From The Co-President

Dear Congregants and Friends,

Here we are-happy summer! I write to you for the first time in my new role as CBI co-President with Natalie Matus who has served our community so beautifully for 5 years. I have witnessed firsthand her dedication, commitment, hard work, and passionate support for our community and we are beyond blessed that she found us! I am honored to work alongside her, and our wonderful board members this year, at a time when the need for community, and in particular Jewish community, is so evident.

As this year begins, the Board will be embarking on setting goals. When I think about my goals, the primary one is that CBI continues to strive to be a source of welcoming and joyful Jewish community for all who seek it.

I hope if you haven’t yet done so, you will take a moment to review our annual report. It is an amazing document that may be viewed online, or you can get a print copy at the Shul. We should all be proud about the vibrant and diverse things happening under our umbrella. Our Jewish education program, holiday and shabbat observances, education programming, and community celebrations are the result of the hard work and creative energy of our staff, lay leadership, and community members who show up, again and again, and bring their authentic selves.

More than anything, CBI is a vehicle for us as individuals and in community to find community, spiritual sustenance and growth, to live our Jewish values and struggle with how we reconcile them with the challenges we experience personally, and to look for support and direction as we encounter and navigate the ugliness we see in the world around us.

Again and again, I find that when I enter the building, my world expands. I meet someone new, I learn something I didn’t know, I find an opportunity to do service that makes my heart and world grow. I invite you to consider the ways in which CBI supports how you embody your Jewish identity. What do you love about CBI? What do you wish for from CBI? What can you offer CBI? How can we be a center for Jewish life and learning for all? Please tell us!

I’m committed to continuing our ongoing work to host programming related to the crisis in Israel and Palestine. I understand it is deeply painful and can be polarizing. It is also a central issue dividing the Jewish community today. In our pain, fear and anguish, it’s important we not look away. Instead we can come together to share our pain, fear and anguish – and our hopes and dreams for that part of the world. We can learn and study together, as we struggle with the eternal question – how can we reconcile this moment with Jewish values, teachings, and spiritual practices? It is not easy work, but that makes it even more worth doing.

I send love and gratitude to all and hope to hear from you. I hope to see many of you at our community picnic at Tanglewood in August!

— Wendy Penner