Our Blog

September 20, 2018

Yom Kippur 5779, September 19, 2019 – 10 Tishri 5779 Rabbi Jared H. Saks, Congregation Bet Ha’am When I was assigned a research paper in my 9th grade history class, I decided that for the first time in quite a few years I wasn’t going to choose a Jewish topic for my paper, which had […]

Kol Nidre 5779, September 18, 2018 – 10 Tishri 5779 Rabbi Jared H. Saks, Congregation Bet Ha’am Whenever I had a teacher growing up who rubbed me the wrong way and I wished they weren’t part of my life, I’d offer a very particular prayer to God. I never wanted any harm to come to […]

September 13, 2018

Rosh Hashanah 5779, September 10, 2018 – 1 Tishrei 5779 Rabbi Jared H. Saks, Congregation Bet Ha’am   “People called her stupid. Her brothers, the women in the market who tried to confuse her into buying more flour than her mother asked for, even her mother, who said her daughter’s eyes were not empty but […]

Erev Rosh Hashanah 5779, September 9, 2018 – 1 Tishrei 5779 Rabbi Jared H. Saks, Congregation Bet Ha’am   I’m going to confess something to you this evening. I don’t like the Kotel, the Western Wall. I didn’t always feel this way. On my first trip to Israel, when I began my first year of […]

November 7, 2017

Dear Friends, We are excited to share with you that Bet Ha’am’s Board of Trustees has approved the Tikkun Olam Council’s recommendation that we establish “Immigration” as our focus issue for the congregation’s social justice work over the coming year. Thank you to all those who participated in our recent survey of issues. In the […]

November 5, 2017

For the Dreamers – Shabbat Vayera November 3, 2017 – 15 Cheshvan 5778 Congregation Bet Ha’am Rabbi Jared H. Saks Benita Veliz came to the U.S. from Mexico with her parents in 1993, when she was 8. Benita graduated as the valedictorian of her high school class at the age of 16. She received a full […]

November 1, 2017

It its series, Rabbi Roundtable, The Forward recently asked 22 rabbis representing the full scope of Jewish life, “Is intermarriage a problem? Or an opportunity?” In having read all of the opinions shared, I revisited some of my own thoughts about intermarriage in Judaism and wanted to share my own thoughts, and my own journey, […]

September 30, 2017

Yom Kippur 5778 September 30, 2017 – 10 Tishrei 5778 Congregation Bet Ha’am Rabbi Jared H. Saks   Relationships are hard. They take a lot of work. I would venture to say that few if any of us in this sanctuary this morning would say that we have even one relationship that is perfect, one […]

September 29, 2017

Kol Nidre 5778 September 29, 2017 – 10 Tishrei 5778 Congregation Bet Ha’am Rabbi Jared H. Saks     You’ve probably heard of Mitch Albom’s book The Five People You Meet in Heaven, but what you may not heard of are the six questions you’ll be asked when you arrive. In Tractate Shabbat (31a) in […]

September 13, 2017

Rabbi’s Chadashot Column September 2017 At the ‘other’ new year that we mark, when we change the secular year at the stroke of midnight, I often remark that it is not on that day that I make resolutions, but rather on the new year that occurs in the autumn. While the passage of secular years […]

June 29, 2017

By Rabbi Jared Saks – Congregation Bet Ha’am Shavuot 5777 May 31, 2017 – 6 Sivan 5777 I remember sitting in a seminar in my first year of rabbinical school, and one of our professors wanted us to engage in a thoughtful conversation about intermarriage. He recognized that, even as we were beginning our rabbinic […]

February 10, 2017

Rabbi Jared Saks’s sermon February 3, 2017 – 8 Shevat 5777 Congregation Bet Ha’am A week and a half ago, Kirk and I found ourselves sitting in the sanctuary of the Stadttempel, Vienna’s oldest synagogue. Built in the first quarter of the 19th century, it is the only 19th century synagogue still in existence in […]

October 14, 2016

It’s Time to Start Living Yom Kippur 5777 October 12, 2016 – 10 Tishri 5777 Congregation Bet Ha’am Rabbi Jared H. Saks     When Kirk and I saw a production of Pippin at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, I couldn’t help but think of my grandmother when we were introduced to Andrea Martin’s […]

Now is the Time to Act Kol Nidre 5777 October 11, 2016 – 10 Tishri 5777 Congregation Bet Ha’am Rabbi Jared H. Saks     When my cousin became Bar Mitzvah, we gathered in his rabbi’s study shortly before the service. I noticed a sign on the rabbi’s desk: The rabbi’s charge is to comfort […]

