Our Israel Committee helps nurture our connection to Israel by fostering education and promoting meaningful engagement with the Jewish homeland through programs, activities, and fundraising.
Shabbat Lunch ‘n’ Learn — Making a Difference: My Volunteer Experience in Israel
Saturday, Jan. 25
It was wonderful to be together with so many congregants and friends at our recent Shabbat Kiddush Lunch ‘n’ Learn, sponsored by the Israel Connections Subcommittee!
David Levine moderated an inspiring and moving conversation with panelists Holden and Felise Nagelberg, Val and Mike Yasner, Rob Einhorn, and Rafi Licht (pictured), who shared their experiences volunteering with various organizations in Israel before and since October 7, 2023.
Here are links to some of the organizations and volunteering portals discussed at the Lunch ‘n’ Learn:
Read some of Rabbi Kamesar's Divrei Torah (words of Torah) about Israel:
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A Time for Wailing, A Time for Dancing
These verses from Ecclesiastes come to me in this moment that feels like both “a time for wailing and a time for dancing.”
A time for dancing because, after 15 months of war, hostages will be reunited with their families, rockets — at least between Israel and Hamas — will stop firing, families will return to their hometowns. Peace, albeit limited, tentative, and fragile, will reign.
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Israel and Community, and the California Fires
I’d like to share a reflection flowing out of a monthly course I’m teaching here at Society Hill Synagogue on Zionism: Understanding The Yearnings For A Jewish State. For the moment, I don’t want to get hung up on defining
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The Jewish Story: Resounding Through the Shofar
Rosh Hashanah 5785 This year has changed my relationship to what it means to be Jewish. Every year, during the High Holidays, I give a sermon, in one version or another, making the case for getting more deeply connected to
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Bearing Witness to Heartbreak — Reflections on the War’s Toll
This has been a brutal week for the Jewish people. Six hostages, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Almog Sarusi, and Alexander Lobanov, individuals whom we had gotten to know through accounts by their loved ones, were murdered by
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Chosenness, Conflict, and a Path Forward
This past Shabbat we began the final book of the Torah, Sefer Devarim, the Book of Deuteronomy. The word “Deuteronomy” comes from a Greek translation of the phrase “Repetition of the Torah”, which is in a sense a fitting name for
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Journeys of the Past and Present — Insights from Parashat Masei
This past Shabbat we studied Parashat Masei, which means something like “travels” or “stages”. It is the last portion in the Sefer Bamidbar, the Book of Numbers, the fourth of five books of the Torah. In it, the “travels” being