Virtual Shabbat Box
This Virtual Shabbat Box from the Reconstructionist Movement holds wonderful resources to help you celebrate.
Adult Education
We believe that Jewish learning is a lifelong journey. Join us for classes on Torah, Hebrew, finding your way in our ever-changing world, and much more!
Join Us In Prayer
We offer a participatory, inclusive, and vibrant community exploring Jewish life with dedication, warmth and enthusiasm.
Social Action
We believe in living our values. Join us in Social Action activities to Heal the World (Tikkun Olam). Scroll down or click here for Social Action news and events.
A Strong Jewish Education
We encourage each student to deepen and expand their Jewish knowledge in ways that are meaningful to them.
Rent Space at Beth Israel
Beth Israel now offers space for rent. We have spaces to accommodate groups large and small. Call us at 610-566-4645 or click on the button below.
Thank you for sharing our Passover seder
Beth Israel's annual 2nd night Passover seder was popular again this year, with members and guests sharing great food, singing, and learning. If you weren't able to make it this year, please join us next year!
Tot Shabbat is Going Strong
Since last fall we’ve met on the 2nd Friday of every month, coming together to sing, color, play, eat, tell stories and celebrate Shabbat together as a community.
Over the past 6 months we’ve had 30 families participate, with about 5‐7 families per month.
Many thanks to our adult and teen volunteers, who make it all possible: Gabrielle Rosenthal, Randi Raskin‐Nash, Lynn Cashell, Elaine Feldman, Dina Jacobs and Emma Wilson, Alisa Herman‐Liu, Kathy Trow, Alan Ross. And of course Rabbi Nathan and Rabbi Linda. Special thanks to Aya Baron who led blessings and a story at our March Tot Shabbat.
If you’d like to attend or help out at a future Tot Shabbat please reach out to Jackie Gelman.
Upcoming dates: 4/14, 5/12 and 6/9.
Counting the Omer
Counting the omer begins on the second night of Passover. Here is a link to our weekly Omer kavannot brought by our rabbis and members in 2021
Rabbi Linda's Blog: Adding to Your Seder Plate
April 2023
All year long we are invited to reflect upon the Jewish redemption narrative through the daily liturgy, but for the week of Pesach it is front and center. The simplest of seders can be created by exhibiting the traditional seder plate items along with matzoh and then exploring their significance. Some years people add one or more additional items to signify a contemporary struggle against oppression.
This year, I am going to add a whole second seder plate to the table, with items representing the many ways we are still working to uplift our world from apathy, exploitation and inequity. Like the traditional seder plate that has items representing both pain and liberation and some exemplifying both, this plate will not only illustrate the pain and perils of this moment in time, but will contain items that signify hope. Join me in creating this second seder plate. What might you place on it this year?
Rabbi Nathan's Blog: Retelling our Liberation Story
April 2023
In the midst of the narrative of the ten plagues the Torah takes an interesting pause to describe in detail the preparations and celebration of the Passover holiday. The Torah even imagines at the moment a time when the need to re-tell the story will be inevitable, “And when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this rite?’ you shall say, ‘It is the passover sacrifice to YHVH who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when smiting the Egyptians, but saved our houses.’ (Ex. 12:26-27).
I love that the essence of Passover, from its origins, is not only the food and the cleaning (which it is) but also the understanding that the only way to truly keep a historical event meaningful is to continue to creatively retell it generation after generation. Some commentators, such as Noam Zion from the Shalom Hartman Institute, posit that the Haggadah itself is simply a teacher’s outline for how to structure an interesting story telling about the Exodus. And when it came to key verses from the narrative, the traditional Haggadah suggests that we do what Jews do best, engage in close reading and exegesis of the text — playing with the words of Torah...
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