From The President

Dear Congregants and Friends,

As the days get longer and we are awakened in the morning by the songs of birds newly arrived from points south, we are looking forward to all that spring brings to our community.

The Board is pleased to announce that we are in the initial phase of planning for a fall celebration of our beloved Rabbi Rachel in honor of her B-Mitzvah year of service and leadership to CBI. Yes – she’s been our spiritual leader for 13 years! We are planning for a multi-pronged celebration in November, including a special Shabbat morning service during which she will be called to the Torah, followed by a kiddush for the congregation, and then havdalah and a party in the evening. We are forming a committee right now and welcome your participation – please contact me if you are interested &/or want to learn more.

I hope you will join us for our Purim Party on Saturday, March 23 at 3pm, complete with live music, great food, and a spirited reenactment of the Purim story. Costumes are encouraged but optional – join us with or without one. Kindly RSVP as soon as possible.

This year is a leap year in the Jewish calendar, so Passover (and all other Jewish holidays) are pushed back. But planning for our Community Seder on the second night of Passover on Tuesday, April 23 is well underway. This is a family-friendly seder, so plan to join us, mark your calendars, and RSVP by Monday, April 8.

At the November 2023 Annual Meeting, the CBI congregation agreed to move our Annual Meeting to May to coincide with the start of our fiscal year on July 1. This year our Annual Meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 29 at 7:30pm, in-person and on Zoom. Please plan to attend. We will email you the agenda and supporting materials a few weeks prior to the meeting.

After a lot of thought and discussion, the Board has voted on revisions to the CBI Bylaws. Our thanks go to the Bylaws Committee, headed by Ben Rudin, for their hard work on this. We will distribute the proposed Bylaws in late April and will hold an open meeting to discuss them on Wednesday, May 8 at 7:30pm. This meeting will be on Zoom to allow our congregants to fully participate from wherever they are. We will bring the revised Bylaws to the Annual Meeting for a vote, following provisions in our Bylaws. We look forward to your comments.

I look forward to seeing you at upcoming services, programs, and holiday celebrations. Our community is stronger as we all participate.

B’Shalom,

— Natalie Matus