Sign In Forgot Password

Becoming Rabbi Emeritus

01/19/2024 11:22:30 AM

Jan19

Rabbi Brent Spodek

For the past 15 years, I’ve been honored to serve as the rabbi of this community, first in an informal gathering in my living room and then for the past 13 years, as the rabbi of Beacon Hebrew Alliance.

I’ve been proud to be the rabbi of this community at big public moments, such as Open to the Sky, visiting the White House and One Beacon; at communal moments in prayer, on Soul Strolls and in classes, and...Read more...

Going to Israel

11/21/2023 03:04:00 PM

Nov21

Rabbi Brent Spodek

At one point when the ancient Israelites were at war, two of the tribes told Moshe that they were going to sit this one out.

“Your brothers are at war, and you are sitting here in comfort?!?” Moshe asks incredulously.

At this moment, thousands of Israelis – many of them the children of my cousins, friends and colleagues – are going to war, and I am looking at the beauty of the Hudson...Read more...

Resources for this moment

10/26/2023 01:38:44 PM

Oct26

Dear Friends:

This is an incomplete and evolving list of resources* I’m drawing on for my own understanding of the current crisis in Israel and Palestine and the long painful history that precedes it. Feel free to share this with others, and if you have resources you think are worthwhile, please let me know at brent@beaconhebrewalliance.org.

To state what should be obvious, I don’t agree with...Read more...

From Rabbi Brent

10/12/2023 04:05:59 PM

Oct12

Rabbi Brent Spodek

It is a painful thing to love my Jews. 

Sometimes, it’s painful to love my people because of our own cruelty and foolishness.

Sometimes, it's painful to love my people because the traumas we’ve endured have shaped our collective psyche in ways that will not easily heal. 

Sometimes, it’s painful to love my people because there are those who wish to kill us all and...Read more...

My Beloved BHA Community

08/01/2023 05:57:32 PM

Aug1

Rabbi Brent Spodek

It was such a blessing to be back in our communal home this past Friday, celebrating Shabbat together again!

My sabbatical in New Zealand for the first few...Read more...

Dancing Through Our Tears

05/01/2023 02:40:16 PM

May1

The following was written by Rabbi Rachel Kobrin, the spiritual leader at Congregation Rodef Shalom of Denver, Colorado.  It is shared with her permission.

-Jesse Lunin-Pack, President of the Board of Trustees

 

Dancing Through Our Tears - Israel at 75

20 years ago, there was a bombing in the cafeteria of the Hebrew University. Two Pardes students, Marla Bennett z”l and Ben Blustein z”l were...Read more...

Remembering Amelak and Paying it Forward

03/08/2023 04:35:59 PM

Mar8

Zachary Bernstein

In every generation, one must see oneself as if they had personally left Egypt.

These words may be familiar to us from the Passover hagaddah. On Passover, through our reenactment of the first Seder, we try to transport ourselves back in time to the Exodus. This is a bold but delightful exercise. Bold, because it’s hard to imagine living through such miracles and redemption, but delightful because at its core, the...Read more...

A Shabbat Message from Rabbi Brent

01/11/2023 01:43:39 PM

Jan11

Rabbi Brent Spodek

A Shabbat message from Rabbi Brent who is currently on sabbatical.

 

Read more...

Masters of the House

11/09/2022 12:23:28 PM

Nov9

Rabbi Brent Spodek

My wife should have been born on a small street in Rexingen, a small town in...Read more...

Days of Awe at Beacon Hebrew Alliance

08/30/2022 05:07:51 PM

Aug30

BHA Board

As we approach Labor Day Weekend, the end of summer, and the return of children to the classroom, our thoughts inevitably also turn to the Days of Awe.  Rosh Hashanah begins this year at sundown on Sunday, September 26.  Kol Nidrei begins at...Read more...

Mon, March 18 2024 8 Adar II 5784