Cantor's Blog

Thank  you to all of you who helped make my installation service so special. For those of you who missed it, these are the words I offered in honor of the occasion:

It seems Beshert – meant to be – that I have landed here at Temple Israel. As many of you know, my first Jewish home was a different Temple Israel – Temple Israel of Great Neck, to be exact. It was there that I developed the foundation...Read more...

When I was a teenager, I visited Europe with my family. Among the sites we toured were several synagogues, including the Neve Shalom Synagogue in Istanbul. At the time, the congregation had experienced both a mass shooting and a bombing. In 1986, gunmen opened fire during a Shabbat service, resulting in the death of 22 individuals. In 1992, a bomb exploded at the synagogue. Fortunately, that there were no casualties...Read more...

The gates are closed, the month of Tishrei is over, and we have officially made it through another High Holy Day season. This week we celebrated Rosh Chodesh Heshvan, the beginning of the Hebrew month of Heshvan. Heshvan is affectionately nicknamed “Mar Heshvan,” which means “Sad Heshvan” in Hebrew. Heshvan is considered to be a sad month because it is the only month on the Hebrew calendar without a single Jewish holiday. Our next...Read more...

The Chasidic master Rabbi Yisrael ben Eliezer, known as the Baal Shem Tov, recounts a story of a boy who brought his flute to synagogue on Yom Kippur. The boy didn’t know the prayers, but was moved by the music and the spirituality of the service. At first, he sat in quiet frustration, unsure of how to express his connection with the liturgy. Towards the end of Neilah, the final...Read more...