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.
Upcoming Event:
Shabbat Lunch ‘n’ Learn — Making a Difference: My Volunteer Experience in Israel
Saturday, Jan. 25 following Shabbat Morning Services
Volunteering in Israel can be a deeply rewarding experience for many reasons — cultural exchange, adventure and exploration, personal growth, contribution to peace and understanding. Above all, it’s about making a difference.
Hear a panel discussion featuring Society Hill Synagogue members Val and Michael Yasner, Felise and Holden Nagelberg, Rob Einhorn, and Rafi Licht as they speak about their recent volunteering experiences at this Lunch ‘n’ Learn following Shabbat morning services.
This program is generously sponsored by the Israel Connections Subcommittee.
Read some of Rabbi Kamesar's Divrei Torah (words of Torah) about Israel:
The Power of Hope: A Cornerstone of the Jewish Experience
There’s one part of my previously emailed d’var torah that I kind of want to take back. In it, I shared the truism that “hope is not a strategy” (juxtaposing it to the notion that “neither is despair”). It is
Balancing Compassion and Critique: A Yom Kippur Perspective on Israel
Dear Friends, I’m sometimes reminded of the adage about Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, that it has the capacity to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. That is, some of us go through life and are so hard
The Jewish Story
Dear Friends, I wanted to share just briefly a bit about the mentality I’m holding each week when I write about Israel, Gaza, and the Middle East. I’m Jewish. I’m not breaking any news here when I say that, but
Identity, Israel, and Shared Humanity
Dear Friends, Each week I reflect, professionally, on a couple of fronts: for Friday nights, I try to write in a spirit that reflects the spirit of Shabbat—a poetic sensibility angled towards Shabbat as a palace in time, a foretaste
Pesah, Protest, and Poetry
We just got finished celebrating beautiful, if painful, Passover Seders in our homes and in community.
I wanted to begin by sharing the words with which I opened our Seder here at Society Hill Synagogue, with over 150 people across the generations crammed warmly in our social hall:
Finding God in Alienation
Dear Friends, About a month after October 7, my wife Caroline, stretching to find something with which to introduce the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — and, more precisely, a pathway through it to a better future — to our daughters Lila, 4