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Updated Guidelines for Gathering – Proposal for Hybrid Summer
pandemic
The Board of Directors and Rabbi have been working on this proposal for hybrid services this summer. We welcome your feedback, and ask your understanding if and when we need to adapt these plans in response to changing circumstances. Stay safe…
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Shavua tov! Looking forward to Shabbat Tazria-Metzora!
Shabbat, Shavuot
Kabbalat Shabbat Services This Week
Join us in the CBI Zoom room at 7:30pm on Friday evening for Kabbalat Shabbat services led by Rabbi Rachel! We'll welcome Shabbat with song, poetry, and joy.
Torah Portion and Commentaries
This…
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Shavua tov! Looking forward to Shabbat Shmini
Shabbat
Shabbat Services This Week
Join us in the CBI Zoom room at 9:30am on Saturday morning for Shabbat morning services led by Rabbi Jarah.
Torah Portion and Commentaries
This week we’re reading from parashat Shmini. If you’d…
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Seder supplies
pandemic, Pesach
Dear all,
I'm looking so forward to celebrating with you at our Second Night Community (Zoom) Seder. Like last year, our seder will be co-facilitated by me and by R. David Markus, and we'll share it with Temple Beth El of City Island, the…
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Shabbat HaGadol: From Where We Are
divrei Torah, pandemic, Pesach
A slide from Bayit's Pesach offerings this year.
Many of you have heard me say that on Shabbat HaGadol, the Shabbat before Pesach, it's customary for the rabbi to give a sermon about how to prepare for Pesach. Traditionally speaking,…
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On policing and recent news
tikkun olam
Dear CBI community,
The last year has been challenging in many ways. The global pandemic, of course, has impacted all of us in ways too numerous to list. We have had difficult conversations across our nation about the racism in America’s…
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Shavua tov! Looking forward to Shabbat… and Pesach!
Shabbat
Shavua tov -- and chodesh tov; a happy new month of Nissan to all. Passover is coming!
Kabbalat Shabbat!
Join us in the CBI Zoom room at 7pm on Friday evening for Kabbalat Shabbat services led by Rabbi Rachel! Together we'll welcome…
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Shavua tov! Looking forward to Purim and Shabbat
Purim, Shabbat
Shavua tov!
Thanks to all who joined us for our masked and costumed Purim Parade yesterday, and especially to our storyteller and family educator Jane Shiyah. That was our first taste of Purim this year. Our next taste will come on Thursday…
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Perseverance and the portable ark
community, D'vrei Torah, pandemic
"וְעָ֥שׂוּ לִ֖י מִקְדָּ֑שׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּ֖י בְּתוֹכָֽם׃ / Let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell within them." (Ex. 25:8 - in this week's Torah portion, T'rumah.)
The word mishkan…
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Shavua tov! Looking forward to Repro Shabbat and more
Purim, Shabbat
Join us in the CBI Zoom room at 9:30am on Saturday morning for Shabbat morning services led by Rabbi Rachel. This week has been designated as Reproductive Justice Shabbat by the National Council of Jewish Women. There will be…
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I Will Sing
divrei Torah, pandemic
In this week's Torah portion, Beshalach, we read the Song at the Sea. "I will sing to God..." Our commentators note that this verse is in future tense: not "I sing," but "I will sing." Hold on to that; we'll come back to it.
The rabbi…
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Connecting into spring
events, Tu BiShvat
Dear Congregation Beth Israel of the northern Berkshires, Temple Beth-El of City Island, and Hebrew Congregation of Somers,
This year our three communities will join together to celebrate Tu BiShvat, the first step on the journey toward…
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Not the end of the story
divrei Torah, pandemic
In this week's Torah portion, Va'era, God hears the cries of the Israelites and promises to free us from bondage. But when Moshe comes to the children of Israel to tell them that, Torah says:
וְלֹ֤א שָֽׁמְעוּ֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה…
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A message from Rabbi Rachel
community, Jewish values
Dear Congregation Beth Israel members and friends,
It is rare to know that we are living through a moment of genuine historical significance. To recognize that something unfolding around us will be chronicled in books as a turning point…
Congregation Beth Israel
53 Lois Street
North Adams, MA 01247
1-413-663-5830
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