiday machzor. Watch this space in the coming months as we roll it out.
There is a silly word game that kids sometimes play. One child creates a sentence and then, going down in a line, the next child adds their own sentence. In short order a story is created and there was no way to tell if it would be funny, dramatic, or even meaningful. As we move [...]
Every novel has a climax. In what can only be called the first Jewish novel, the story of Jacob and Joseph comes to its climax in this week’s portion. Joseph, sold into slavery by his brothers, freed by Pharoah, elevated to a position of power because of his ability to interpret dreams and now a [...]
Hanukkah at the Atria For over 25 years Temple Beth Miriam has been bringing Hanukkah to a senior residential facility in the area, primarily the Atria in Tinton Falls. This year was no different. On Sunday, December 6th Milt Ziment together with the 3rd and 4th grade students from the religious school, their teachers, [...]
When the Greek Seleucids prohibited the practice of Judaism in the Land of Israel it was one of the many turning points for the Jewish people. It was also the first time that such a proclamation gave rise to a rebellion, what we call the Maccabean Revolt led by Judah Maccabee, his brothers and the [...]
The Torah portion this week is called ‘Vayishlach’ and contains within it the well-known story of Jacob wrestling with the ‘ish’ – the ‘man’ – which the Torah does not identify. Was it Esau, his brother from whom Jacob had been estranged for some 20 years? Was it Jacob’s conscience which bothered him since taking [...]
The Torah portion this week is filled with all sorts of stories. In fact, here are all the stories in this parasha: Jacob dreams of angels going up and down a ladder. God blesses him. Jacob names the place Bethel. (28:10-22) Jacob works seven years in order to marry Rachel, but Laban tricks Jacob into [...]