Scott Leader, Temple Gan Elohim's music director, is becoming one of the most sought after performers of original Jewish rock and folk music. His music is featured at many synagogues across the United States, including TGE.

Scott's first full-length album, "Lift My Eyes" received positive reviews and individual tracks were featured on other compilations of Jewish music. Songs from Scott's second release, "Gates", have been featured in Jewish summer camps and are being adopted into many congregations' regular worship.

Scott's music can be ordered and downloaded from his website, www.ScottLeader.com.

Planting a tree in Israel is the perfect way to show you care for the mere price of chai - $18. 

You can plant trees for many different reasons and help green the land of Israel while sending a special gift to a friend or loved one. For each order, a beautiful certificate of your choice is mailed to the recipient with your own personal message. Plant trees for all of these occasions: Birth, Bar or Bat Mitzvah, graduation, wedding, birthday, get-well wish, or in memory of someone special. Over the last 100 years, JNF has planted over 240 million trees in the land of Israel.

For more information on planting a tree in Israel, please e-mail us or call the Temple phone.

“So now write this song and teach it to the children of Israel.” Deut 31:19

El Paso, Texas artist and Temple Mount Sinai member Hal Marcus has taken mitzvat k'tivat Sefer Torah - the commandment to write a Torah scroll - very much to heart. His "Five Books of Moses" tells the timeless stories of the Torah in the medium of stained glass. Though neither parchment nor ink is used this is very much Hal's Sefer Torah.

The story begins in the upper left corner of the work with a burst of light much like the one in Hal's earlier "Seven Days of Creation", which also is installed in Mount Sinai's Zielonka Hall. In the Jewish mystical tradition, this sudden appearance of cosmic energy marks the beginning of God's creation ... a creation that continues each moment and in which all of us are God's partners. The remainder of the first panel tells the story of Noah and the flood. In Noah, all of humanity is one family and we are all party to God's covenant. The sign of that covenant, the rainbow, appears in this panel and in each one that follows.

In the second panel we encounter the Tower of Babel, a story that teaches the value of diversity. It is just after the Tower of Babel that the Torah shifts its emphasis from the story of the human race to the story of one family - Abraham's. We see Abraham, Sarah and Isaac as well as the three "men" who hover over the landscape of the book of Genesis. Are they men? Angels? God?

Panels three and four depict God's redemption of Israel from Egyptian bondage and Israel's subsequent covenanting to God at Mount Sinai. The people of Israel in the wilderness are protrayed as jewels, casting brilliant light in all colors and all directions. In this "midrash in glass," Marcus has chosen not to portray Moses' death but rather to allude to the way in which Moses lives through the lessons that he taught us. And so it is that the bottom of the fourth panel pictures a bar mitzvah reading from Torah. With his immediate family surrounding him he takes his place alongside the generations who have read and transmitted Torat Mosheh - the Torah of Moses. The timeless story still lives.

Jews never finish reading Torah. As soon as we conclude Deuteronomy we turn back to the opening of Gensesis and begin again. Marcus' windows don't really end either. As we arrive at the bottom of the fourth panel our eyes are drawn along the ribbon of text that sits over the rainbow. The Hebrew is translated: "So now write down this song and teach it to the children of Israel" (Deut 31:19). The verse takes us back to the story of creation.

Light bursts forth, and we begin again …

Words of Yesterday - Images of Today

TESTAMENTS of ISRAEL is the first book of its kind to use contemporary pictures of modern Israel to provide a new perspective on biblical themes. This 204 page publication artfully combines powerful words and strong images to provide us with a new, enlightening view of Israel. From spectacular landscapes, to enigmatic portraits to dramatic photojournalism - the images are striking in their own right. Yet cleverly juxtaposed with biblical quotations, they take on a new resonance. Some force you to make startling new interpretations of the photograph in question. Some underline the surprising relevance of biblical text to today’s Israel. Others take on an astounding prophetic quality. Above all it reveals how the power, wisdom, and poetry of these ancient passages still inspires today.

TESTAMENTS of ISRAEL meets exceptional standards of reproduction, printing and binding. It is section sewn, case bound and hand finished to ensure that it will captivate, move, educate and entertain for many years to come. It is destined to become a timeless classic.

Although the idea for TESTAMENTS of ISRAEL was conceived in 1982, it wasn’t until after a most successful international business career that John Wagner, a well-known philanthropist from England, was able to devote the time and resources necessary to bring this unique concept to fruition. Mr. Wagner observed, “Over the past few decades I have visited Israel many times. In that extraordinary country I have been repeatedly struck by the parallels of contemporary life with the powerful writing of ancient times. I have tried to find a way to illustrate these parallels with the past through the juxtaposition of the photographs and quotations featured in this book. Although each photographic image captures only a brief moment of the late 20^th century on film, the combined impact of words and pictures of TESTAMENTS of ISRAEL leaves us with one remarkable supposition: the images may have changed since biblical times, but has anything really changed?” Thirty leading Israeli and international photographers have contributed some of their best work to this project. Images were meticulously selected to complement the biblical quotations from thousands researched in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, London, and New York.

In addition to TESTAMENTS of ISRAEL, this magnificent set includes Jerusalem Multimedia Productions’ CD-ROM PORTRAIT of ISRAEL by Time-Life photographer Mr. David Rubinger. PORTRAIT of ISRAEL is a unique multi-media experience based on a thousand of his finest photographs spanning 50 years of Israel’s history. With beautiful slideshows, narration, music and video footage, Mr. Rubinger masterfully captures Israel’s joys and sorrows with sensitivity, creativity and emotion.

Each beautifully boxed gift set, valued at $165, is only $54. A portion of the proceeds from each set purchased benefits TGE directly.

Please send your order form and a check to Temple Gan Elohim at P.O. Box 12097, Glendale, AZ 85318-2097.

Gift set(s) may be shipped to any destination in the United Stateswith insurance and delivery confirmation via the United StatesPostal Service or picked up at TGE.