by Rabbi Jared H. Saks Shabbat Sh’mot, January 17, 2020 – 21 Tevet 5780 I want to talk with you tonight about anti-Semitism. In the past few years, we’ve seen an uptick in anti-Semitic attacks, including the most recent attacks on Chasidic Jews in the New York City area, including

by Anna Siegel I was recently given the opportunity to give a TEDx talk about my experience as an activist and the power of the global climate strike movement. As a member of Bet Ha’am, I am sharing this with appreciation for people from Bet Ha’am’s supporting my development in

by Rabbi Jared H. Saks At the recent Biennial Convention of the Union for Reform Judaism, I attended a session titled Antiracism: Doing the Work Within Our Own Communities. The three presenters, Deitra Reiser, Yolanda Savage-Navra, and Bryant Heinzelman, addressed issues of racism within Jewish life both as Jews of

by Lynn Urbach, President I just got back from the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) Biennial in Chicago. What an incredible, exciting five days it was! Over 5,000 Jews and friends of Jews learning, singing, praying, and celebrating Shabbat together. While not all attendees are synagogue leaders, I took the

by Sam Spinrad, Religious School Director I consider it one of my primary objectives to instill a sense of Jewish identity and curiosity in students before they become Bar or Bat Mitzvah. A good number of students develop their own ideas of what it means to be Jewish well before

by Rachel Lefkowitz, Synagogue Administrator When I was a child, my family always spent Christmas day with my cousins at my grandmother’s house in Connecticut. My grandmother sold that house when I was still young, and our families didn’t get together in the same way after that. This year though,

by Rachel Stamieszkin, Master gardener volunteer and Bet Ha’am garden committee member Have you seen our raised beds when you are visiting Bet Ha’am? Ever wonder what we grow and where it goes? Did you ever wonder what the Maine Harvest for Hunger is? Would you like to garden at Bet Ha’am? Several years ago, the Garden

In his Rosh Hashanah sermon, Rabbi Saks spoke about the work he would like to do with our congregation to dismantle systemic racism in our country. As part of that work, Rabbi Saks is reading White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, by Robin

By Jane Snerson. D’var Torah, November 1, 2019. The Torah portion this week is Noah. Noah who was told by God that the people were so wicked they were beyond help and God was going to start all over again—almost. God designated Noah to build an ark that would accommodate

by Sam Spinrad, Education Director On Erev Simchat Torah, which fell on October 20 this year, we celebrated the beginning of our first-grade students’ Jewish education (consecration). This phrase—Jewish education—evokes a different image to everyone. Some may picture learning about Shabbat and holidays. Others may recollect intense hours of studying Hebrew or

by Rabbi Jared H. Saks Last March, I traveled with nine teens from Congregation Bet Ha’am, along with a parent chaperone, to Washington, DC to participate in the Bernard and Audre Rapoport L’Taken Social Justice Seminar with the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (the RAC). Our teens lobbied our members of Congress

by Lynn Urbach, President I go to Shabbat services at least a couple of times a month. The more often I go, the more I get out of it. That doesn’t surprise me. I see it as similar to meditation or yoga. Participating infrequently just doesn’t work. It is takes practice

by Rachel Lefkowitz In late spring, my husband and I attended a bar mitzvah service in Connecticut at an impressive synagogue: the sanctuary towered over the satellite chapel and the nearby office and school buildings. A uniformed security guard welcomed everyone with a warm smile and friendly words. It was clearly a congregation with the ability to maintain a big campus

by Rabbi Jared H. Saks Yom Kippur 5780 | October 9, 2019 – 10 Tishrei 5780 “A singular disaster; a disaster is coming. Doom is coming! The hour of doom is coming! It stirs against you; there it comes! Here is the day! See, the cycle has come round; it

by Rabbi Jared H. Saks Kol Nidre 5780 | October 8, 2019 – 10 Tishrei 5780 Conventional wisdom tells us that mistakes are valuable teachers. They are how we grow and gain wisdom. They teach us how to behave. When we make a mistake, we should ask ourselves what lesson

Lynn Urbach, President. Yom Kippur 5780. Address to the Congregation. On Rosh Hashanah, I asked you to consider strengthening your connection to Judaism by increasing your involvement with Bet Ha’am.  Afterwards, some of you thanked me for not asking for money.  Nobody wants to talk about money from the bimah,

Lynn Urbach, President. Rosh Hashanah 5780. Address to the Congregation. I like to daydream. I dream that Congregation Bet Ha’am fully lives up to our mission statement. Do you know what it is? Congregation Bet Ha’am is a welcoming Reform Jewish community providing vision, voice, and opportunity for connecting to,

by Rabbi Jared H. Saks Rosh Hashanah 5780 | September 30, 2019 – 1 Tishrei 5780 The Gadsden Daily Times-News, in its afternoon edition, on Tuesday, September 30, 1919, ran a story above the fold. The headline read Three Negroes are lynched in Montgomery. The three black men were Miles

by Rabbi Jared H. Saks Erev Rosh Hashanah 5780 Sermon | September 29, 2019 – 1 Tishrei 5780 Somewhere in our house, Kirk and I have a small stack of legal paper with two weeks’ worth of to-do lists from the lead-up to our wedding. Each day, we had a

by Rabbi Jared H. Saks After Moses encounters the burning bush while tending his father-in-law’s sheep in the wilderness, God selects him to confront Pharaoh to demand the Israelite people’s freedom. Moses, however, does not believe that he is up for the task. Unlike Jonah, whose story we’ll encounter in

We are pleased to welcome Andrea Levinsky as Bet Ha’am’s new youth group advisor.  Andrea has a long history of involvement with and impact on Maine’s young adult community and the Maine Jewish community.  She has been an educator both in traditional schools and in supplemental education programs. She holds a BA from Connecticut College