From The President

Dear Congregants and Friends,

Greetings from Hong Kong, where I am spending a few weeks visiting with my daughter, son-in-law, and grandsons. It’s been so much fun celebrating Sukkot and Simchat Torah with our grandsons on the other side of the world. Hong Kong has a small but vibrant Jewish community, with two synagogues, a Jewish Community Center and a kosher supermarket. The Reform-affiliated synagogue is a little bigger than ours – about 160 member families, with a Rabbi, Cantor, and education director. We enjoyed helping the children make decorations and string them up in the sukkah, and dancing around the sanctuary with the Torah in 7 hakafot. Though much is different in Hong Kong, familiar customs, traditions, and values unite the Jewish community wherever we are.

I hope you found celebrating the High Holy Days at CBI a meaningful experience. I want to extend my profound thanks to all who made this possible: Rabbi Rachel and cantorial soloist Ziva Larson, musical director Adam Green, and the choir, who together brought so much beauty to our services; Oliver Jones, synagogue administrator, whose behind the scenes work for months makes everything go smoothly; all the ushers, greeters and parking helpers; the CBI Board for pitching in wherever needed; Jen Burt, for providing delicious apple-filled challah, apples, and honey as well as the Break-the-Fast meal; and all of you for attending and participating in our worship services. Thanks to those families who helped organize and attended our Sukkot celebration and potluck meal in the Sukkah, and to the in-house CBI band, who provided spirited music for Simchat Torah. It indeed takes a village to make all this happen and we are deeply thankful to everyone who helped.

As we take a collective deep breath, I want to encourage you to attend our November 16 celebration of Rabbi Rachel and her 13 years of service to CBI! This is an important milestone and we hope you will plan to join us for this joyous event. The day will begin with a Shabbat service at 9:30am, during which Rabbi Rachel will be called up to the Torah for an aliyah in recognition of her 13 years as spiritual leader of CBI. Following services and kiddush, we will transform the sanctuary and social hall into an event space, where we will enjoy a Middle Eastern feast, klezmer music with a live band, and dancing. We will provide some children’s activities during the after-service party.

If you haven’t already, please RSVP so we can plan for seating and food. We need some help to transition the space (moving tables and chairs), so please let Wendy Penner know if you can help at 11:30am for a brief time. See you there!

If you would like to make a gift in honor of Rabbi Rachel and all she has done for the CBI community, she has requested that you consider making a donation to the newly created Torah Restoration & Maintenance Fund, so that we can make much needed repairs to our two primary Torahs. Please contact Natalie Matus for more information.

Warmly,

— Natalie Matus