October 7, 2016

Open the Tent Flaps Rosh Hashanah 5777 October 3, 2016 – 1 Tishrei 5777 Congregation Bet Ha’am Rabbi Jared H. Saks     For a moment, take in this space, this sanctuary filled with our community on this Rosh Hashanah morning. Often, I am complimented on the beauty of our synagogue building, and while I […]

Walking Judaism Street[1] Erev Rosh Hashanah 5777 October 2, 2016 – 1 Tishrei 5777 Congregation Bet Ha’am Rabbi Jared H. Saks   I used to have the same conversation with myself around the third day of Passover every year: I could really go for a spicy tuna roll. Or maybe some salmon nigiri. Or even […]

September 16, 2016

For the past two years, we’ve taken a group of our evening school students on a Jewish trip to New York. Many of the typical New York experiences – Broadway, Times Square – are part of the trip, but we’ve also been sure to take them to the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side […]

September 7, 2016

Imagine, if you will, you’re at a Shabbat morning service. It’s time for the Torah procession when you usually sing, “Al Sh’losha D’varim” – Upon three things the world stands: on Torah, on worship and on deeds of lovingkindness. Only this time, you and your fellow congregants are more honest about what the world really […]

June 29, 2016

Speech #1 Sophie Frantz   When I was younger I had a lot of questions about being Jewish. I knew that we celebrated Hanukkah instead of Christmas, and our house was lit up with a menorah instead of lights on a Christmas tree. In the spring we would search for afikomen instead of pastel colored […]

June 14, 2016

My brother’s wedding!  How delightfully un-middle-aged it sounded to think about my brother getting married.  People my age talk more about our kids getting married, if we’re lucky, but usually not our siblings. Despite the sound of it, though, this was, alas, a middle-aged event after all.  A second marriage for both of them, the complications of children […]

March 29, 2016

I’ve been to Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial and museum in Jerusalem about a half dozen times. Every tour to Israel includes a visit to Yad Vashem and on our recent trip, I was dreading the experience. I’ve been through enough times to remember a sense of what comes next, even with the new building […]

In an article published by Tikkun Magazine this week, David Gordis shared his sadness about the vision he once held for Israel. Gordis, who served as vice-president of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, the Conservative movement’s two seminaries, as well as being President Emeritus of Hebrew […]

March 22, 2016

What does the 2012 Fox TV show Touch, a gelato place, and the Jewish concept of the “Righteous 36” all have in common? The TV show Touch centers around a nonverbal, likely autistic young boy named Jake. Jake is not able to talk or communicate with the world in a typical way, so instead he […]

January 12, 2016

We Cannot Remain Silent Shabbat Sh’mot January 1, 2016 – 21 Tevet 5776 Congregation Bet Ha’am Rabbi Jared H. Saks     Some years ago, after having been ordained from Hebrew Union College, I had a need to call upon the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the CCAR, for assistance with some matter. The person […]

January 8, 2016

December 22, 2015 10 Tevet 5776   Chevrei,   In recent weeks, there has been dialogue within our congregation about our involvement in social justice causes. Our religious school students have had monthly tikkun olam programs, their parents have sought a deeper involvement in the issues of our day, and our congregation has lent its […]

December 9, 2015

It was late August and I had just started getting my son’s school supplies ready for the year.  Early fall is usually one of my favorite times of year.  The rhythm of starting a new school year, combined with Rosh Hashanah and the Days of Awe, brings this feeling of a clean slate.  Of possibility.  […]

October 30, 2015

Hope in the Impossible Shabbat Lech L’cha October 23, 2015 – 11 Cheshvan 5776 Congregation Bet Ha’am Rabbi Jared H. Saks     One of the first outfits I bought for my newborn son was a set of three Florida State onesies. On his second full day of life, Zak wore one of them at […]

October 1, 2015

Regret Yom Kippur 5776 September 23, 2015 – 10 Tishre 5776 Congregation Bet Ha’am Rabbi Jared H. Saks     In a December episode of This American Life, I heard the childhood story of Elna Baker and her four siblings, including her younger sister Julia, and how their father, Gary, handled bad behavior in their […]

September 17, 2015

Torah in Its Time Rosh Hashanah 5776 September 14, 2015 – 1 Tishre 5776 Congregation Bet Ha’am Rabbi Jared H. Saks     This morning, we’ve read perhaps one of the Torah’s most challenging passages. The Akedah, the Binding of Isaac, which has become the Reform movement’s traditional Torah reading for the morning of Rosh […]