Congregation K.K. Beneh Abraham

04/16/2025

From Rabbi Stone:

Friends,

I write this as I am still enjoying a beautiful Pesach that began with our wonderful Seder in Portsmouth. Again, I was inspired by the way our people understands itself. As we read through the Haggadah, we relive our history that always to be remembered and also dream a future that is ours to shape. We are meant to live rooted in the past and reaching for the hopeful of what is yet to come.

Part of our past is great sadness. We mark those times as well. With Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), we pause to raise up the horrors of attempted genocide and honor those who died. Observed on April 23 - 24th this year, the practice of burn a yellow yahrzeit (memorial) candle from sundown to sundown has taken root. In this way, we take what was supposed to be our badge of shame (the Yellow Star) and let it illuminate the world long after our tormentors are gone.

As this day arrives, I offer this prayer

Beloved Creator and Sustainer: On this solemn occasion, we light this candle to remember the six million, the eleven million, the indifference, and the evil. As we honor the heroes, the martyrs, the survivors, and the victims, we ask you to soothe our souls, amplify our memories, and strengthen our resolve to never forget, to always remember.

May all who mourn be comforted.

Amen

03/13/2025

Dear Friends,

As we approach the celebration of Purim this year (March 13-14), I find myself imagining what it was like being a run-of-the-mill Jew in Shushan during the reign of King Ahasuerus.

I wonder if I would have followed the drama of his deposing one queen and choosing another or had an opinion on the court intrigue instigated by his Prime Minister, Haman. (Boo!) Would I have kept up on the rounds of palace dinners and royal audiences, or of the machinations of the eunuchs or the royal favors extended and withdrawn?

I really don't know. Surely, the fact that Mordechai (and Esther!) were Jewish would have gotten me a little engaged. But I might have just passed it all by in the daily rush of life. I'm pretty sure that I would have told myself not to lose sleep over it all.

Actually, I've never thought about this angle of the story before. Funny how current events change one's perspectives...

And inspiring as to how our stories stay relevant generation after generation - and century after century - and after millennia as well.

So, this year, I am concentrating on Mordechai's clarity of priorities (the Jewish people, his family) and Esther's bravery. I am comforted by the truth that while external circumstances change constantly and are often difficult and unsettling, there are larger verities in our lives.

The continued existence of our people and the joy of celebration are going to be my touchstones this year.

I pray you find yours as well!

Happy Purim!
Rabbi Susan Stone

08/12/2024

From Rabbi Susan Stone:

This year, Tisha B’Av is an especially fraught day. Beginning at sundown on Monday, this solemn day memorializes many of the horrific catastrophes Jews have endured. From the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE and the Second (67 CE) to those tragedies that seemed never to end, this day contains well upon well of sadness.
We cannot help but add October 7th to the litany of dates and events that take center stage on this one day. Indeed, we have felt the Psalmist’s words, “Tears are my food day and night.” (Ps. 42:4)
But here is another side, the beauty of the day: it is one day. It is not day after day or season after season.
We must take time to mourn. As Jeremiah (9:16-17) exhorts us:
Thus says the God of heaven’s hosts: Pay heed, and call to the wailing women to come! Send for the skilled ones and have them come! Let them quickly raise a dirge for us. That our eyelids may run with tears, Our eyes flow with water!
In these verses, we are taught two of the elements of mourning: grieving needs both community (the wailing women) and ritual (singing dirges).
As we make space to mourn this year, may we sense the company of our community and make the words of generations our own. And may we know that it is only for now, not forever. The traditional reading for Tisha B’Av is the Book of Lamentations. The reading on this coming Shabbat is Nachamu: Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people. (Isaiah 40). “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5)
We can mourn together and we can comfort together. Neither need be a solitary experience. As we mourn on Tisha B’Av and then rise to comfort and console one another, may we find renewed strength to move through this day to the many more, please God, to come. Amen.

12/07/2023

From Rabbi Stone: May this Festival of Light brings light to your hearts, your homes, and our world.

03/03/2023

A message from the rabbi:

Dear Friends,
As Purim begins on Monday night, I wanted to take this occasion to wish you a joyous holiday. Actually, it is my favorite holiday because it is so much more than a children's costume parade. Yes, I enjoy the frivolity. But it is so much more.

Rabbinic tradition holds that, at the time of the Messiah, the only holiday we will celebrate then as we do now is Purim.

Purim is about living in the real world as a minority people who feel both safe and unsure. It is about living with the sometime absurdities of a changeable government. It is about waring masks and taking them off. Purim is about improbable turns of events and hopes for an ideal future.

In other words, it is about our lives today and our people's wondrous past.

Wayne joins me in wishing you a Purim of absurdity, fun and deep meaning.

L'shalom,
Rabbi Susan Stone

04/15/2022

Ready for our Seder!

03/29/2022

This is "Founders' Day 3.24.2022 Dr. Mark Washofsky speech" by HUC-JIR on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

03/29/2022

We welcome your engagement in our strategic decision-making process. Please share your feedback or suggestions using the form below. The recommendations that are currently being considered by our Board of Governors can be found here.

01/27/2022

Our next Shabbat services will be on Friday, February 11, 2022, and will be followed by Torah Study on Saturday, February 12. We would like to hold this in person (and also livestream). Towards this end, please let me know if you are comfortable and likely will to attend. We need to make sure there will be enough people to have Rabbi Stone come down from Cleveland. So I would greatly appreciate it if you could like me know in advance if you think you will attend to help with the decision as to whether to hold in-person services. Email Phil Blau directly with your answer.

01/10/2022

From Phil Blau: With the continued high number of Covid cases in Scioto County and in the Cleveland area ,Shabbat Services and Torah Study this coming Friday and Saturday will be virtual only. I am disappointed that we will not hold these in person, especially since I was pleased with the number of people who initially said they would come in response to my initial email below. However, after discussing the current levels of new cases with the Rabbi, we feel it is best to proceed with a virtual meeting in light of the high number of cases.
We hope to return to having an in-person option for service in February.

Phil

Here is the information for the Sabbath services
Philip Blau is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: KKBA Shabbat Services
Time: Jan 14, 2022 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

For the Zoom link, please email Phil directly. See you all on the internet!

05/09/2021

Dear Friends,
The Festival of Shavuot begins, this year, on Sunday might, May 16th. Perhaps you remember your – or your child’s – Confirmation on Shavuot. It is a natural fit for the holiday as the date itself celebrates the Jewish people receiving Torah at Sinai.
As the people stood all day on the mountain, listening to Divine words, the contemporary custom is to stay up all night and study,
Thanks to the wonder of the internet, we can participate in this practice with other Jews from around town and across the globe.
Below are two links to what promise to be wonderful learning and prayer opportunities. The first comes from United Synagogue of America and the second from B’nai Jeshurun Congregation in the Cleveland suburbs. (They also have a FaceBook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/523462395328206)
https://tinyurl.com/CMTikkun
https://www.bnaijeshurun.org/tikkun2021
We will mark Shavuot at our service on Shabbat, May 14th and we will study together for an hour the next morning. If you would like more, please do avail yourself of one of these wonderful activities.
And please accept my best wishes for a joyous Yom Tov – Zman Matan Torateuinu – the time of the giving of Torah.

Hag Sameach!
Rabbi Susan Stone

Support for the community-wide Tikkun Leil Shavuot Program is greatly appreciated. Donations should be designated for the Tikkun Leil Shavuot Study Session Fund and made c/o B'nai Jeshurun Congregation, 27501 Fairmount Blvd., Pepper Pike, OH 44124 or go to bnaijeshurun.org/donate.