Pesach 5781
This year we are again prevented from enjoying a communal Seder, a most important item in our congregational events calendar. We suffered separation from our loved ones for much too long, isolation, deep anxiety and fear. Some of us have lost a dear friend or family member to this unrelenting plague.
This year’s Pesach Seder, more than any other, concretizes for us the mind set and spiritual condition of our enslaved ancestors, who endured many generations of that painful existence. We are blessed to be able to continue telling the story to our children by reading the Haggadah. The wisdom of our tradition guides us by teaching our children to ask us questions, changing the experience from a monologue to an instructive dialogue. Our explanation maintains the continuity of our narrative and our deep Jewish love of liberty. This is designed to reinforce bonding with our children and make our love of freedom their story as well.
Celebrating the Exodus, means leaving a place of stress as it is understood from the Hebrew word for Egypt, “Mitzrayim”. Mitzrayim is the plural form of ” Meytzar” meaning narrow, constricted or oppressive.
This year by Hashem’s grace, we will have our own exodus from the pandemic, Mitzrayim and leave all the worst behind, slowly easing ourselves back to normalcy.
We send your families all our blessings and love.
Have a kosher, joyful and safe Pesach,
Rabbi Dudai
President’s Message – November 2026
Dear Members of the B’nai Zion Key West Community,
It’s been quite a while since I’ve made any entries on our website. In fact the last entry was in
March 2021 during Covid. A lot has happened since then. Our Rabbi, Shimon Dudai, who has
been our Rabbi since 2005, has announced that he will be retiring as of December 31, 2026. He
and his wife, Nadia have been the heart of Congregation B’Nai Zion for 21 years. He has been
our spiritual leader, teacher, confident in times of pain and stress and a friend. His wife Nadia
has been the glue that kept the synagogue together. She did everything from preparing our
famous kiddushs, organizing and preparing the food for our holiday celebrations and calling the
plumber and electrician whenever there was a problem, if she couldn’t fix it herself. They will be
sorely missed. The congregation will be having a tribute party for Rabbi Dudai and Nadia on
Sunday, December, 13, 2026 (time to be determined). Watch out for invitations and please
RSVP immediately.
The happy news is we have hired a new Rabbi who will begin January 1, 2026. His name is
Rabbi Shmuel Birnham. He had his wife Sara, will be coming from Yukon, Oklahoma. You may
ask why Yukon? I did. They moved there after 25 years from the North Shore of Vancouver,
British Columbia, Canada to be near their son after he moved there to study for his MBA. A brief
review of his background: Rabbi Birnham received his rabbinical ordination from the Jewish
Theological Seminary in 1989. He was the Rabbi for Congregation Beth Israel in Asheville,
North Carolina from 1989 to 2000. He was the Rabbi for Congregation Har El in West
Vancouver from 2000 until 2016 when he retired. Sara has a Masters from Columbia University
Teachers College in learning disabilities and has worked in that field for 30 years. We met them
on their occasional visits to Key West in their RV. He is a remarkably active man, and in fact,
was the Jewish chaplain for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, since they would not let him
compete. He loves kayaking, hiking and biking, which is what brought him to Key West so many
times. He sees his role with us as an interim rabbi to help us find a young couple who will
move to Key West and stay with us for many years. However, who knows, he might stay for a
long time and not have an interim role. If moving works out as planned, his first Shabbos service
will be Saturday, January 2, 2027 at 10 o’clock as usual. He told me to tell you that he and Sara
eagerly look forward to meeting you.
Fred Covan