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Congregation Beth Israel (North Adams, Massachusetts)
Congregation Beth Israel ( he, חבורת בית ישראל) is a Jewish congregation located at 53 Lois Street in North Adams, Massachusetts. The congregation was founded in the early 1890s as House of Israel by Eastern European Jews recently immigrated to the United States. The Chevre Chai Odom congregation broke away from House of Israel in 1905, but re-united with it in 1958, and the congregation adopted its current name in 1961. Originally Orthodox, it became Conservative in 1969 and Reform in 2000. The congregation has had five synagogue buildings since its founding, and moved to its present location in 2003. Beth Israel's first rabbis were Irving Miller (1925) and Moses Mescheloff (1936–1937). Rabbis in the 1950s and 1960s included Abraham Halbfinger and Earl Fishhaut. Jeffrey Wolfson Goldwasser joined the congregation as rabbi in 2000. Rachel Barenblat succeeded him in 2011. Early years Beth Israel was founded as the House of Israel in North Adams, Massachusetts, in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous search for truth and knowledge, which is closely intertwined with human reason and not limited to the theophany at Mount Sinai. A highly liberal strand of Judaism, it is characterized by lessened stress on ritual and personal observance, regarding '' halakha'' (Jewish law) as non-binding and the individual Jew as autonomous, and great openness to external influences and progressive values. The origins of Reform Judaism lie in 19th-century Germany, where Rabbi Abraham Geiger and his associates formulated its early principles. Since the 1970s, the movement has adopted a policy of inclusiveness and acceptance, inviting as many as possible to partake in its communities rather than adhering to strict theoretical clarity. It is strongly identifi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Jews
The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish community. The community survived under Charlemagne, but suffered during the Crusades. Accusations of well poisoning during the Black Death (1346–53) led to mass slaughter of German Jews and they fled in large numbers to Poland. The Jewish communities of the cities of Mainz, Speyer and Worms became the center of Jewish life during medieval times. "This was a golden age as area bishops protected the Jews resulting in increased trade and prosperity." The First Crusade began an era of persecution of Jews in Germany. Entire communities, like those of Trier, Worms, Mainz and Cologne, were slaughtered. The Hussite Wars became the signal for renewed persecution of Jews. The end of the 15th century was a period of religious hatred that ascrib ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drury High School
Drury High School is a public school in North Adams, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the North Adams Public School District, it serves students in grades 7-12 from North Adams, and the towns of Clarksburg, Florida, and Monroe. Current standing Drury currently serves grades 7–12. As of 2014, it had a student body of 459 students. Drury competes primarily within Berkshire County, though a small portion of its non-league independent schedule includes similar-size schools from the Connecticut River Valley of Western Massachusetts and nearby Vermont. One of two high schools in North Adams, Massachusetts ( Charles H. McCann Technical High School) Most traditional rival is Hoosac Valley High School of Cheshire. Notable alumni * Daniel E. Bosley, former member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives * Gailanne M. Cariddi, former member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives * Martha Coakley, former Massachusetts Attorney General * William Evans (198020 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lewis Edward Lawes
Lewis Edward Lawes (September 13, 1883 – April 23, 1947) was a prison warden and a proponent of prison reform. During his 21-year tenure at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, he supervised the executions of 303 prisoners. Biography Lawes was born on September 13, 1883 in Elmira, New York. He was the only child of Henry Lewis Lawes (died 1925) and Sarah Abbott. His father worked as a prison guard at the New York State Reformatory, now called the Elmira Correctional Facility. Lawes ran away at 17 and joined the United States Coast Artillery. Afterwards, he worked at an insurance company before beginning his prison career as a guard at Clinton Prison in Dannemora, New York on March 1, 1905. On September 30, 1905, he married Katherine Stanley. He subsequently worked at first Auburn Prison, then Elmira Reformatory. In March 1915 he was named Superintendent of the City Reformatory on Hart Island in New York City. Lawes became warden of the Massachusetts State Prison in 1918. New York ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abba Hillel Silver
Abba Hillel Silver (January 28, 1893 – November 28, 1963) was an American Rabbi and Zionist leader. He was a key figure in the mobilization of American support for the founding of the State of Israel, though he saw such a settlement as a means to protect Jewish heritage rather than having it serve as a main point of purpose for Jews. Biography Born Abraham Silver in Naumiestis, in the Suwałki Governorate of Congress Poland, a part of the Russian Empire (present-day Lithuania), son and grandson of Orthodox rabbis, he was brought to the US at the age of nine. A Zionist from his youth, he made his first speech at a Zionist meeting at age fourteen. Educated in the public schools and after-school Jewish schools of New York City's Lower East Side, he left after high school to attend the Hebrew Union College (HUC) and the University of Cincinnati. After graduation as valedictorian of his HUC class and ordination in 1915—and now known as Abba Hillel Silver—he served as rabbi o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clarence Darrow
