Our Israel Committee helps nurture our connection to Israel by fostering education and promoting meaningful engagement with the Jewish homeland through programs, activities, and fundraising.
If you have a question about Israel and our congregation, or if you’re interested in getting involved in the committee, please reach out to israel(at)societyhillsynagogue.org.
Joint Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Ceremony — Streaming of the Ceremony with Dinner
Monday, Apr. 20 @ 5:30 pm
Click here to RSVP (Advance registration required)
You are invited to join fellow congregants in the Social Hall for a streaming of the 21st annual Israeli-Palestinian Joint Memorial Day Ceremony. Held on the eve of Yom HaZikaron in Israel, this powerful gathering brings together bereaved Israeli and Palestinian families to mourn their loved ones and affirm a shared commitment to peace.
At 5:30 pm, we’ll gather in the Social Hall for dinner and schmoozing. The streaming will begin promptly at 6:00 pm and will include testimonies, musical performances, and messages of peace from human rights leaders. Organized by Combatants for Peace and the Parents Circle – Families Forum, this ceremony offers an annual reminder that, even in the face of loss, we can still choose humanity and hope.
Resilience and Return: Segev Kalfon’s Survival of Captivity in Gaza
Sunday, April 26 @ 3:00 pm at Society Hill Synagogue
Segev Kalfon was kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival on October 7, 2023, and survived 738 days of captivity in Gaza before his return home. Join us as Segev shares his remarkable story of the resilience, determination, and faith which sustained him in captivity. He will discuss the strength, purpose, and hope that can emerge even in the darkest of circumstances.
After Segev‘s talk, we will have a brief commemoration of Yom HaZikaron, Remembrance Day for Israel‘s Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism, which this year is just a few days before Segev‘s visit.
The entire program, with Segev’s talk and the brief ceremony, will be held in Society Hill Synagogue’s Sanctuary, with a reception and Israeli hors d’oeuvres to follow in the Social Hall.
$18 Members of Society Hill Synagogue and/or Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel • $36 General Public • $180 Sponsorship • Free for Students with ID
* All Proceeds Support Segev’s Recovery
This program is presented by Society Hill Synagogue’s Israel Connections Subcommittee in partnership with Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel and the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.
Read some of Rabbi Kamesar's Divrei Torah (words of Torah) about Israel:
A Time for Wailing, A Time for Dancing
These verses from Ecclesiastes come to me in this moment that feels like both “a time for wailing and a time for dancing.”
A time for dancing because, after 15 months of war, hostages will be reunited with their families, rockets — at least between Israel and Hamas — will stop firing, families will return to their hometowns. Peace, albeit limited, tentative, and fragile, will reign.
Israel and Community, and the California Fires
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar I’d like to share a reflection flowing out of a monthly course I’m teaching here at Society Hill Synagogue on Zionism: Understanding The Yearnings For A Jewish State. For the moment, I don’t want to get
The Jewish Story: Resounding Through the Shofar
Rosh Hashanah 5785 by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This year has changed my relationship to what it means to be Jewish. Every year, during the High Holidays, I give a sermon, in one version or another, making the case for getting
Bearing Witness to Heartbreak — Reflections on the War’s Toll
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This has been a brutal week for the Jewish people. Six hostages, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Almog Sarusi, and Alexander Lobanov, individuals whom we had gotten to know through accounts by
Chosenness, Conflict, and a Path Forward
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past Shabbat we began the final book of the Torah, Sefer Devarim, the Book of Deuteronomy. The word “Deuteronomy” comes from a Greek translation of the phrase “Repetition of the Torah”, which is in
Journeys of the Past and Present — Insights from Parashat Masei
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past Shabbat we studied Parashat Masei, which means something like “travels” or “stages”. It is the last portion in the Sefer Bamidbar, the Book of Numbers, the fourth of five books of the