From The Co-Presidents

This month’s column is a reprint of this year’s Days of Awe co-presidential speeches that were delivered during this year’s High Holiday services.

(To view, please press the plus sign next to the title of the speech you wish to read.)

Congregants, Families, and Friends,

Welcome. It is wonderful to see so many of you here and to worship together on this sacred day.

I’d like to talk today about community. We have had many opportunities over the past year to come together for both joyous and sad occasions, in addition to our holiday and Shabbat services. We have joyously celebrated three teens becoming b’nai mitzvah, and grieved deeply together at funerals and shivahs.

As a Board and with your Rabbis, we have offered different kinds of events and programs to bring us together – including the Break-the-Fast following Ne’ilah, Sukkot potluck dinner in the Sukkah, a Bagel Breakfast with the Board, a Chanukah concert with children’s activities, the Tu BiShvat seder, our Annual Community Passover seder, and schmoozing time at the Annual Meeting.

A member of our congregation recently told me, “a synagogue does not spring up from the ground just when it is needed.” She is so right. It needs to be nurtured and cared for so it is there when you need it. We are fortunate to be part of a synagogue with over 130 years of history. But CBI, while a precious gift from our North Adams forebears, needs to be cared for today – by all of us. Just like our grass and gardens, it needs to be seeded, watered, weeded, and tended.

The responsibility to create a warm and supportive community cannot and should not rest solely on the shoulders of our Rabbis and Board. It needs to rest on all of us – collectively and personally. That means participating actively, throughout the year – stepping up to help with ideas, planning and then implementing. It means volunteering to cook and bring food to a sick household, visit with someone in need of company, join our Chevrah Kadisha committee, help weed our gardens, help put up and take down our sukkah, bring snacks for a kiddush, greet people who come to our services and programs. It means serving on various committees, including security and membership, and answering the call when the board or Rabbi ask for help, even though your life is already busy.

Another critical part of nurturing our community is financial. We cannot exist without your help – each person or family according to their means. Our dues pay only a small percentage of our total costs, so we rely on your generous philanthropy to make ends meet. We want our doors to be open to whoever wants to join our community, and give their children a Jewish education, regardless of their financial means. This means that for those of you who have the ability to give more, we need your help. My deepest thanks to those of you who have already made a gift to our High Holy Day appeal. There is still time if you have not yet had a chance. There are envelopes on the table in the entry – please take one and send a check, go online or call our office. You can also make a gift directly from your IRA. Gifts of all sizes, small and large, are welcome and needed.

If you are already a member of CBI – we welcome and thank you. If you come here for occasional services or programs through the year but are not yet a member- we welcome you too – and invite you to join and to help support all that we offer. If you are here only a few times a year – we are pleased to see you and urge you to become more involved – wherever you live. We have many opportunities to worship, learn and participate from afar. Rabbi Rachel, Wendy Penner and I are happy to meet with you in person or over the phone to discuss what you are looking for in a Jewish community and how we can work together.

With your help, CBI will continue to thrive and to be there for all of us.

I want to extend my deepest thanks to Rabbi Rachel and Rabbi Jarah for their ongoing spiritual leadership and direction, to Ziva Larson, our cantorial soloist, to Adam Green, our music director and the choir, whose music so enriches our services, to my wonderful co-president, Wendy Penner, who is joy to collaborate with, to the other members of the Board, who work tirelessly throughout the year, Oliver Jones, our administrator who does all the “behind the scenes work”, and to the many volunteers who make these High Holy Day services possible. And finally, to my husband Roger, whose continuing support makes it possible for me to take on this leadership role.

G’mar chatimah tovah – may you be sealed in the Book of Life.

— Natalie Matus

Congregants, Families, and Friends,

Welcome. It’s a joy to be together on this sacred day, in our beautiful building, and in the idyllic Berkshires. Being here, I feel a sense of peace, grounding, and gratitude.

I want to share a few personal reflections, and to make a few asks. We sit in our CBI building that we have been in for 23 years. This was a historic year for our building.

First, thanks to the success of our HVAC Bring the Heat campaign, we raised the majority of the money to cover our new HVAC system and surrounding fencing. It’s a good feeling and it took a lot of work as well as money. This could not have happened without the scores of generous campaign donations from many of you. Our donors will be recognized in the building in the coming months. Special thanks to Natalie Matus, my co-president, for spearheading the campaign, the work to select a contractor and overseeing installation, as well as the committee who supported her.

Second, our building is safer and more secure now than it was a year ago, as a result of a $41,000 security grant we were awarded from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This grant application and administration has been a huge amount of work, and it would not have happened without Roger Matus. He was meticulous in completing, with support from Natalie and other board members, the stringent and detailed requirements of the application. The funded improvements include bollards and boulders to secure our building from a vehicle intrusion, special locks for our safe rooms, enhanced security lighting, a new intercom, new panic buttons to alert police in case of emergency, and, any day now, new security glass. The reality is making our building more secure is a concern to many, and the improvements increase our real and felt safety. But it’s important that our building not be a fortress, but a hub for community. I hope this will help our community thrive.

In addition to these funded expenses, we often encounter unanticipated expenses to maintain our building and our level of service to the community. Just this year we had unbudgeted but needed upgrades to our sound system, maintenance costs for our fire alarm system, and Torah maintenance. Just days ago, we learned that we will need to purchase new hardware and software for database management. We are thrilled to welcome everyone to our high holiday and other services – we do not require membership or tickets, but we do struggle every year to meet our financial needs. The high holiday appeal is an important part of our budget. Please take a moment to make a donation in response to the High Holiday Appeal – no gift is too small!

And some words about community:

We are excited to welcome four new board members this year! Together, our expanded board is committed to growing our community this year. With several new members already this year, and new families entering our school, we are on our way. Please mark your calendars for our upcoming bagel brunch on Sunday, November 8 at 10:30am. We hope to have several more social events this year. Thank you to Viviane Jaffe and Donna Gorson for planning. Let them know if you’d like to help!

We are updating our membership list and our directory! Please take a moment to fill out the form on the table in the entry or look for a link in the October newsletter. We need your current contact information. We plan to publish a new directory, a tool to increase our sense of connection among members. There is an option to opt out if you wish. You can return your completed form in the Tzedekah box in the front entrance.

Finally, this is a time of historic division among Jews. I have felt a huge range of emotions – including fear, anger, frustration, and a deep sense of grief. At a time of so much fracturing within the Jewish community – I remind myself that even in our differences, we at CBI are one community, and I encourage us to find ways to make new connections, to give of our time and talent, and to attend our services and programs. Personally, I remain committed to reconvening our Israel-Palestine study group. What are your interests and commitments? We hope to hear from you and help you find ways to continue our shared work to build and grow our community.

Special thanks to Rabbi Rachel for her spiritual leadership and to Ziva Larson, our cantorial soloist, to Adam Green, our music director, and the choir, whose music so enriches our services, to the 14 other members of the Board, who work tirelessly throughout the year. Thank you also to Rabbi Jarah Greenfield for directing our family and youth education program. And thank you to the many volunteers who make these High Holy Day services and everything we do possible. May your new year be sweet.

G’mar chatimah tovah – may you be sealed in the Book of Life.

— Wendy Penner

From the Rabbi – October 2026CBI's gazebo and labyrinth.