Clarence Seward Darrow (; April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938) was an American lawyer who became famous in the early 20th century for his involvement in the Leopold and Loeb murder trial and the Scopes "Monkey" Trial. He was a leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union and a prominent advocate for Georgist economic reform. Called a "sophisticated country lawyer",Linder, Douglas O. (1997)"Who Is Clarence Darrow?", ''The Clarence Darrow Home Page'' Darrow's wit and eloquence made him one of the most prominent attorneys and civil libertarians in the nation. He defended high-profile clients in many famous trials of the early 20th century, including teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb for murdering 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks (1924); teacher John T. Scopes in the Scopes "Monkey" Trial (1925), in which he opposed statesman and orator William Jennings Bryan; and Ossian Sweet in a racially charged self-defense case (1926). Early life Clarence Darrow was born in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor. Although musical theatre is closely related to opera, the two are considered to be distinct from one another. Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition. Originally understood as an entirely sung piece, in contrast to a play with songs, opera has come to include numerous genres, including some that include spoken dialogue such as ''Singspiel'' and ''Opéra comique''. In traditional number opera, singers employ two styles o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition or light poetry, interspersed with songs or ballets. It became popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s, but the idea of vaudeville's theatre changed radically from its French antecedent. In some ways analogous to music hall from Victorian Britain, a typical North American vaudeville performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. Types of acts have included popular and classical musicians, singers, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, ventriloquists, strongmen, female and male impersonators, acrobats, clowns, illustrated songs, jugglers, one-act plays or scenes from plays, athletes, lecturing celebrities, minstrels, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clarksburg, Massachusetts
Clarksburg is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,657 at the 2020 census. History Clarksburg was first settled in 1764 and officially incorporated in 1798. Captain Matthew Ketchum, Colonel William Bullock, and Nicholas Clark are credited with settling the area in 1769; Clark later became Clarksburg's namesake. The town began as a mostly agrarian community, with mills springing up along the waterways in the nineteenth century. The major mills were one to make cashmere, and several mills supplied gunpowder during the Civil War. However, the industry was stopped by the town after one of the mills exploded in 1869. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and (0.62%) is water. Clarksburg is located at 42°42'42.86"N,73°05'02.97"W. Clarksburg is bordered by Pownal and Stamford, Vermont on the nort ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chevra Kadisha
The term ''Chevra kadisha'' (Modern Hebrew: חֶבְרָה קַדִּישָׁא) gained its modern sense of "burial society" in the nineteenth century. It is an organization of Jewish men and women who see to it that the bodies of deceased Jews are prepared for burial according to Jewish tradition and are protected from desecration, willful or not, until burial. Two of the main requirements are the showing of proper respect for a corpse, and the ritual cleansing of the body and subsequent dressing for burial. It is usually referred to as a burial society in English. History Throughout Jewish history, each Jewish community throughout the world has established a Chevra Kadisha — a Holy Society — whose sole function is to ensure dignified treatment of the deceased in accordance with Jewish law, custom, and tradition. Men prepare the bodies of men, ladies prepare those of ladies. At the heart of the society's function is the ritual of '' tahara'', or purification. The bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shechita
In Judaism, ''shechita'' (anglicized: ; he, ; ; also transliterated ''shehitah, shechitah, shehita'') is slaughtering of certain mammals and birds for food according to '' kashrut''. Sources states that sheep and cattle should be slaughtered "as I have instructed you", but nowhere in the Torah are any of the practices of ''shechita'' described. Instead, they have been handed down in Rabbinic Judaism's Oral Torah, and codified in '' halakha''. Species The animal must be of a permitted species. For mammals, this is restricted to ruminants which have split hooves. For birds, although biblically any species of bird not specifically excluded in would be permitted, doubts as to the identity and scope of the species on the biblical list led to rabbinical law permitting only birds with a tradition of being permissible. Fish do not require kosher slaughter to be considered kosher, but are subject to other laws found in which determine whether or not they are kosher (hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hazzan
A ''hazzan'' (; , lit. Hazan) or ''chazzan'' ( he, חַזָּן , plural ; Yiddish ''khazn''; Ladino ''Hasan'') is a Jewish musician or precentor trained in the vocal arts who helps lead the congregation in songful prayer. In English, this prayer leader is often referred to as a cantor, a term also used in Christianity. ''Sh'liaḥ tzibbur'' and the evolution of the hazzan The person leading the congregation in public prayers is called the '' sh'liaḥ tzibbur'' (Hebrew for " emissary of the congregation"). Jewish law restricts this role to adult Jews; among Orthodox Jews, it is restricted to males. In theory, any lay person can be a ''sh'liaḥ tzibbur''; many synagogue-attending Jews will serve in this role from time to time, especially on weekdays or when having a Yartzeit. Someone with good Hebrew pronunciation is preferred. In practice, in synagogues without an official Hazzan, those with the best voice and the most knowledge of the prayers serve most often. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
