Beth Emeth Bais Yehuda Synagogue

09/04/2026

Tomorrow!

09/03/2026

Nitzavim-Vayelech/ Entering September and Selichot -

Two tragic anniversary dates

This coming Saturday, we celebrate the last Shabbat in the year 5786.

This coming Saturday night, we usher in the Selichot season.

Both the double parsha and the Selichot season demand fundamental values - to be true, honest, and transparent. In the Torah reading, Moses assembles the entire nation to reaffirm their covenant with God. Values of repentance, choosing life, and following an honest pathway are all accentuated.

Selichot, the recitation of penitential prayers, calls upon us to be contrite and sincere in facing our mistakes of the past, so that we may enter the new year on a clean slate.

It is noteworthy that the Shabbat of Nitzavim-Vayelech and the eve of Selichot occur on September 5th in the English calendar. fifty-four years ago on this date, eleven Israeli athletes were brutally murdered at the Munich Olympic games by the Palestinian terrorist organization Black September.

In less than one week, we will usher in Rosh Hashanah on Friday night-Shabbat September 11th. Twenty-five years ago, the Islamic terrorist organization al-Qaeda attacked the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington D.C. and crashed in rural Pennsylvania presumably intending to attack the White House, all resulting in over 3000 deaths.

Now, 54 years later, who talks about Munich? Who sees the connection of the murder of Israeli athletes then and the murder of over 1200 Israelis on October 7th almost three years ago?

Now, 25 years later, Islamic radical forces here in Canada, in the U.S., and elsewhere are refusing to call 9/11 a terrorist attack and are downplaying and even denying the root cause of what happened.

This last Shabbat of 5786, with our Torah readings and the beginning of Selichot, calls upon us to call out the truth surrounding these two tragic anniversary dates.

Rabbi Howard Morrison

09/01/2026

08/25/2026

Parshat Ki Tavo - When you come

This week's Parsha anticipates the Israelites coming into the land of Israel. The first Aliyah contains the Mitzvah of Bikurim, dedicating the first fruits of the harvest upon entering the land of Israel.

Over the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to recharge myself. I spent time with my U.S. siblings and son who live in the New York/New Jersey/Boston area. I also spent time with friends from my past, including classmates from day school, a teacher/friend from rabbinical school, my very first Bat Mitzvah who is now a rabbi, a Priest whom I met in military chaplain school, a rabbi and cantor in the Boston area, as well as a cousin and a childhood friend who is like a sister to me.

This week's Parsha also takes me back to my past. During my senior year in rabbinical school, each student had to deliver a sermon on a pre-assigned Parsha. Mine was Parshat Ki Tavo. On that Shabbat in the Fall of 1986, my parents, siblings, and friends joined me for what I considered an initiation rite on becoming a rabbi.

In addition, I remember my mother being honored by the Mizrachi Zionist organization in the 1980's on the weekend of this same Parsha. She had me assist her in using some of the Torah's lessons in her dvar torah.

Now, Ki Tavo takes on new meaning for me. Literally, "when you come," I am now coming back home to you, my Beth Emeth family. While I have spoken to some over the Summer weeks and have written a few messages, I have missed you all. I come back this Monday with the joy of a Bar Mitzvah celebration and with the anticipation of meeting our new Shinshiniot. Mostly, however, I look forward to seeing all of you in the coming weeks leading up to and including the High Holy Day season.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Howard Morrison