Bring Purim joy to homebound seniors and community members by baking fresh Hamantaschen and delivering misloach manot packages! This event will be held offsite in Bennington, VT.
Join us in Bennington for Green Up Day! Vermonters participate every year on the first weekend in May to help clean up our community. We will gather together and learn about the Jewish values around taking care of our earth, then head outside for an hour to clean up trash together.
Come explore the wisdom of Torah through creative study and art-making! Drawing from the Jewish Studio Project’s creative process, we’ll study a Jewish text and use paint, pastels, and collage to reflect on its meaning, giving expression the themes of Shavuot. This session is intended for adult and teen participants.
Come explore the wisdom of Torah through creative study and art-making! Drawing from the Jewish Studio Project’s creative process, we’ll study a Jewish text and use paint, pastels, and collage to reflect on its meaning, giving expression the themes of Shavuot. This session is intended for children.
Join us for a celebratory art exhibition and reception! Come see Shavuot artwork on display, which were made by our community members this year.
The CBI Book Club will meet in-person to discuss This is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman. (Please note the change in date, time, and location for this meeting — we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this change may have caused.) Goodman’s newest novel is a kaleidoscopic portrait of a modern American family — steadfast, complicated, begrudging, and loving — centering on the strained relationship between two sisters. Those who plan on joining us should RSVP via our website; contact Suzanne directly for questions.
Join with friends from across the Berkshire Jewish community at Temple Anshe Amunim in Pittsfield as we come together for a musical, family-friendly Shabbat service led by rabbis from across the county, then stay for a delicious, festive oneg. All are welcome to attend this service; please RSVP in advance if you plan to attend the oneg. This event is co-sponsored by the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires, Congregation Beth Israel, and other Berkshire county synagogues and organizations.
By popular request, we are planning to prepare and distribute another Mitzvah Meal in Bennington, VT! We'll prepare a side dish and desert together from 2pm–4:30pm and help to serve meals for 100 people from 4:30pm–5:30pm. Please contact [email protected] as soon as possible if your family would like to participate.
The CBI Book Club will meet in-person to discuss Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast. In her multi-award-winning first memoir, Chast – a New Yorker cartoonist – brings her signature wit to the universal topic of aging parents while shining a light on one family's endearing peculiarities. Spanning the last several years of their lives and told through four-color cartoons, family photos, documents, and a narrative as rife with laughs as it is with tears, Chast's memoir is both heart-wrenching and hilarious.
Join CBI this summer for a potluck picnic with family-friendly activities on the lawn at 12pm and live music at 2:30pm featuring the BSO & Tanglewood Festival Chorus! Each person will need to purchase their own ticket in order to attend; lawn seats for this event are $44 per adult. Please RSVP by no later than Friday, August 21.
We invite you to our annual Service of Remembrance at the Beth Israel Cemetery. Whether or not your loved ones are buried in this cemetery, please join us for a short outdoor mincha (afternoon) service with opportunities for reflective prayer and memory. (This service will be held rain or shine.)
Please join Rabbi Rachel Barenblat at CBI beginning at 3:15pm for a post-film conversation about what NAZA (2026) brings up for us, how we respond to it emotionally and spiritually (and how we respond to each other emotionally and spiritually), and where, as a community, we hope to go from here.
