Beth El – Keser Israel Events for May 2025

Food Rescue Guest Speaker 

Gilad Skolnick from Leket Israel will speak at BEKI on Wednesday, May 7. Leket, the National Food Bank, is the leading food rescue organization in Israel. Unique among all other organizations that serve the poor in Israel and food banks worldwide, Leket Israel’s sole focus is rescuing healthy, surplus food and delivering it to those in need through partner nonprofit organizations. 

Leket Israel is believed to be the largest gleaning operation in the world, rescuing and distributing 330,000 meals every week to vulnerable Israelis of all backgrounds including single parents, Israeli Arabs, new immigrants from Ethiopia and Ukraine, and Holocaust survivors.

Skolnick will share stories that are beyond the headlines, including new Israeli laws for food rescue that don't exist yet anywhere else and how Israel’s war-ravaged agricultural industry is being rehabilitated.

Currently the regional Director of Advancement for American Friends of Leket Israel, Skolnick previously was Executive Director of Northeastern University Hillel.

Concert to Support Refugee Resettlement

A concert featuring BEKI musicians on Sunday, May 18 will benefit JCARR, Greater New Haven’s Jewish Community Alliance for Refugee Resettlement (JCARR). Admission is free, but donations will be requested to support JCARR. 

Entertainment will be provided by three generations of BEKI members—on keyboard, guitar, violin, and vocals—with a variety of music, from classical to contemporary to liturgical.

JCARR is a partnership of six New Haven-area synagogues—BEKI, Congregation B'nai Jacob, Congregation Mishkan Israel, Congregation Or Shalom, Temple Beth David, and Temple Emanuel of Greater New Haven—and the Jewish Federation. 

For more information, consult beki.org.

For Stressful Times

A new class, “Ethics and Spirituality for Stressful Times,” will be offered on Saturdays between Passover and Shavuot. Rabbi Eric Woodward will focus on what Jewish sages advised in Pirke Avot about navigating stressful and confusing times. The class will meet on May 10, May 17, May 24, and May 31, with no obligation to attend all of them. Consult beki.org for details.

Talmud Study

Rabbi Woodward leads a Talmud class on select Sundays, including May4. Consult beki.org for details.

Judy Sirota Rosenthal 

Hamden artist Judy Sirota Rosenthal will discuss her calligraphic work during an Artist’s Talk on Sunday, May 4 (new date). To arrange a time to view the exhibition, or to register for her talk, consult office@beki.org. Her exhibition, “Art as Prayer, Prayer as Art, v.3” will run through June14. 

Elm City Kallah June 6-7-8

This year’s Elm City Kallah speaker is Gila Fine, a lecturer of rabbinic literature at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, who explores the tales of the Talmud through philosophy, literary criticism, psychoanalysis, and pop-culture. 

Fine will speak Friday, June 6 at Westville Synagogue, will come to BEKI on Saturday, and will finish the weekend of study on Sunday at Congregation B’nai Jacob. 

___

‍BEKI is located at 85 Harrison Street (corner of Whalley Avenue - Route 63 - in Westville)