Insights from Reverend Hazan Benlolo

Dear friends and congregants,

Here is just a small peak from this past Tuesday at the new Spanish and Portuguese Recording Studio. Hosted by Dan Sequerra, 15 enthusiastic singers and musicians gathered for an incredible evening of song and performance. The evening began with a sumptuous meal followed by non-stop music. The last stragglers left the studio at midnight! Claude, one of the amazing singers, wrote in our guest book...Read more...

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We're almost at the finish line!

This week's haftarah is the fifth of a series of seven "Haftarot of Consolation." These seven haftarot commence on the Shabbat following Tisha b'Av and continue until Rosh Hashanah.

Forsaken Jerusalem is likened to a barren woman devoid of children. G‑d enjoins her to rejoice, for the time will soon...Read more...

The Shabbat before Tisha B’Av, is called Shabbat Chazon – the Shabbat of foretelling – as we read the Haftarah portion from the prophecy of Isaiah (1:1-27), as the final of the “three of affliction,” readings.
Rabbi Mendel Hirsch points out, the prophet does not lament because the Bet HaMikdash (The Temple in Jerusalem) was destroyed; rather he...Read more...

with Charly-Marc Hadid

This week’s Haftarah is the second of a series of three “haftarot of affliction.” These three haftarot are read during the Three Weeks of mourning for Jerusalem, between the fasts of 17 Tammuz and 9 Av.

The prophet Jeremiah transmits G‑d’s message to the Jewish people, in...Read more...

This week’s haftarah begins a series of three haftarot known in halachic literature as telata depur’anuta, “the three (haftarot) of retribution.” We read these haftarot during the three-week period between the seventeenth of Tammuz and the ninth of Av—the time when we mourn the destruction of...Read more...

This week's haftarah describes how the people of Israel were attacked by the nation of Ammon. The Israelites engaged Jephtah to lead them in battle against this military threat. Jephtah first sent a missive to Ammon, declaring his peaceful intentions. In his message, he also discussed the Israelites' conquest...Read more...

This week's haftarah tells the story of the spies that Joshua sent to scout the city of Jericho, prior to the Israelites' invasion of the Holy Land, a point in common with this week's Torah reading, which discusses the twelve spies that were sent by Moses years earlier to explore the Holy Land.

Joshua sent two spies to Jericho, where they lodged at...Read more...