Of all the holidays in the year, Shavuot often gets short shrift. Many Reform congregations hold Confirmation at this season, which is a lovely tradition, but doesn’t fully convey the depth of what this holiday can be. Shavuot isn’t just a graduation celebration for tenth graders; it’s one of the most profound anniversaries in the Jewish year. And this year, we’re celebrating it at CBI in a new way: with music, music, music!
As the days get longer and summer beckons, CBI professional and lay leaders are busy planning for the summer and the year ahead.
“‘And God spoke to Moshe in the wilderness of Sinai,’ — the place of revelation; ‘in the ohel mo’ed,’ — both the tent of community meeting, and a sacred fixed point in time. That’s where this verse places us: in the wilderness, in the middle of nowhere — which is where God speaks (or maybe where we hear), where we’re receptive as satellite dishes, at the nexus of holy space and holy time…”
Late this month we’ll reach the festival of Shavuot. When the Temple stood Shavuot was one of the Shalosh Regalim, the three big pilgrimage-festivals when we would travel en masse to Jerusalem to make offerings at the Temple. Shavuot is the culmination of the seven weeks of counting the Omer, and was once a harvest festival. (It still is, among Jews who farm.) But today Shavuot is best known as the holiday when we celebrate receiving Torah at Sinai.
Reb Zalman z”l — Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, of blessed memory; a formative teacher for me before and during rabbinical school — used to say that revelation is like the radio. God is the Source of the broadcast, and that broadcast is always streaming into creation. And as for us? We’re radio receivers. We receive revelation on the levels to which we’re attuned.
We’ll begin with Festival Maariv with Hallel and Yizkor from 7:30-9:00pm.
(Times are approximate, but this is our best guess.)
In between lessons: poetry and niggunim (wordless melodies), including Lubavitch niggunim from Chaim Bronstein (CBI).
Our mystical tradition teaches that special blessings flow when we study Torah at midnight, and especially on Shavuot, so our learning will culminate with a midnight module:
As a reminder: the login information will not be publicly posted anywhere, but will be sent to members of CBI and TBE in our weekly announcements emails.
If you need a Yizkor candle for Shavuot, please reach out to the office. We have a box of them on hand, and will gladly share them with you — just connect with Ollie to confirm a time to pick one up.
See you at Sinai!
Join us in the CBI Zoom room at 10:30am on Saturday morning (note the different time) for Shabbat morning services led by Rabbi Rachel, where we will call Sadie Lentzner to Torah as a bat mitzvah!
This week we’re reading from parashat Bamidbar. If you’d like to read some commentaries on this week’s parsha, here are a few:
And here’s commentary from the URJ:
And save the date for our Tikkun Leyl Shavuot — on Sunday May 16 starting at 7:30pm, we’ll celebrate the revelation of Torah with learning, song, poetry, and more! As we did at Tu BiShvat and Pesach, we’ll join together with Temple Beth El of City Island and Rabbi David Markus for a joint festival celebration, with special guest Rabbi Cyn Hoffman in addition to our own Rabbi Rachel and Rabbi Pam.
We’ll begin at 7:30pm with Festival Maariv (Evening Prayer) — featuring some beautiful melodies we don’t usually hear, and the joyful psalms of Hallel, and also the memorial prayers of Yizkor recited four times a year. We’ll continue at 9pm with Late Night Learning, featuring teachings from members of CBI and members of TBE, the four rabbis in attendance, and even Morgan Freeman, culminating at midnight with a teaching from the Zohar about midnight in the garden of Eden and opening to divine flow.
If you need a Yizkor candle for Shavuot, please reach out to the office. We have a box of them on hand, and will gladly share them with you — just connect with Ollie to confirm a time to pick one up.
We hope to see you soon at CBI.
Join us in the CBI Zoom room at 7:30pm on Friday night for Zoom Shabbat Dinner. Bring your own candles, wine or juice, bread to bless, and meal to eat!
Join us in the CBI Zoom room at 9:30am on Saturday morning for Shabbat morning services led by Rabbi Jarah Greenfield.
This week we’re reading from parashat Behar-Bechukotai. If you’d like to read some commentaries on this week’s parsha, here are a few:
And here’s commentary from the URJ:
Join us for Shabbat morning services at 10:30am (note the unusual time!) on Saturday May 15 as we call Sadie Lentzner to Torah as a bat mitzvah.
And save the date for our Tikkun Leyl Shavuot — on Sunday May 16 starting at 7:30pm, we’ll celebrate the revelation of Torah with learning, song, poetry, and more! As we did at Tu BiShvat and Pesach, we’ll join together with Temple Beth El of City Island and Rabbi David Markus for a joint festival celebration, with special guest Rabbi Cyn Hoffman in addition to our own Rabbi Rachel and Rabbi Pam.
We’ll begin at 7:30pm with Festival Maariv (Evening Prayer) — featuring some beautiful melodies we don’t usually hear, and the joyful psalms of Hallel, and also the memorial prayers of Yizkor recited four times a year. We’ll continue at 9pm with Late Night Learning, featuring teachings from members of CBI and members of TBE, the four rabbis in attendance, and even Morgan Freeman, culminating at midnight with a teaching from the Zohar about midnight in the garden of Eden and opening to divine flow.
We hope to see you soon at CBI.
Join us in the CBI Zoom room at 7:30pm on Friday evening for Kabbalat Shabbat services led by Rabbi Rachel! We’ll welcome Shabbat with song, poetry, and joy.
This week we’re reading from parashat Tazria-Metzora. If you’d like to read some commentaries on this week’s parsha, here are a few:
And here’s commentary from the URJ:
Our next First Friday Zoom Shabbat Dinner will be at 7:30pm on May 7 in the CBI Zoom Room.
And save the date for our Tikkun Leyl Shavuot — on Sunday May 16 starting at 7:30pm, we’ll celebrate the revelation of Torah with learning, song, poetry, and more! As we did at Tu BiShvat and Pesach, we’ll join together with Temple Beth El of City Island and Rabbi David Markus for a joint festival celebration, with special guests Rabbi Bella Bogart and Rabbi Cyn Hoffman in addition to our own Rabbi Rachel and Rabbi Pam.
We’ll begin at 7:30pm with Festival Maariv (Evening Prayer) — featuring some beautiful melodies we don’t usually hear, and the joyful psalms of Hallel, and also the memorial prayers of Yizkor recited four times a year. We’ll continue at 9pm with Late Night Learning, culminating at midnight with a teaching from the Zohar about midnight in the garden of Eden and opening to divine flow.
Plan to join us; more information is coming soon.
We hope to see you soon at CBI.
