From The Rabbi

Runway to the Days of Awe 2: Creating Sacred Space at Home

days of awe, pandemic, Runway to the Days of Awe

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcNzg50fw7g] This is the second post in a series; the first was Seven weeks until Rosh Hashanah. This one is available as a YouTube video (embedded above -- or here at YouTube) and also as text that appears…

Shavua tov! Looking forward to Shabbat Eikev

Shavua tov – a good new week to you! This week our Zoom offerings include Rabbinic Drop-In Hour (1pm Mondays) and Shabbat Morning services (9:30am Saturday) led this week by R’ Rachel, all in the CBI Zoom room with the usual password.…

Runway to the Days of Awe 1: Seven weeks until Rosh Hashanah

days of awe, Runway to the Days of Awe

Dear CBI Members and Friends, We’ve just come through the door of Tisha b’Av, the most grief-soaked day on the Jewish calendar. After Tisha b’Av, the Seven Weeks of Consolation lead us to Rosh Hashanah. Believe it or not, Rosh Hashanah…

This week: Tisha b’Av and Shabbat Va’etchanan

Shabbat, Tisha bAv

Shavua tov – a good new week to you! This week our Zoom offerings include Rabbinic Drop-In Hour (1pm Mondays), Tisha b'Av (Thursday 5pm), Friday Morning Meditation (9am Fridays), and Shabbat Morning services (9:30am Saturday) led this…

Who’s to blame?

"These are the words that Moshe addressed to all Israel on the other side of the Jordan..." (Deuteronomy 1:1) The book of Deuteronomy is in large part a retelling of everything that happened during the forty years of wandering in the wilderness.…

Coming up: Shabbat Devarim and Tisha b’Av

Shabbat, Tisha bAv

Shavua tov – a good new week to you! This week our Zoom offerings include Rabbinic Drop-In Hour (1pm Mondays), Friday Morning Meditation (9am Fridays), and Kabbalat Shabbat Services (7:30pm Friday), all in the CBI Zoom room with the…

Wake up: change is coming

days of awe, divrei Torah

"...If a man makes a vow to God or takes an oath imposing an obligation on himself, he shall not break his pledge; he must carry out all that has crossed his lips..." (Numbers 30:3) It's like clockwork: every year we reach these verses at the…

Wholeness, justice, and peace

divrei Torah, Jewish values, lgbt rights

A d'varling for Pride Shabbat and Shabbat Korach. In this week's Torah portion, Korach, there's a rebellion. Korach stands up against Moses and demands power. He cloaks his demand in words that sound nice -- aren't all God's people…

Zoom offerings this week at CBI

Shavua tov – a good new week to you! This week our Zoom offerings include Rabbinic Drop-In Hour (1pm Mondays), Friday Morning Meditation (9am Fridays), Kabbalat Shabbat Services (7:30pm Friday), and Let's Talk About Racial Justice! (7pm…

Days of Awe 5781

days of awe, pandemic

Dear Congregation Beth Israel members and friends, I'll never forget my mother's first video call. My son was an infant, and she lived two thousand miles away. We arranged her first Skype call so she could visit the baby. I remember her amazement:…

In the cloud

divrei Torah, pandemic

"When the cloud lifted, they would break camp..." (Numbers 9:21) This week's Torah portion, B'ha'a'lotkha, describes, again, how the children of Israel would stay put when the cloud of God lingered over their encampment, and when the cloud…

Lament, grief, rage – and change

Dear Congregation Beth Israel members and friends, Today has been declared a National Day of Mourning and Lament. And oh, there is so much to mourn. Right now we're living both with the unthinkable tragedy of the global pandemic, and with…

Zoom offerings, Torah portion / commentaries, and Shabbat info for this week

Shavua tov – a good new week to you! This week our Zoom offerings include Rabbinic Drop-In Hour (1pm Mondays), Friday Morning Meditation (9am Fridays), Psalm-Writing Weekly Workshop (1pm Fridays, for members of CBI and TBE together),…

National Day of Mourning and Lament

pandemic, response to tragedy

Today is an interfaith National Day of Mourning and Lament for the more than 100,000 victims of COVID-19 in our nation and many more around the world. We mourn the suffering and loss of life in this pandemic and grieve that much of the pain…

A video message from Rabbi Rachel

pandemic, video

Here's a short video message from Rabbi Rachel, including a prayer-poem by Beth Schafer: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjrEBItVTSk] If you can't see the embedded video, you can go directly to it here.