TUESDAY UPDATE: 23 DECEMBER 2O25
Did we just become too
comfortable?
Over the millennia we have experienced a familiar pattern: settling in a land that is not ours, prospering and eventually being hated and expelled. Our sojourn in Egypt was the first time this happened. But should we have stayed there when the famine ended? Is it all the fault of Yaakov Avinu? Our member Rabbi Steven Ettinger investigates.
Final fling
Our last Chanukah-flavored feature for this year is our member Heshy Engelsberg’s “Zot Chanukah at the Kotel”—ideal viewing for anyone who has never experienced what it’s like to pray at one of our holiest sites.
Prejudice and Pride
Thanks go to our poetic member Dr Pessy Krausz for sharing her latest published poem with us. Titled “Prejudice and Pride”, it celebrates the lives—and commemorates the deaths—of her illustrious forebears and some victims of the Gaza War. You can find the poem here.
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MONDAY UPDATE: 22 DECEMBER 2025
Visiting—and being visited
We are trying to put together two
lists. The first will consist of people who find it difficult or even
impossible to get out and about, and who would welcome the occasional visit
from someone from shul. The second will consist of people who are willing to
make the occasional home visit, to pop in on those who cannot get out and to
share some company with them.
The identity of people on the first
list will be confidential, only to be passed on to our team of visitors. A
WhatsApp group will let us contact visitors so they know who needs a visit.
If you would like to be visited,
email Menachem (Ralph) Marcus on rmarcusmd@gmail.com
or call him on 058-686-8151. If you would like to be on the team of visitors,
email Jeremy Phillips at bkhpresident1@gmail.com
or call or message him on 053-845-5367.
Binyamin: a key character, but
where is he now?
Both last week’s parashah of Miketz
and this week’s Torah reading of Vayigash, Binyamin occupies a central role.
Beloved and favorite son of Yaakov, falsely accused felon and pawn in a power
game between Yosef and Yehudah, Binyamin provides the essential link in the
narrative that takes us from Canaan to Mitzrayim, from family and freedom to
servitude and suffering. But where is he buried? Some would have it that his
mortal remains lie at rest in Kfar Saba; others contend for Jerusalem. Our
member Heshy Engelsberg has made this video recording of the Jerusalem
site which, unlike Kfar Saba, is located in Binyamin’s tribal territory.
The End of the Year is Nigh…
…and, with it, the end of the tax year for all United States taxpayers, some of whom are privileged to be members of Beit Knesset Hanassi. It is a well-established and time-honored custom to remind our American brethren at this time that they can make tax-efficient donations to worthy causes—which of course include a reputable US charity, the Friends of Bet Knesset Hanassi. For ways to donate, follow this link.
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SUNDAY UPDATE: 21 DECEMBER 2025
(8 candles tonight)
Are you inscribed?
Every year, over the Yamim Nora’im, we ponder over the three books that stand empty and awaiting us for the coming year: the books in which are inscribed the names of the Righteous, the Average and the Wicked. All three are possible records of our lot for the coming year, and the choice is in our hands. Well, there’s another book we should make every effort to get inscribed in, and that’s the BKH Membership Directory 2026. If you are a paid-up member in good standing, you should find your name and contact information correctly recorded. You have until 31 December to let us know if we’ve got everything right. For further information about how to check the draft, click here.
Waiting lists—always worth a
try!
When our events get booked out,
there always a chance that someone who has booked will have to cancel: a sudden
illness, an unexpected mazal tov, a mistake over dates—these are all distinct
possibilities, as our lives testify. Anyway, if you missed the chance to get on
to the second Knesset Museum Tour on 31 December or to register for our Scholar
in Residence Shabbaton dinner on 16 January, you may still find yourself going!
To add your name to the Knesset Museum trip, call Avelyn Hass on 0 54-447-2684;
for the Scholar-in-Residence dinner, call Debra Zohar on 0 54-643-2868.
Book of the Month for Tevet
So many of us use Yitzchok Leib (Trevor) Bell’s Psalms that Speak to You that it’s easy enough to take it for granted and forget how puzzling some parts of Tehillim used to be for us. Anyway, this lovely volume is our current Book of the Month (and it’s written by one of our members!) If you are yet to be acquainted with it, click here to find out more.
Shiva reminder
The shiva for our dear member Sheldon
Abramson a.h. continues until Wednesday. The address for the shiva is Ma'ale
Levanah, Rechov HaKinamon 32. Visiting
times ae 10.00 am to 1,00 pm and 4.00 pm to 9.00 pm. Sheldon’s wife Connie can
be reached on 058-733-6825.
Celebrating Chanukah in
Jerusalem
While some of us like to sit quietly at home, gazing contentedly at our candles while we quietly contemplate the miracles of the moment, others have the urge to take to the streets and dance. Last night our member Heshy Engelsberg took to the streets too, camera in hand, to record the public side of Chanukah celebration. You can see what Heshy saw by clicking on his video, “Chanukah 7th night at First Station & Mamilla Mall”, here.
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